understanding loneliness in social awareness streams - icwsm 2014 presentation

Understanding Loneliness

in Social Awareness Streamsexpressions and responses

photo by @skalgubbar

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Jeremy Ting@kingofting

Jed R. Brubaker@whatknows

Rannie Teodoro@rannieteo

Mor Naaman@informor

presenting today:Funda Kivran-Swaine

(@fundinha)the work with wonderful co-authors:

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@fundinha

understanding loneliness

Is social media making us lonely?What can we learn about the experience

of loneliness from social media?

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lonelinessis common

everybody feels lonely at some point in their lives.however, when prolonged, loneliness can lead to severe problemslike poor antibody response, depression, or even suicide ideation.

photo by Hartwig HKD / Flickr Creative Commons

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lonelinessis social pain

occurs when there is a discrepancy between the quality or quantity of people’s perceived relationships and their relationship standards.


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lonelinessis idiosyncratic

experience of loneliness varies greatly between people.people’s reactions to loneliness also can differ a lot.

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lonelinessis not solitude

one can be lonely in a crowd.


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lonelinessWhat does

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feel like?


@fundinha

understanding loneliness West Broadway, New York, 1978 © Thomas Struth Courtesy Schirmer/Mosel

Researchers have been trying to understand the experience of loneliness since 1970s.

*1978, NYU. Researchers collected ~25,000 responses to a newspaper survey that asked:

How do you usually feel when you are lonely?

* Rubenstein, C., & Shaver, P. (1980). Loneliness in two northeastern cities. The anatomy of loneliness, 319-337.9

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in 2014there is a new way to understand loneliness.

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in 2014people are increasingly saying:

...I’m lonely....in online public environments.

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People increasingly are usingsocial awareness streams (SAS) to

communicate about their emotional experiences, including loneliness.

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When people expressloneliness

on SAS, they sometimes get responses.

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We can start to address:What are the evident circumstances that surround explicit expressions of

loneliness on Twitter?

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We can start to address:What are the prevalent communication practices around

loneliness on Twitter?

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We can start to address:What types of responses do individuals expressing loneliness receive?

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We can start to address:What are the relationships between expressions of loneliness and the

responses they receive?

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the datalonely tweets

profile & interaction data of authorsresponses to lonely tweets

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the data

lonely tweet: ...<lonely phrase>......

I am so lonelyI Feel so isolated

i am feeling left outI feel so alone

...

...

lonely tweets

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I’m so lonely

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the data

lonely tweets

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I’m so lonely at...

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the data

lonely tweets

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...and I’m so lonely

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the data

lonely tweets

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I’m so lonely because...

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the data

lonely tweets

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I’m so lonely

#$@!#$

#$@!#$

the data(groups of) responses to lonely tweets

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profile & interaction data of authorsthe data

I’m so lonely

tt-24h t+24h

gender# followers# friends

photo by @skalgubbar

# tweets# interactions / # tweets

# tweets# interactions / # tweets

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1 development of the coding schemes

2 qualitative coding

3 quantitative analysis & hypotheses testing

the study

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1 development of the coding schemas

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@fundinha


3 categorical dimensions forexpressions of loneliness

temporal bounding

context

interaction

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temporal bounding

context

interactionenduring, transient, or ambiguous

other-directed or not

one or more of:social

physicalromanticsomatic

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temporal bounding

context

interactionenduring, transient, or ambiguous

other-directed or not

one or more of:socialphysicalromanticsomatic

Everyday, I’m so lonelyIn this horrible house, without a girlfriend

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3 categorical dimensions forresponses to expressions of

lonelinessEXPLICIT ACKNOWLEDGMENT

UN-ENGAGING

EXPLICIT SUGGESTIONS

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@fundinha


EXPLICIT ACKNOWLEDGMENT

UN-ENGAGINGEXPLICIT Suggestions

Everyday, I’m so lonelyIn this horrible house, without a girlfriend

AW... I’M SO SORRY TO HEAR THAT. THAT MUST SUCK

That sounds terrible.why don’t you come over to dinner to talkabout it with us?

womp womp. whining again...

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2 qualitative coding

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@fundinha


4454lonely tweets

903groups of responses to these

We read and qualitatively coded:

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What do people talk about when they talk aboutloneliness?

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0

20

40

60

80

100

social context physical context romantic context somatic context

offline online

What do people talk about when they talk about loneliness?

nightbed

homeroomschool

datecuddlelove

relationshipboyfriend

hungrysickhurttiredcryeat

friendwishtalktext

person

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3 quantitative analysis & hypotheses testing

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first, some descriptives

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Who talks about loneliness?

70%

30%

men women

* matches known literature on emotional disclosure.women talk about their emotional experiences more frequently than men.

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experiences of loneliness range fromephemeral and ordinary (transient) topermanent and worrisome (enduring).

Transient Enduring

* matches known literature on loneliness.most experiences of loneliness spark and die out quickly.

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findings

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A differences between enduring & transient loneliness

B factors that contribute to receiving a response

C differences in responses

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findings

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A differences between enduring & transient loneliness

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findings

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Expressions of transient loneliness are more likely to call forsocial interaction.

photo by Michael J. Moeller / Flickr Creative Commons

(42.1% vs. 30%) (χ2 = 62.1, df = 2, p < .001),44

understanding loneliness in social awareness streams @fundinha

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Expressions of transient loneliness are more likely to call forsocial interaction.initiating social action is a more common reaction to milder experiences of loneliness.

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(42.1% vs. 30%) (χ2 = 62.1, df = 2, p < .001),

understanding loneliness in social awareness streams @fundinha


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Women are more likely to expressenduring loneliness than men.

photo by Michael J. Moeller / Flickr Creative Commons46


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Women are more likely to expressenduring loneliness than men.

(16% of women vs. 11% of men) (χ2 = 19.61, df = 2, p < .001)

women communicate about emotional experiences more than men do.

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People who express enduring loneliness are less social on Twitter.

photo by Michael J. Moeller / Flickr Creative Commons48


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People who express enduring loneliness are less social on Twitter.


0

0.078

0.155

0.233

0.31

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transientenduring


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B factors that contribute to receiving a response

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findings

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in SAS nobody is obliged toRESPOND

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percentage of lonely tweetsthat got at leastone response:

23%

overall average response-rate for these people’s tweets:

3.4%

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in SAS nobody is obliged toRESPOND

but people respond to expressions of loneliness more than they respond to other tweets

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Other-directed lonely tweetsare more likely to get responses.

photo by David / Flickr Creative Commons54


(O.R. for self-directed lonely tweets =0.63, p<.001)

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Men are more likelyto get responses.

photo by David / Flickr Creative Commons(O.R. =1.27, p<.01)55


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Expressions of enduring loneliness are less likely to get responses.

56 photo by David / Flickr Creative Commons


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Expressions of enduring loneliness are less likely to get responses.likelihood of receiving a response reduced by 37%.



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that’s not good.

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what kind of responses do the expressions of enduring loneliness receive?

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C differences in responses

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findings

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Expressions of enduring loneliness are less likely to get responses that dismiss loneliness.



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Expressions of enduring loneliness are more likely to get responses acknowledging loneliness.



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0

20

40

60

80

transientenduring



acknowledgingun-engaging

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enduring lonelinessattracts less responses.

but more responses acknowledgingthe experience of loneliness.

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what makes us lonely in theage of connectedness?

have we forgotten how to be alone?

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“American loneliness may, I think, be defined as being alone when one has not elected to be alone, when the state of being alone will be recognized by others as inappropriate.”Margaret Mead

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social awareness streamsplaces where people disclose and

communicate about loneliness.

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What is next?thank you.

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understanding loneliness in social awareness streams - icwsm 2014 presentation

Lifestyle

express enduring

enduring amp

imsolonely

social interaction

emotional

understanding

people talk

transient