Current research suggests the average person uses Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) primarily to engage with people with whom they share some standing relationship. This is consistent with Facebook's own manifesto that states Facebook is for friends. The question is, what constitutes "Friendship"?
As part of a research project I'm conducting on the Gold Coast in Australia that seeks to understand how young people are using social network sites, this issue of Friendship (capital F to denote the Facebook usage of the term) is a central concern. On Facebook, Friendship describes a vast array of relationships: family, colleagues, clients, lovers (past and present), and a litany of long lost school chums. This is clearly a different version of friendship from what we traditionally have understood the term to mean.
Once you begin to treat friends as a sort of audience, the issue of privacy seems trivial. You’ll share content (pictures, updates, wall posts) based on what is appropriate in what context. Of course, the problem is that there is no one context or singular audience we’re pursuing. Our audience is diverse, and what may interest (or amuse) one of our Friends might well offend another. The young people in my qualitative study are, contrary to popular discourse, extremely sensitive to this tension and the inherent risks involved.
For example, one 19-year-old participant, let’s call her "Charlotte" (participants are de-identified for ethical reasons), explained that she was extremely conscious about her online privacy and had always been careful to Friend (as a verb) only people she was familiar and in regular contact with, restricting all profile information to Friends. After using Facebook for a few years, however, inevitably Charlotte had met and Friended many people she no longer had contact with. To resolve this potential gap in her privacy net, Charlotte conducted what she calls a "Friendship cull," essentially going through her list of Facebook Friends and deleting ones that she no longer had regular contact with.
Another user, 21-year-old "Debra," explained that she keeps her MySpace and Facebook profiles public but doesn’t divulge any sensitive information. What constitutes sensitive information, however, is open to debate. Despite this public strategy, Debra is very stringent when it comes to making or accepting Friend requests, and only Friends people with whom she shares a meaningful social relationship. In two very different ways, Charlotte and Debra are both conscious about their privacy and have strategies in place to manage what they share online and with whom they share it.
In a 2008 study published in the Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, Zeynep Tufecki found that while users of social network sites were not "overly worried" about online privacy, they did -- consistent with my own research and observations -- demonstrate a complexity in managing that privacy nonetheless. It seems as though people aren't overly concerned about their privacy, because they feel they have it under control.
In one way or another, every person I’ve spoken to has some personal sense of what constitutes Friendship on a social network site. Having these strategies in place gives people a sense of practical control over their online social spaces. The fact that the data we input into these sites is being stored and used for commercial and advertising purposes doesn't worry people either -- it's almost a given.
Thus, privacy on social network sites is inherently tied up with issues like intended audience (who we think is visiting our page) and what constitutes Friendship. Privacy is much more complex than ensuring the right profile controls are managed correctly, and at the end of the day it is the individual user who is responsible for what she puts online and whom she calls Friends.
— Brady Robards, PhD candidate and lecturer in Cultural Sociology, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia
Yes, Brady, I believe research done on the entire spectrum of users, disregarding age and gender, would be more useful and more according to this century.
Some decades ago it would be unheard of seeing a mother and her 14 year-old son sharing the same network and friends. Today you can find that case on Facebook, among others. Farmville and all those applications have users of all ages too, sharing, commenting, making friends and interacting with each other despite their age difference.
The gap between generations is being narrowed, this is a good sign of social integration. More and more older people are willing to learn and use the Internet, join social networks, discussion forums or write blogs.
In that light, how come only the opinion or experience of students concerning social media would be valid? Would it be fair to ignore the rest of the users because they are over 25?
I understand your point concerning your thesis, though. I will be looking forward to reading and commenting more on your research.
I would be happy to continue these discussions. :)
The 'people collectors' or those looking to amass large numbers of Friends are, possibly, on the decline. Of course there will always be people out there with large networks of contacts (social butterflies), and similarly there will always be people with just a few close friends. As with many of the other issues related to Facebook, the issue itself isn't necessarily new it's just the format that has changed.
However, having said all that -- yes, I noticed people go on Friending rampages from the early stages of MySpace, and I'm sure it happened on earlier sites like Friendster too. What I've been noticing lately, though, is the reverse trends -- being more selective with Friending, for instance.
On your comment re: demographics, Susan, you certainly have a good point. Research needs to be done on the entire spectrum of users. When I'm finished with my PhD I personally can't wait to start interviewing grandparents who are on Facebook, and to begin to unpack the issues there. Motivation, adoption, sense of privacy, sense of continuity with other forms of communication, perception of relationship with children/grandchildren, and so on! However, at this stage, I have to be quite specific with my research lest it become too broad. Thus, my focus is on the intersection between youth studies/internet studies and post-subcultural theory. For my thesis to be passed, it has to attend to specific issues. So for now that is my focus, but in the future I look forward to broadening those research horizons!
Thanks for all the comments and feedback -- feel free to email me if anyone would like to continue these discussions: b.robards@griffith.edu.au
Your article is a very interesting illustration of today's social networking which is not other but a reflection of today's society. Nevertheless, I wouldn't have conducted the research only among certain age participants but in all ages. Why? Because that would tell more about today's society and the real influence of social networks. Facebook "people collectors", as I call them, can be any age.
The question is, what constitutes "Friendship"?
I started to believe that the meaning we used to give to the words friend and friendship has changed since on Facebook anyone can be called "Friend". To "Friend" and "Unfriend" people is almost done without too much thinking by many people. What I call "people's collectors" are those who love to add anyone just for adding as many people a possible to their thousands of Friends.
It would be interesting to know what those people think about friendship and privacy.
Some people might say they want to network but the funny thing is that they never contact their new friends, they probably forget about them too. So yes, it's all about having an audience and feeling popular in a fantasy world.
I believe Facebook has lots to do with helping people's collectors to add more numbers to their collections with the "suggestions" that appear on your profile and you never know what links them to you. Those suggestions are quite annoying.
Back to your article, I think you have a very good topic there and a follow up would be interesting too.
Did you talk to the people who are looking for popularity on Facebook and add everyone, just to have several thousands friends? It would be interesting to know how they think about privacy issues and what kind of content they download at their profiles.
I certainly agree with your observations Ira and James, that many people do not fully understand the extent to which their information (and images) are being stored and eventually disseminated - not only by Facebook or third-parties, but by the people we trust, our Friends! Thus, the onus must be placed on the individual.
And to Eduardo, yes - there have been a few quantitative studies in different fields to determine the upper limits of how many people we can maintain relationships with. Of course each individual will have different limits and preferences. What I've found is that yes people may have 500 or more Friends on Facebook, but in fact may only have 'regular' (at least once a week or so) exchanges with around 5 - 20 people. The people I interview often describe their Friends in terms of circles or tiers - with an inner group of Friends with whom they have regular contact and a peripheral group that they engage with rarely. Of course this is the same kind of structure that exists in our daily lives! So I think it's important to notice the term 'Friend' in the context of social network sites is very different to the traditional of notion of friendship which implies some sense of closeness or intimacy.
According to sociologist, persons have a limit number for social relationships. Dumbar´s number (150) its the maximum number of individuals with whom any one person can mantain stable relationships. I dont know whats the average number of Friends people keep in facebook but Im sure that a part of it is not a relationship as we know.
It really boils down to this: FaceBook is totally aware of the loopholes in the privacy and stored personal data information format they currently have in place.The audience either is ignorant to the possible implications that the TOS contract states, or the risk/reward is worth it to continue their membership.
There has been much speculation that FaceBook will go public this year. If so, the TOS will double in size once corporate attorneys get a hold of it, in an attempt to remain free from a litany of class action lawsuits that could involve millions of subscribers.
I've tightened my controls now. I used to leave my pictures opened to friend of friends because that's what I used to see if a friend of a friend was someone I knew and was looking for, so I felt if someone was looking for me through Facebook, I should do the same. But like at another social site, Hi5, the strangers started and "camgirls" as I call them, started showing up wanting to be my friend. I always felt if the requests were legit, one would send an introductory message first listing reasons why they wanted to Friend me.
But when I'm searching for old friends, I'm blocked by these very same privacy controls. Looking at the pictures is how I determine if I found the right person.Some people are wide open, but that's becoming rarer. So I have to send a message now asking if they are the person I'm looking for and apologizing if not.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
The US National Security Agency learned the hard way that it can be dangerous to give a contractor too much money and access, with too little scrutiny. The NSA and other government agencies hire tens of thousands of contractors
a year to analyze data. Edward Snowden -- who revealed himself as the NSA leaker after fleeing the country -- was one such contractor, reportedly holding a $122,000 salaried position at Booz Allen Hamilton at the time of his departure.
Midsize businesses rarely achieve the same standards of security in their own datacenters as professional providers that specialize in delivering these services to organizations.
Big-data and analytics tools enable marketers to understand customers as individuals, identifying unmet needs and addressing each customer as a "segment of one," says John Kennedy, VP corporate marketing, IBM.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Monaco kicked into high gear today, and we've already begun to see news emerging from that lovely city-state by the sea.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
your weekly update of news, analysis, and
opinion from Internet Evolution - FREE! REGISTER HERE
Wanted! Site Moderators Internet Evolution is looking for a handful of readers to help moderate the message boards on our site – as well as engaging in high-IQ conversation with the industry mavens on our thinkerNet blogosphere. The job comes with various perks, bags of kudos, and GIANT bragging rights. Interested?
To save this item to your list of favorite Internet Evolution content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
Email This
