the new social

- <date>

The New Social

Intersperience Research Ltd.

Open Ideas

May 2011

2

• Natural desire to belong to a group

– Fulfill the need to feel included

– Experience wide range of cultural environments

• Interact in several different circles of friends to enhance the social interaction

– Different behavioral norms in each group (e.g. group of colleagues vs. group of friends)

• Social Networking Sites create online spaces that allow individuals to present themselves, articulate their social networks and establish or maintain connections with others

- 26th May 2011Intersperience Research Ltd.

“The most important part of friendship is communication”

― Tufekci et al

3- 26th May 2011Intersperience Research Ltd.

Creates sense of

community

New form of self-

expression

Fast communica-

tion

Experiment & define identity

Discovering new

interests

Feeling included within a group or activity

Instant share of

information

No geographi-cal limits

• The use of Social Networking Sites

– Convenience

– Communication

– Entertainment

– Speed

– Informative

– Volume


Facebook 97%

LinkedIn 17%

Twitter 32%

Other 22%

• 2006 the launch of Facebook transformed the online social scene

– 175 million users in 2009

– Today, 100, 000 new users per day

– On average, 6 sign-ins per day

• 75% of Social Networkers in 2008

– 57% increase from 2007

• In 2009, 10 hours of content uploaded to You Tube every minute

• 3 billion photographs provided by Flickr

– In comparison Louvre Museum has 300, 000 collections of objects

Intersperience Digital Selves Project 2011, M. Guidi & P. Cope 2011, Kaplan et al 2010


• Longer daily browsing sessions by SNS enthusiasts

– 23 minutes longer daily sessions compared to those who do not socialiseonline

• Difficult to pinpoint the motives of SNS use

– 50% think it is possible to gain new friends through social media

– Initial openness to online interactions as a drive for acquiring new connections

– Personal attributes determining the use to social media

• Channel of communication or source of entertainment

• Young seamlessly integrating social media into their lives

– Ice-breaker for offline interaction

– Main form of communication

Tufekci et al

“Face to face I couldn’t talk to him”“What is everyone doing at the weekend?”

― Digital Selves


• Interaction on Social Networking Site more involved in other peoples’ lives

– The least likely to share own experiences (2%)

– Private messaging in four top activities on the site

• Social or communicative use of Social Networking Sites?

2%

3%

5%

9%

9%

10%

12%

20%

22%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Uploading self-created content

Adding new friends

Using chat

Updating Status

Posting on Walls

Private messages

Visit friend's profile pages

Reading wall posts on someone else's profile

Commenting on statuses, photos or videos

What is your most common activity on SNS site?

Intersperience Digital Selves Project 2011


31%

32%

33%

34%

It distances us It has no effect It brings us

closer

34%

32%

34%

How much does online communication change the nature of friendships we have?

• Online interaction concentrated on conversation itself – free of social judgment

– The level of interaction face to face cannot be replicated or replaced online

“A face to face connection is different. It’s absolutely essential.”

– Tufekci et al

• Highly social get more benefit from using the internet

– Reduced cues of the web environment might aid those with weak offline networks

Intersperience Digital Selves Project 2011, Tufekci et al

“I think that it’s good to make contact with friends that you might have lost contact with on Facebook, but not to continue the renewed friendship on it.”

– Digital Selves

8

Soci

al In

tera

ctio

n • 26% use it to share their interests

• 29% use SNS to meet new people

• 21% use it to meet people from all over the world

• 20% get their daily gossip on SNS sites

• 7% don’t see their friends as often now that they use SNS


• Extroverted approach

– Introduces additional social scene

“One is general thing [SNS], one is gadgets, one is art discussions… I’ve got to know quite a few people.”

― Digital Selves

– Exposed to range of information sources

– Chatty, interactive

• Mostly weak ties

– Blurred identity to allow interaction with different social groups on one site

– Privacy conscious – maintains boundaries between different circles

“Too many people knowing too much about you.”

― Digital Selves- 26th May 2011Intersperience Research Ltd.

9

Frie

nd

s • 43% use SNS because their friends are using it

• 76% use it to keep in touch with friends

• 27% feel a lot closer to their friends now that they use SNS

• 60% would find it more difficult to stay in touch with their friends without the internet


• New angle to existing relationships

“It does add an extra dimension to friendship and I got to know them better from their profile”

― Digital Selves

– Offline image transposed onto the online scene

– Focused on sustaining contact with their existing group of contacts

• Strong ties

– Highly influenced by friends and family

– Group becomes an entity

– Lower interest in exploring new as an individual

– One dimensional use of the site


10

Self

-dis

cove

ry • 7% use SNS sites to talk about topics they are too shy to talk about off-line

• 7% get to be a different person when on the site

• 8% feel strongly addicted to SNS

• 11% can have close relationship with someone met online


• Extroverted approach

– To experiment with or alternate own identity

“It is in some sense easier to be more confident, funny, etc. when you are chatting online”

― Digital Selves

– Interest to try new and unfamiliar

– Prone to influence

• Weak ties

– Disconnected from off-line world

– Anonymous

– Tests different views

– Inconsistent behaviour



• Desire for self-expression

“[SNS sites] are creating a youth culture of digital narcissism…generation more interested in self expression than in learning about the outside world”

― Andrew Keen

– Extreme extroverted approach

• ‘Friending’ people to increase access to larger audience

• Tailoring profile content to encourage admiration and boost self-confidence

• Hunger for attention

• Put on display

• Isolated

• Not Social


• Online changing situational geography of social life

– No sense of place

– Constant search for cues to adjust behaviour

• Allow manipulation of self-presentation in complex social interactions

– Out of context

– Barrier towards new approaches

• Friend request dilemma

• 70% accepting only people they know in person

• 38% read profile before accepting the requestOnline friend request


• Strong preference towards individual communication on the site (70%)

• Tendency for private messaging options provided on site to replace e-mail communication

• Possibility to create different social circles on the site

– 72% of over 18’s prefer to communicate with small group of friends

– 54% of the youngest social network users (13-17) tries to have as many friends as possible

• Preference for all other communication channels to be embedded within Social Networking Sites increasing the social experience

• Social Networking Sites more a norm for communication rather than leisure and entertainment

M. Guidi & P. Cope 2011

14

Social Interaction Main activity

Friend Oriented Greater depth to existing relationships

A ‘New’ Social Connecting with others

Nosey Social Source of daily gossip

On Display Individual experience, isolated


• Digital Selves Study indicated different approach to social networking

• The interaction most predominant in your customers will affect how you build Social Networking into your business

- <date>

The New Social

Intersperience Research Ltd.

Open Ideas

May 2011

the new social

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