What Do People Ask Social Networks?

Meredith Ringel Morris, MSRJaime Teevan, MSR

Katrina Panovich, MIT

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Questions About People’s Questions

• What questions do people ask?– How are the questions phrased?– What are the question types and topics?– Who asks which questions and why?

• Which questions get answered?– How is answer speed and utility perceived?– What are people’s motivations for answering?

What Is Known About Question Asking

• Collaborative search [Morris & Teevan]

• Searching v. asking [Evans et al.; Morris et al.]

• Expertise-finding [vark.com; White et al.; Bernstein et al.]

• Online question answering (Q&A) tools– Question type [Harper et al.: conversational v. informational]

– Response rate [Hseih & Counts: 80%]

– Response time [Zhang et al.: 9 hours; Hseih & Counts: 3 hours]

– Motivation [Raban & Harper; Ackerman & Palen; Beenan et al.]

Survey of Asking via Status Messages

• Survey content– Used a status message to ask a question?• Frequency of asking, question type, responses received• Provide an example

– Answered a status message question?• Why or why not?• Provide an example

• 624 participants– Focus on Facebook and Twitter behavior

Questions About People’s Questions

• What questions do people ask?– How are the questions phrased?– What are the question types and topics?– Who asks which questions and why?

• Which questions get answered?– How is answer speed and utility perceived?– What are people’s motivations for answering?

Questions: Phrasing

• Questions short (75 characters, 1 sentence)• 18.5% of phrased as a statement

I need a recommendation on a good all purpose pair of sandals.

• Often scoped– 1 out of 5 directed to “anyone”

Anyone know of a good Windows 6 mobile phone that won’t break the bank?

– Network subsetHey Seattle tweeps: Feel like karaoke on the Eastside tonight?

Questions: TypesType % Example

Recommendation 29% Building a new playlist – any ideas for good running songs?

Opinion 22% I am wondering if I should buy the Kitchen-Aid ice cream maker?

Factual 17% Anyone know a way to put Excel charts into LaTeX?

Rhetorical 14% Why are men so stupid?

Invitation 9% Who wants to go to Navya Lounge this evening?

Favor 4% Need a babysitter in a big way tonight… anyone??

Social connection 3% I am hiring in my team. Do you know anyone who would be interested?

Offer 1% Could any of my friends use boys size 4 jeans?

Questions: TopicsTopic % Example

Technology 29% Anyone know if WOW works on Windows 7?

Entertainment 17% Was seeing Up in the theater worth the money?

Home & Family 12% So what’s the going rate for the tooth fairy?

Professional 11% Which university is better for Masters? Cornell or Georgia Tech?

Places 8% Planning a trip to Whistler in the off-season. Recommendation on sites to see?

Restaurants 6% Hanging in Ballard tonight. Dinner recs?

Current events 5% What is your opinion on the recent proposition that was passed in California?

Shopping 5% What’s a good Mother’s Day gift?

Philosophy 2% What would you do if you had a week to live?

Missing: Health and Pornography

Religion, Politics, Dating, Finance

Questions: Who Asks WhatType

Recommendation

Opinion

Factual

Rhetorical

Invitation

Favor

Social connection

Offer

Topic

Technology

Entertainment

Home & Family

Professional

Places

Restaurants

Current events

Shopping

Philosophy

men

women

old

young

Twitter

Facebook

Questions: Motives for AskingTopic % Example

Trust 24.8% I trust my friends more than I trust strangers.

Subjective 21.5% Search engine can provide data but not an opinion.Thinks search would fail 15.2% I’m pretty search engine couldn’t answer a question of

that nature.Audience 14.9% Friends with kids, first hand real experience.

Connect 12.4% I wanted my friends to know I was asking the question.

Speed 6.6% Quick response time, no formalities.

Context 5.4% Friends know my tastes.

Tried search 5.4% I tried searching and didn’t get good results.

Easy 5.4% Didn’t want to look through multiple search results.

Quality 4.1% Human-vetted responses.

Questions About People’s Questions

• What questions do people ask?– How are the questions phrased?– What are the question types and topics?– Who asks which questions and why?

• Which questions get answered?– How is answer speed and utility perceived?– What are people’s motivations for answering?

Answers: Speed and Utility

• 94% of questions received an answer• Answer speed– A quarter in 30 minutes, almost all in a day– People expected faster, but satisfied with speed– Shorter questions got more useful responses

• Answer utility– 69% of responses helpful

Answers: Speed and UtilityType

Recommendation

Opinion

Factual

Rhetorical

Invitation

Favor

Social connection

Offer

Topic

Technology

Entertainment

Home & Family

Professional

Places

Restaurants

Current events

Shopping

Philosophy

Fast

Unhelpful No correlation

Answers: Motives for AnsweringMotive % Example

Altruism 37.0 Just trying to be helpful.

Expertise 31.9 If I’m an expert in the area.

Question 15.4 Interest in the topic.

Relationship 13.7 If I know and like the person.

Connect 13.5 Keeps my network alive.

Free time 12.3 Boredome/procrastination.

Social capital 10.5 I will get help when I need it myself.

Obligation 5.4 A tit-for-tat.

Humor 3.7 Thinking I might have a witty response.

Ego 3.4 Wish to seem knowledgeable.

Motives for Not Answering

- Don’t know the answer

- Private topic

- Question impersonal

Answers About People’s Questions

• The questions people ask– Short, directed to “anyone”– Subjective questions on acceptable topics– Social relationships important motivators

• The questions that get answered– Fast, helpful responses, related to length and type– Answers motivated by altruism and expertise

QUESTIONS?Meredith Ringel MorrisJaime TeevanKatrina Panovich

M. R. Morris, J. Teevan, and K. Panovich. What Do People Ask Their Social Networks, and Why? A Survey Study of Status Message Q&A Behavior. CHI 2010.

M. R. Morris, J. Teevan, and K. Panovich. A Comparison of Information Seeking Using Search Engines and Social Networks. ICWSM 2010 (to appear).