Transcript The Impact of Social Networking on ResNet Users Kevin Guidry IT Fellow at Sewanee: The University of the South Member, ResNet Applied Research Group All.

The Impact of Social
Networking on ResNet Users
Kevin Guidry
IT Fellow at Sewanee: The University of the South
Member, ResNet Applied Research Group
All original content in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
Introductions
• Who am I?
• Who are you?
Disclaimers
• I don’t know it all
• No one knows it all
• We’re going to play loose and fast with
some of the language
Outline
1. Foundation and generalities
2. Facebook
3. Practical implications and practices
Part 1: Foundation and generalities
First, the Web 2.0 hype...
The Machine is Us/ing Us video from Kansas State
University’s Digital Ethnography Project
Available at http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/?p=84
Staggering Statistics
Levy (2007)
• MySpace:
– More than 66 million users visit each month
– 12 percent of all time on Internet spent there
• Facebook
– 23 million users visit each month
– More than 2 million users joined in April
(150,000 a day)
• Compare with countries of the world
Group Activity
What is a Social Networking
Service (SNS)?
Are these SNSs?
• Blackboard
• Digg
• Facebook
• MySpace
• Second Life
• Slashdot
• Wikipedia
• World of Warcraft
Group Activity
What is a Social Networking
Service (SNS)?
1
Blackboar
d
Digg
Facebook
MySpace
Second
Life
Slashdot
Wikipedia
World of
Warcraft
2
3
4
5
6
7
How some researchers define SNS
UNC Social Software Symposium
• December 8-9, 2006, Chapel Hill NC
• 37 attendees
• Their definitions of SNS
How some researchers define SNS
danah boyd (2007):
“These three features - profiles, Friends lists, and
comments* - comprise the primary structure of all social
network sites, although individual sites provide additional
features for further engagement. While SNSes allow
visitors to wander from Friend to Friend and
communicate with anyone who has a visible profile, the
primary use pattern is driven by pre-existing friend
groups. People join the sites with their friends and use
the different messaging tools to hang out, share cultural
artifacts and ideas, and communicate with one another.”
* - emphasis added
Key properties of SNS
(boyd, in press)
1. Persistence: Unlike the ephemeral quality of speech in unmediated publics,
networked communications are recorded for posterity. This enables
asynchronous communication but it also extends the period of existence of
any speech act.
2. Searchability: Because expressions are recorded and identity is established
through text, search and discovery tools help people find like minds. While
people cannot currently acquire the geographical coordinates of any person
in unmediated spaces, finding one’s digital body online is just a matter of
keystrokes.
3. Replicability: Hearsay can be deflected as misinterpretation, but networked
public expressions can be copied from one place to another verbatim such
that there is no way to distinguish the “original” from the “copy.”
4. Invisible audiences: While we can visually detect most people who can
overhear our speech in unmediated spaces, it is virtually impossible to
ascertain all those who might run across our expressions in networked
publics. This is further complicated by the other three properties, since our
expression may be heard at a different time and place from when and
where we originally spoke.
Key properties of SNS
1.
Persistence
2.
Searchability
3.
Replicability
4.
Invisible
audiences
Brief excerpt from video of danah boyd’s talk at the
University of North Carolina on September 14,
2006
Available at
http://www.ibiblio.org/speakers/index.cgi/2006/09/1
4#boyd06
Why Youths use SNS
To create a
“digital publics”:
Brief excerpt from video of danah boyd’s talk at the
University of North Carolina on September 14,
2006
• Socialization
Available at
http://www.ibiblio.org/speakers/index.cgi/2006/09/1
4#boyd06
• Identity
development
Internet Disinhibition
Suler (2004)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Dissociative anonymity
Invisibility
Asynchronicity
Solipsistic introjection
Dissociative imagination
Minimization of authority
It’s a dog-eat-dog world
• http://dogster.com/
• http://www.uniteddogs.com/
• http://vivapets.com/myhome.php
• http://www.petzzy.com/
• http://www.doggysnaps.com/
• http://www.sniflabs.com/
Part 2: Facebook
Caveats
•
•
•
•
I am not an expert in this application/tool
Research takes time
Significant gaps in the research
Facebook continues to change
“Recent” Facebook Changes
• February 2006 – High school users
allowed
• September 2006 – All users allowed
• May 2007 – API expanded/changed
“More than 40,000 developers have requested
to be part of the project, around 1,500
applications have been produced so far, and
some of the most popular went from zero to
850,000 users in three days.”
Basic stats (as of May 2007)
Cashmore (2007)
•
General Growth
• More than 24 million active users
• More than 100,000 new registrations per day since Jan. 2007
• An average of 3 percent weekly growth since Jan. 2007
• Active users have doubled since Facebook expanded registration in Sept. 2006
User Demographics
• Over 47,000 regional, work-related, collegiate, and high school networks
• More than half of Facebook users are outside of college
• The fastest growing demographic is those 25 years old and older
• Maintain 85 percent market share of 4-year U.S. universities
•
User Engagement
•
Applications
•
International Growth
• Sixth-most trafficked site in the United States*
• More than 40 billion page views per month in May 2007
• More than half of active users return daily
• People spend an average of 20 minutes on the site daily*
• No. 1 photo sharing application on the web*
• Photo application draws more than twice as much traffic as the next three sites combined*
• More than 1.8 billion photos on the site
• More than 6 million active user groups on the site
• Canada has the most users outside of the United States, with more than 2.5 million active users
• The U.K. is the third largest country with more than 1.4 million active users
• Remaining Top 10 countries in order of active users (outside of the U.S., Canada and UK): Norway,
Australia, South Africa, Lebanon, Egypt, Sweden and India
*Source: comScore Media Metrix
How many students use
Facebook?
• ECAR (2006): “More than 70 percent use social
networking sites such as MySpace and
Facebook, and of those 65.9 percent do so
several times a week or more.”
• Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe (2006): 94% of MSU
freshmen
• Stutzman (2006): In week 1, 85% of UNC
freshmen; by week 16, 94%
• Vanden Boogart (2006): 94.4% of participants at
4 different institutions
Frequency of Facebook Daily Use
Vanden Boogart (2006)
N
0 - 30 minutes
1539
30 minutes - 1 hour 837
1 hour - 2 hours
362
2 hours - 3 hours 89
more than 3 hours 30
Total
2857
Percent
53.9%
29.3%
12.7%
3.1%
1.1%
100.0%
Is anyone not using Facebook?
• Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe (2006):
“Neither gender, ethnicity, nor income
appeared to relate to propensity to join
Facebook. Older students, and those who
have been at school longer are
significantly less likely to be on Facebook,
probably reflecting an effect of the recency
which with the MSU Facebook community
began.”
How many “friends” do they have?
• Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe (2006): “Students
report…between 150 and 200 friends on the
system.”
• Vanden Boogart (2006): “The average
respondent had 145 friends at their institution
and 127 friends at other institutions.”
• Golder, Wilkinson, & Huberman (2006): “Of the
4.2 million users in our dataset, we found a
median of 144 friends and mean of 179.53
friends per user.”
Dunbar's number = 150
Dunbar (2002):
“The cognitive
limit to the
number of
individuals with
whom any one
person can
maintain stable
relationships.”
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Pongo_pygmaeus_%28orangutang%29.jpg
Group Activity
What are they doing on Facebook?
What are they doing on Facebook?
Vanden Boogart (2006): “The highest area
for use on Facebook is staying connected
to high school friends. One would expect
more people using Facebook to connect to
college peers; however a very small
percentage (21.1%) are using it for this
purpose.”
Why do they use Facebook?
Bumgarner (2006):
1. Gossip
2. Directory
3. Diversion
4. Voyeurism and exhibitionism
Privacy expectations & awareness
• Acquisti & Gross (2006): “Most of privacy
concerned undergraduates still join the network”
• Govani & Pashley (2005): “Facebook users
generally feel comfortable sharing their personal
information in a campus environment. [Survey]
participants said that they ‘had nothing to hide’
and ‘they don’t really care if other people see
their information.’”
• Jones & Soltren (2005): “Women definitely selfcensor their Facebook data more than men do.”
Prolific “bad” photos?
• Watson, Smith, & Driver (2006): “The
recent media reports indicating student
users of Facebook routinely post
questionable photos on their
sites…appear to be largely unfounded
based on the evidence elicited from this
research study.”
• Results closely replicated by Saunders,
Jamieson, & Hale (2007)
Part 3: Practical implications and
practices
When are students in front of their
computers?
View pages 8 and 9 from Rhythms of Social Interaction paper
Available at
http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/idl/papers/facebook/facebook.pdf
How do we get started?
Brief excerpt from North Carolina State University’s The
Facebook Phenomenon video (specifically, 19:27 – 21:30)
Available at http://ncsu.edu/facebook/
Digital Divide
Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (2007):
• 53% of all US households have high-speed Internet access.
• High-speed services now account for about 72% of all home Internet
subscriptions – compared to 60% last year.
• “While broadband subscriptions continued to increase across the country in
the past year, broadband penetration remains strongly correlated with
household income.”
– 68% of all households with annual incomes over $50,000 subscribe to highspeed access
– 39% of all households with annual incomes under $50,000 subscribe to highspeed access
•
•
•
81% of all US households have at least one computer but only 56% of those
with annual household incomes under $30,000 have a computer at home
45% of households with annual incomes below $30,000 subscribe to an
Internet service at home – compared to 92% of households with annual
incomes above $75,000
7% of all Internet subscribers say that high-speed access is not available in
their area
Participatory Divide
Boyd (in press): “Those who only access their
[MySpace] accounts in schools use it primarily
as an asynchronous communication tool, while
those with continuous nighttime access at home
spend more time surfing the network, modifying
their profile, collecting friends, and talking to
strangers. When it comes to social network
sites, there appears to be a far greater
participatory divide than an access divide.”
Group Activity
How should these tools be used in
hiring (students or staff)?
NYU New Student Orientation
1. Undergraduate Orientation Leader application
statement:
“I understand that, as a UOL, I will be expected to serve
as a role model and be conscious of how I present
myself in all forums, including electronic ones, such as
Facebook and Myspace [sic]….Furthermore, though
any information I have available in an on-line
community will not be formally researched as a part of
the staff selection process, I understand that members
of the selection staff may have accounts and
unintentionally come across my on-line personal
profile.”
NYU New Student Orientation
2. Facebook-related exercises during group
interviews
3. Statement on Orientation Leader
Contract:
“I will be conscious of how I represent
myself in all forums, including electronic
ones, such as Facebook or Myspace [sic].”
Institutional monitoring?
Steinbeck & Deavers (2007):
1. Is the college monitoring its students’
online activities regularly?
2. If the institution monitors this activity,
why has it chosen to do so?
3. Has the college informed its students of
its policy toward monitoring?
Facebook Platform
• Official website:
http://developers.facebook.com/
• Example application: UIUC Library Search
It’s a little “cheesy” but...
The Internet has a Face video from Kansas State
University’s Digital Ethnography Project
Available at http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/?p=102
References
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Acquisti, A., & Gross, R. (2006). Imagined communities: Awareness, information
sharing, and privacy on the facebook. Cambridge, England: 6th Workshop on Privacy
Enhancing Technologies.
boyd, d. (2007). Social network sites: public, private, or what? The Knowledge
Tree(13). Retreived June 11, 2007, from
http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2007/?page_id=28
boyd, d. (in press). Why youth (heart) social network sites: the role of networked
publics in teenage social life. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Identity Volume New York:
McGraw-Hill. Retrieved June 11, 2007, from
http://www.danah.org/papers/WhyYouthHeart.pdf
Cashmore, P.. (2007, May 24). Facebook F8 Live. Mashable. Retrieved June 19,
2007, from http://mashable.com/2007/05/24/facebook-f8-live/
Dunbar, R.I.M. (1992) Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates.
Journal of Human Evolution 22: 469-493.
Golder, S., Wilkinson, D., & Huberman, B. (2006). Rhythms of social interaction:
messaging within a massive online network. Retrieved January 23, 2007, from
http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/idl/papers/facebook/facebook.pdf
Govani, T., & Pashley, H. (2005). Student awareness of the privacy implications
when using facebook. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University. [Student Poster].
Hersh, S. & Hinkle, S. (2007). Shaping the “Facebook” of higher education: Teaching
online street-smarts during new student orientation. Orlando, Florida: 2007
ACPA/NASPA Joint Meeting.
Jones, H., & Soltren, J. H. (2005). Facebook: threats to privacy. Cambridge, MA:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [Unpublished student paper].
References
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Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (2007). Over half of U.S. households subscribe to
broadband internet. Durham, NC: Leichtman Research Group, Inc. [Press release].
Retrieved June 11, 2007, from
http://www.leichtmanresearch.com/press/060707release.html
Levy, S. (2007, May 28). Is Facebook catching up with MySpace? Newsweek.
Retrieved June 11, 2007, from
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18754283/site/newsweek/
McCarthy, Caroline (2007, June 18). FaceBook platform attracts 1,000 developers a
day. CNET News.com. Retrieved June 20, 2007, from
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/FaceBook-platform-attracts-1-000developers-a-day/0,130061733,339278661,00.htm
Steinbeck, S. E. & Deavers, L. M. (2007, April 3). The Brave New World of MySpace
and Facebook. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved June 13, 2007, from
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/04/03/steinbach
Suler, J. (2004). The online disinhibition effect. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7(3).
Vanden Boogart, M. R. (2006). Uncovering the social impacts of facebook on a
college campus. Unpublished Master of Science Thesis, Kansas State University,
Manhattan, Kansas.
Watson, S. W., Smith, Z., & Driver, J. (2006). Alcohol, sex and illegal activities: an
analysis of selected facebook central photos in fifty states. [ERIC Document
ED493049].