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Why people use social networking sites

HCI’09 USA, San Diego

Petter Bae Brandtzæg, SINTEF and UiOJan Heim, SINTEF

RECORD(Telenor, NRK, VIF, Opinion, AHO and SINTEF)

CITIZEN MEDIA Social change, EC IST FP6

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Background

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Trend - Fast growing Social networking sites

Facebook: 200 000 million active users.

More than 100 million users log on at least

once each day

Average user has 120 friends on the site

More than 900 million photos uploaded to the site each month

Source http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

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Limited understanding

boyd and Ellison (2007), pinpoint the limited understanding of who uses SNSs and their purposes for doing so, especially outside the U.S.

Source: boyd, d., Ellison, N.E.: Social Network Sites: Definition, History and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13 (2007)

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Social networking sites - popular in Norway

Norway: 66 % of the internet population (15-75 years) use social networking sites (Brandtzæg, 2009)

US: 35% according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project's December 2008 tracking survey

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Adults-and-Social-Network-Websites.aspx

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But..what is an social networking site?

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SNSs is defined according to boyd and Ellison (2007) as a

“web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a

bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3)

view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system”

boyd, d., Ellison, N.E.: Social Network Sites: Definition, History and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13 (2007)

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SNSs is also an ”all-in-one-place-solution”

eMail

Shopping

News

Mobile Photoalbum

Chat/IM

Blogging

Gaming

VideoTV

SNS

SNSs typical examples of media convergence and ”mashup-solutions” that try to connect all media and services in to one single solution.Brandtzæg, P. B., & Heim, J. (2008). User loyalty and online communities: why members of online communities are not faithful. In Proceedings of the 2nd international Conference on intelligent Technologies For interactive Entertainment (Cancun, Mexico, January 08 - 10, 2008). ICST. Brussels, Belgium, 1-10. ACM digital library

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Different types of Social networking sites

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Trends in Social networking sites

Entertainment

Young people12-17

People

Text based communities

Purpose

Technology

AnonymousPolicies/norms

Older people

Real identity

Education, workbusiness,

politics

Trender

3D, mobile,rich media.

Examples

Brandtzæg, P. B., & Heim, J. (2008). User loyalty and online communities: why members of online communities are not faithful. In Proceedings of the 2nd international Conference on intelligent Technologies For interactive Entertainment, Cancun

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Social networking sites - challenges

User motivation:

ParticipationUser Loyalty

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In the US, MySpace, lost more than 1 million unique users to fall to 63.2 million in 2008

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Reasons to stop using a SNS or using it less than before in %

Brandtzæg, P. B., & Heim, J. (2008). User loyalty and online communities: why members of online communities are not faithful. In Proceedings of the 2nd international Conference on intelligent Technologies For interactive Entertainment (Cancun, Mexico, January 08 - 10, 2008). ICST. Brussels, Belgium, 1-10. ACM digital library

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The Study

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Why people use social networking sites

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Open question to 1200 SNS users (March, 2007)

“What is your most important reason for using social networking sites?”

Mean 16 years

Mean 22 years

Mean 17 years

Mean 29 years

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So…is everything about connections?

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Or… is SNSs used for personal branding and narcissism?

Generation Xtrovert

"This generation wants to be known, they want to be famous," Chris DeWolfe, founder of MySpace.com (Vanity Fair 2006)

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Overview over the user motivations in SNSs in % , number of counts = 1518 (N 1200)

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Pew Internet (2008) findings differ

Online social network applications are mainly used for explaining and maintaining personal networks, and most adults, like teens, are using them to connect with people they already know. 

89% use their online profiles to keep up with friends 57% use their profile to make plans with friends 49% use them to make new friends

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(1) New relations (31%): These users reporting the motivation of seeking new relations and the

opportunity to meet new people

Easy and cheap opportunities for contact with new people are seen as the main incentive

Aware of the danger of “risky contacts,” but more convenient and more exciting to meet new people online

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New relations

Flirting Common interests

Moving to a new district

Lonely

Living in rural area

seeking likeminded

“I meet funnier people online than in my home district” (Boy, 18 years old)

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(2) Friends (21%): Users reporting contact with both close friends and acquaintances

Efficient tool to keep in contact with several friends at the same time

From “one-to-one” to “one-to-many”

Several “friend” motivations

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Friends

Friends on the move

Old school friends

Friend contact

on a new level

Not seen often friends

Long distance,

rural friends

“It is difficult to keep in touch with friends when you live in a small rural area and are ‘shielded from the world.” (Female 16 years old).

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(3) Socializing (14%): sharing of experiences, reporting activities, small-talk and commenting in

each others’ guest books, social support

verbal ping-pong, chit-chat, feeling of being a part of something, of a

community.

I have contact with friends, write in friends’. guest books, comment on peoples’ pictures, send SMS, and submit pictures of myself and things.”

(14 years old, female).

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(4) Information (10%): Fashion, music, literature, cultural events, current happenings in their neighborhood and

people’s opinions related to everything from politics and to more tedious matters

“I get informed about events, publications, and net experiences; at the same time I am making bonds and having discussions with other people. (Male 42 years)

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(5) Debating (6.5%): Users highlighting debate and discussions inside the SNS. This category might

be difficult to separate from “information”

The opportunity to discuss with people their contradictory viewpoints on matters, as described in the following quote:

“It’s the differences between the people that make the discussions, and that’s what I like” (Male, 23 years old).

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Conclusion

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Many different people - many motivational reasons for using SNSs

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11 different reasons and several sub-reasons, all give insight into the personal incentives that drive people to use SNSs

Not personal branding, rather social connections - The social factors most important

Surprisingly “seeking new relations” was a key factor:

Shy people - easier connect online; Searching for new friends - with

common interests; Rural areas - seeking new friendships

with likeminded people; Lonely - searching for new friendships

online

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Fun, profile surfing, time killing

Information, debating

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Social, love, belonging

SNS user's hierarchy of needs

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Future studies

How does different motivational reasons relates to: Gender, age and different social networking sites Long term, cross-cultural patterns

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Thank you

Questions?

This study was supported by the Norwegian research council and EC, IST FP6

More information at: www.sintef.no/recordwww.ist.citizenmedia.org