Discussions Socialization

Discussions and Socialization Forums Social Networking

UofS Social Computing Presenter: Mayya Sharipova

Outline { Forums

Lurking z System dynamics in mass interaction z Hazing in online communities z

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networking

Motives and uses of Facebook z Social media z

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Forums z Lurking {

Lurking- definition

One of the ‘silent majority’ in a electronic forum; one who posts occasionally or not at all but is known to read the group's postings regularly.

Nonnecke, B., & Preece, J. (2000). Lurker demographics: Counting the silent. Proceedings of CHI 2000. The Hague: ACM.

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Forums z Lurking { They

Lurking- why care?

are majority(90%) { Improvements in usability, design, tools { Potential customers

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Forums z Lurking 1. 2. 3. 4.

Research questions

How prevalent? (Health vs. Software) No posting vs. minimal level of posting Lurking number of forum members Lurking traffic level

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Forums z Lurking { { { {

Methodology

109 DL (discussion lists- DL messages are received as an email) DL – subscription mechanism Information can be accessed by querying DL server 3 month period

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Forums z Lurking

Results (1)

1. How prevalent? (Health vs. Software)

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Forums z Lurking

Results (2)

2. No posting vs. minimal level of posting

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Forums z Lurking

Results (3)

3. Lurking number of forum members

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Forums z Lurking

4. Lurking traffic level

negative correlation (Pearson-0.426)

Results (4)

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Forums z Lurking { {

Discussion

Are lurkers free-riders? (any benefit from them) How much traffic level is acceptable?

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Forums z

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System dynamics

System dynamics in mass interaction

Mass interaction can be understood in terms of system dynamics

Quentin Jones & Gilad Ravid, Sheizaf Rafaeli

An Empirical Exploration of Mass Interaction System Dynamics: Individual Information Overload and Usenet Discourse Proceedings of the 35th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2002

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Forums z

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System dynamics ?

System dynamics

System dynamics is an approach to understanding the behaviour of complex systems over time. Features: use of feedback loops and stocks and flows. These elements help describe how even seemingly simple systems display baffling nonlinearity.

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Forums z

Research hypotheses

System dynamics

As the overloading of massinteraction increases, users will: 1. 2. 3.

generate simpler responses fail to respond end active participation

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Forums z

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Methodology

System dynamics

600 Usenet newsgroups 2,652,552 messages collected over the 6-months from 1st August 1999 to 29th February 2000 Algorithm to identify reply messages- containing “Re…”, “>”,human reviewers Algorithm to identify parent messages

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Forums z

System dynamics As the overloading of massinteraction increases, users will:

1. generate simpler responses Zipf like curve

Results (1)

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Forums z

Results (2)

System dynamics As the overloading of massinteraction increases, users will:

2. fail to respond

Simpler messages are more likely to seed a new discussion; are able to predict 63.57% of cases

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Forums z

Results (3)

System dynamics As the overloading of massinteraction increases, users will:

3. end active participati on Zipf like curve

% of posters who also posted to the next study month

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Discussion

System dynamics

Information overload has an observable impact on mass interaction discourse dynamics System dynamics approach can be used for examining group-level usability

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Forums z Hazing

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Hazing as a Process of Boundary Maintenance in an Online Community

Hazing -subjecting potential group members to degrading initiation rituals

Courtenay Honeycutt (2005)

Hazing as a Process of Boundary Maintenance in an Online Community

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Forums z Hazing

Transmitting cultural capital

Boundary Maintenance Controlling access

Threat/use of violence

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Forums z Hazing {

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Background

The Case Study: The XFilesaholics- online message board 299 members with 40 members posting regularly Initiation ritual of granting couch cushion toothbrush/ice block welcoming ritual

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Forums z Hazing {

Research question

How do the in-group members of the XFilesaholics discursively utilize the toothbrush/ice block directive to maintain the community's boundaries?

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Forums z Hazing {

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Methogology

joining and welcoming threads of approximately 300 individuals between January 18, 1998 and March 31, 2001 were collected computer-mediated discourse analysis (CMDA) techniques data were searched for three key words : clean, scrub, and toothbrush.

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Forums z Hazing

Results

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Forums z Hazing {

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Discussion

The X-Filesaholics demonstrate both a growing self-awareness of themselves as a community and understanding of their boundaries and how they expect newcomers to behave before they are allowed membership in the group. They were engaging in hazing to protect the online space and the cultural status quo. They used threat or use of violence, transmitting cultural values, and controlling access to maintain their boundaries

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SN z Facebook

SNS- social networking sites Definition

Web-based services that allow individuals to: { construct public profile { articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection { view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system

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SN z Facebook

SNS- social networking sites

July 2007: { SNS- 5 of the top 15 most visited sites { Facebook- 30 mil. users { MySpace – 100 mil. users

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SN z Facebook

Motives and uses of Facebook

Adam N. Joinson

‘Looking at’, ‘Looking up’ or ‘Keeping up with’ People? Motives and Uses of Facebook CHI 2008 Proceedings · Online Social Networks April 5-10, 2008 · Florence, Italy

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SN z Facebook {

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Methodology

Exploratory stage- 137 Facebook users; generated phrases how they used Facebook and what they enjoyed Identifying uses and gratifications- phrases from 1-st stage were coded into 46 items which were rated (Likert scale) by 241 Facebook users

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SN z Facebook

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Results (1)

Exploratory stage

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SN z Facebook

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Results (2)

Identifying uses and gratifications

Likert scale- max- 7 (most important)

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SN z Facebook

Results (3)

Identifying uses and gratifications. Other factors: { { { { { {

Posting and viewing of photographs Status updates Meeting “like-minded” people Social network surfing (of old friends) Social investigation (new people) Interesting content (applications/quizzes)

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SN z Facebook

Results (4)

Predicting the use of Facebook {

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content gratification predicted the amount of time spent on the site the use of the site for social investigation, viewing and posting photographs and status updates predicted the frequency of visits

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SN z Social media

Social networking Social media

Danah Boyd

"Social Media is Here to Stay... Now What?“ Microsoft Research Tech Fest, Redmond, 26 February 2009

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SN z Social media {

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Claims (1) Network effects

Technology’s feature set is not a key to its adoption and popularity What important is network effect, whether this is the place whether your friends hang out Negative consequences - Friendster Positive- Facebook

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SN z Social media {

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Claims (2) What youth does in SN is different from what adults do

Teenagers- hang out place with friends (preexisting groups); decorating their profiles Adults are not hanging out, they use SNS as for their intended purposes as a social utility (communicating with the past) Why consider difference is important? z

Design (decoration in the Facebook is poor)

Claims (3) {

SN z Social media

How is social media reconfiguring social infrastructure and where is all of this going?

5 properties of Social Media: { { { { {

Persistence Replicability Searchability Scalability (de)locatability

Claims (3) {

SN z Social media

How is social media reconfiguring social infrastructure and where is all of this going?

3 dynamics of Social Media: { {

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Invisible Audiences Collapsed Contexts – difficult to figure what is appropriate Blurring of Public and Private

End Discussion