Results of my summer grad school survey about Facebook

Earlier this summer I developed and conducted a research survey to assess the forms of contact and time invested by participants on Facebook with people they consider ‘weak ties’. Particular attention in the survey was dedicated to exploring whether or not participants share with or receive information from their ‘weak ties’ about relevant professional opportunities. I conducted this survey as my capstone project in the Masters of Communication and Information Studies program at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ.

The survey drew 80 participants. Survey participants hailed from 19 states and territories in the United States, representing a significant geographic dispersion. Nearly half of all participants reported residing in New Jersey, reflecting perhaps one of the limitations of the snowball sampling approach. The age distribution of participants was fairly widespread, with 28% in the 21-25 range, 19% in the 26-30 range, 16% in the 46-50 range, 11% in the 36-40 range, 10% in the 41-45 range, and less than 10% in the 31-35 and 51-55 ranges. Over 60% of respondents reported that they’ve been using Facebook for a year or longer, with another 23% reporting that they’ve used Facebook for seven months or longer.

For my first research question, I was seeking information about how much effort participants invest in maintaining friendships with weak-tie relationships. Survey respondents were asked how often they contact weak-tie associates on Facebook. Nearly 36% of respondents reported “a few times a year” with the next ranked response at 17% as “once or twice a year.” Another 13% responded “once a month.” Judging from these responses, it appears that despite the ease of contact that Facebook permits, a majority of survey respondents do not expend much effort frequently in maintaining contact with their weak-tie associates.

A separate question inquired as to how many weak-tie contacts respondents had ‘Friended’ on Facebook. This question was included in the survey in an effort to provide more information to inform Research question #1. The answers received, however, did not decisively fall at either end of the scale provided. The answer most frequently selected, “71 or more,” received only 27% of responses while another 12% of respondents indicated ‘Friending’ between 51-70 weak-tie associates. In contrast over 37% of respondents indicated ‘Friending’ 20 or less weak-tie associates and another 12% reported 21-30.

For my second research question, I sought to determine the forms of relationship maintenance used most commonly on Facebook with weak-tie associates. Survey respondents were asked to indicate which types of Facebook communication they used to contact their weak-ties and were presented with a list of the 15 most common types of contact on Facebook. Answers that received 50% or more responses were: “send or receive Facebook emails” (73%), “post a message on the contact’s wall” (68%), “send a birthday greeting” (64%), “leave a comment on the contact’s status” (65%), and “review contact’s Facebook page and leave a message on their Wall (53%). Nearly reaching the 50% threshold were the responses for “leave a comment on the contact’s photo(s) (45%).

It is interesting to note that none of the other nine types of Facebook communication received over a 40% response rate and seven received less than 20%. From these responses it may be inferred that despite the wide range of options available Facebook users often utilize a narrow set of communication types to stay in touch with weak-tie contacts. It is also notable that the most frequently selected responses all reflect a high degree of personalization of messages (as opposed to low ranking options such as “give them a Superpoke,” “invite them to events,” “recommend a new friend” and “invite the contact to participate in a Facebook game or respond to an invitation to do so.”). This trend in responses indicates that while respondents may not contact weak-tie associates frequently, when they do so they try to make their communications more personal and/or somewhat substantive.

For my third research question, I looked at whether or not participants exchange vocational information with their weak-tie contacts on Facebook. Survey respondents were asked if they received information from weak-tie contacts about job opportunities in or near their area and only 20% replied ‘yes.’ Of the 20% answering affirmatively, however, a resounding 87% responded that the information they received about job opportunities was both timely and relevant. A separate question asked respondents if they sent information to weak-tie associates about job opportunities and 22% responded that they had.

Considering the preponderance of responses to the question I used to investigate research question #1, in which over 66% indicated that they do not contact weak-tie associates frequently, it should not be a surprise that information about job opportunities is not a frequent subject of communication. Survey results indicate that Facebook is not used by a majority of respondents for sharing information about job opportunities. Yet for the 20% who did report such activity on Facebook, they appear to have found it quite useful.

Pearls Before Swine

Comic strip by Stephan Pastis, printed Nov. 16, 2008
Reprinted with permission from the artist.

A media professional's perspective

For added perspective on the uses of Facebook by non-colleagiates I reached out to Rory O’Connor, a fellow at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, & Public Policy at Harvard University. I learned about Mr. O’Connor from a recent Washington Post story on politics and social networks, in which he commented on how he and his peers are using Facebook.

Mr. O’Connor is the co-founder and president of the media firm Globalvision, and oversees the nonprofit media-watchdog site MediaChannel.org. He is the author of the recently published Shock Jocks: Hate Speech & Talk Radio and co-author of Nukespeak: The Selling of Nuclear Technology in America. A regular online columnist for AlterNet and MediaChannel, O'Connor also writes a blog called "Media Is a Plural." At the Shorenstein Center, he is researching trust, journalism and social networks.

Mr. O’Connor was gracious to respond to three questions I emailed to him about his perspective on Facebook.

Harry: From what you’ve seen, has Facebook had a substantial effect on politics? If so, is it more regional/national or local?

Rory: Absolutely it has. More than substantial, I would say the impact has been tectonic. As the just completed presidential campaign demonstrated, social media such as Facebook have begun to revolutionize politics and campaigning -—and perhaps governing will soon follow. In any event, Obama’s e-campaign will undoubtedly become the template that people study for the next 2-3 years as they prepare for 2012 and beyond. MyBarackObama.com, which was directly modeled on Facebook, was one underpinning of Obama’s success. Also one of Facebook’s founders, as I’m sure you are aware, played a key role in Obama’s Internet strategy and actions.

Harry: Are people past the age of college using Facebook for work? If so, how?

Rory: Yes of course —- people like me! Journalists, for example, are increasingly using social media to assist them in all sorts of ways. Jose Antonio Vargas, the author of the article you cited in the Washington Post, used it during the Virginia Tech shootings last year and it helped his team win a Pulitzer Prize! Jose also gives several examples in his article of people using social media for political work for both Obama and McCain.. And lots of others in various fields now are experimenting now with using different FB approaches and applications —- from targeted ads to promotion and marketing to forming groups, etc..

Harry: Is Facebook increasing _active_ social connections between those past the age of college? If yes, how?

Rory: Yes, Facebook offers what is called ‘bridging’ social capital -- networks of ties and connections that are looser but more extensive than those we have with family and close friends (i.e. ‘bonding’ social capital) FB has made it extraordinarily easy to form groups (due to its low ‘transactional cost’) and as a result -— now that the site has opened to all —- has greatly facilitated adults past college age in finding and connecting to ‘old’ friends and acquaintances they might have lost touch with in the past. As a result, it’s now easier than ever before to stay actively in touch with literally hundreds of people in a ‘loose, extensive’ network of social ties — something that was previously much more difficult.

Affiliations and applications

Weeks ago I wrote on this blog that, as some news reports indicated, certain companies were using Facebook as a place to recruit new employees and to (passively) promote their products. With the help of a couple of weeks worth of Google News alerts for 'Facebook', I've learned about a few more ways that organizations are working creatively on Facebook.

Companies' activities on Facebook range from the fuzzy to the focused, from soft branding to serious promotion. The West Midlands Police Department in the United Kingdom is posting information on how to stay safe at night, advice on crime prevention, and photo albums of police dogs on their Facebook group page (Timesonline, Oct. 16th), in an effort to reach out to young people. Over 300 people have joined the group within a few weeks of its creation.

As I heard from my MCIS colleague David Spira (aka the Geek Whisperer), a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary formed a Facebook product page for "ADHD Moms" - - as an online forum for for mothers of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The page offers monthly essays with practical active, downloadable podcasts, article downloads of success stories, and a poll. The ADHD Moms Facebook page has over 5,500 fans.

Facebook applications are a fertile territory for businesses to seek new brand awareness and new customers. According to an article on MarketingProfs.com (Nov. 4th: sorry, premium membership access only), Travel Channel's "Kidnap!" application has become a case study in subtle & successful promotion on Facebook. Launched this past August, "Kidnap!" lets Facebook users 'kidnap' their friends who then must answer trivia questions about the hideout's location to escape. Users receive a virtual passport with links to pages on Travel Channel's website, which describe travel highlights of the locations mentioned in the game. The article reports that the Travel Channel application has over 2.4 million users, is one of the top 30 Facebook applications, and directs about 60,000 clicks to the Travel Channel website each day.

On the other hand, sometimes a company's Facebook application can create negative buzz. A posting on CNET News takes Pizza Hut to task for its Facebook application, which (the author contends) is basically a retread of the pizza ordering capability available on Pizza Hut's website. The author criticizes Pizza Hut further because, once a pizza is ordered through the application, a notice is sent to all the requester's friends: "X has logged on to order from Pizza Hut!"

An encouraging postscript to the CNET rant about Pizza Hut - in a footnote to the original posting, the author reports that (within about 24 hours!) Pizza Hut contacted him and promised to retool the application so it would be less intrusive. I give Pizza Hut a lot of points for their openness to criticism and their promptness in responding.

A researcher's perspective

To broaden my perspective on non-collegiates’ uses of Facebook, I interviewed (via email) Devan Rosen. A member of the Department of Speech at the University of Hawaii in Manoa, Professor Rosen has researched the impact of media consumption on social networking site (SNS) behavior, as well as cultural trends in user behavior. He is currently looking at the means by which people negotiate available resources via SNS and other Web 2.0 technologies.

HG: From your studies or observations, what can you say about uses of Facebook by non-collegiates?

DR: They use them very similarly to non-collegiates. The Internet has revolutionized the way that we interact with information, and transformed the way we each communicate with other. Instead of the antiquated injection model of media, media companies are harnessing the interactivity of communication technologies to bring the audience into the experience.

HG: Are there overall trends worth noting?

DR: Well, regarding the notion of “private,” there are some interesting trends, especially a willingness to participate in non-directed self-disclosure. I think it is more related to a rethinking of what it means to be “private.” If someone does not think that sharing intimate details of their day-to-day experiences in a blog is an invasion of their privacy, then it is not related to being shy. They still may be shy, but don’t consider the information to be private, thus not violating the context that they would normally be “shy” in.

Our findings do support the relationship between consumption of socially rewarding reality television and the likelihood to engage in what we call “promiscuous friending”, as well as engage in other Web 2.0 applications like sharing photos of oneself online. Promiscuous friending is where a social networking site (SNS) user accepts someone as a friend that they have not actually met. In this situation a stranger now has access to the private content of your personal SNS page as well as their other friends’ personal SNS site.

HG: Are non-collegiates most likely to be using the website for socializing, games, professional networking, and/or other functions?

DR: In most cases using SNS and other Web 2.0 applications augment physical interactivity by allowing users to keep closer connections to their weak ties, or people that are not close friends and family, rather that replacing physical with intellectual. It is easy to loose touch with people in ones social network that are not strong ties, so having access to communication technologies that assist in the maintenance of weak ties allows us to utilize a larger portion of our social network, at a much lower time and effort “cost.”

These technologies are providing a much richer toolbox for us to maintain, plan, and keep track of our social lives. In turn we are becoming much better at knowing how to utilize our social network to gain access to resources, from travel recommendations to emotional support. Every individual in our social networks represents a resource, and having a cogent knowledge of how to enable those resources makes us more successful social beings.

HG: Major advertisers have taken note of Facebook and begun placing ads, creating groups or product pages, etc. In your opinion, are these effective?

DR: Yes. People can now target, with remarkable specificity, the consumers that they need to reach. Then these sites allow for a viral spread of product support.

HG: Politicians have also taken note of Facebook and created groups or profile pages. News media articles will occasionally note the size of one candidate's page vs. her/her opponent's. In your opinion, besides the PR value, are these pages having a substantial effect?

DR: Traditionally, media content is the product of media companies, but new user-created and user-focused online platforms such as wikis, blogs, social networking sites, and media sharing sites allow for an increased notion of individual media ownership, and thus personal investment in media content. This makes the big wigs very, very nervous; those who control content control culture, and there is big money on controlling culture, as well as political discourse.

HG: Anything else you can tell me on this topic?

DR: SNS are allowing people to find solidarity with those that they have affiliations with, from sailing groups to displaced refugees. It is this sort of self-organization that is where the Internet shines. If we are indeed only a few degrees of separation from every other person on the planet, being able to navigate the small world becomes the conundrum. The Internet is the roadmap to the small world. We can find those that are like us, but can also discover those that are not. The Internet enables global awareness.

Mistakes magnified

Apparently one major effect of Facebook is that it enables non-collegiates to embarrass themselves or their peers to wider audiences, with greater ease.

An education reporter at the Vancouver Sun in Canada reported on a small Facebook-aided brouhaha in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school district. For some reason, one of the school trustees rested his head on his arms during a district parent advisory council meeting. The vice chair of the council took a photo, posted it on Facebook, and titled it: “Paperless board meeting, $25,000. Trustee asleep … priceless.” The school board put out a release later, claiming that the board member was not asleep at the meeting.

You’ve got to wonder about two things here – the common sense (or lack thereof) a council vice chair who posts an unflattering photo of a colleague on a widely popular social networking site and the wisdom of the school board, which increased the visibility of the posting by issuing a news release.

The Herald Sun, “Australia’s biggest selling daily newspaper” (so they say), ran a story on October 10th about a newsreader at the 3AW radio station who failed to show up on time to read the news. She told management that she had ‘computer problems’ but when the IT dept. investigated they found that she was using Facebook at the time.

I mentioned in a posting two weeks ago about the English cad who left his wife for an old flame who he reunited with on Facebook. The ex-wife discovered Facebook’s role in the sorry saga by reading a Wall posting between her ex and the old/new lover. Her ex is a quite sloppy and insensitive fellow, if you ask me.

In late September Salon.com posted a long article entitled “Old people Facebook disasters.” In the article Michael Martin shares a number of tales that make you want to wince on behalf of the subjects. In one a 30-year-old filmmaker went to delete a potty- humor video that someone else posted on her Wall. She accidentally hit ‘Forward’ instead and Facebook sent the video to all her Facebook friends. Ouch!

In another story a 37 year old mom reacted quickly to a news story about then new VP nominee Sarah Palin and her pregnant daughter, posting in her status update that she “feel less of a woman that I have never slept with a Levi or a hockey player.” It occurred to her afterwards that all her Friends, including her 13-year-old nephew, could see her snarky comment.

Why are all these seemingly sensible people, with important responsibilities, committing such glaring gaffes on Facebook?

I surmise that for some, it may simply be a lack of familiarity with the features of the service and what they really do. Others may be careless, no matter what communication medium they use. For some, though, the explanation may be youth-envy. As Salon.com’s Martin explains: “Starved of the sociosexual drama of their teens and 20’s, people over 30 are eager to join the confessional zeitgist and thus become careless.” I think Martin makes a good point.

Two more case studies

In the interest of investigating how non-collegiates use Facebook ‘in real life,’ I sent two personal associates – one, a friend in my community and the other, a business contact – a few questions about their use of Facebook.

I asked:
1)Do you use Facebook for work (either for job tasks or professional networking)? If so, how? Is it useful?
2)Do you use Facebook to stay in touch with close friends? If yes how? Is it useful?
3)Do you use Facebook to re-establish contact w/old friends? If yes, how? Is Facebook better than other methods for this?
4)How else do you use Facebook?

Here’s what I learned.

Julie McGee Verbaro is the vice president for sales at a printing company based in northern New Jersey. She wrote:

I only use Facebook for social reasons only. For networking I would use LINKED-IN (I think that's what its called). I am on that but hardly ever use it.

I love finding old friends from college and keeping in touch with current friends on day to day stuff - love looking at photos and letting them know what is new with me instead of emailing everyone. it's a one stop shop!

I have also been contacted by friends of friends and now I am close with them too. It’s really fun.

I send birthday cards on Facebook so now I don't forget friend’s birthdays, I try out some of the quizzes and am learning about more features each time I go on.

Avi Mandelbaum works for a local outlet of a major national pharmacy chain. He wrote:

No I haven't used Facebook for my regular job. However, when I was working last year as Youth Director (of a local synagogue), I was able to create a Facebook group only for the synagogue’s youth. This group was very helpful getting information about events to our target demographic. It was much easier than calling, and more effective than mail because of the automatic reminders facebook has.

I don't use it for staying in touch with close friends. Close friends get phone calls, and face to face treatment. While I do communicate over Facebook with my close friend, I wouldn't say it is to "stay in touch."

I've been able to find many friends from Elem. School, High School, Yeshiva (religious school) in Israel, and my college days, and my days in N.C.S.Y. (National Council of Synagogue Youth – a synagogue –based youth program for teenagers). I wouldn't have found them any other way. I find them by looking through lists of friends of people who I'm already friends with, and just searching for people wondering what they're up to. I do think it's preferable because I, and they, can post life cycle events (children, birthdays and the such) and keep large amounts of people in the loop. Without that, calling everyone would take too long, mailing letters or cards too expensive. E-mail could do the same, but you wouldn't have a way to find everyone's e-mail address. Also, with the "news feed" you can keep up on status updates from friends, and are able to know what they've got going on, and the other way around. It's really nice.

I use some of the games, movie trivia, parking wars, and I also use the photo posting sections. Most of these are to simply allow my friends to know what's going on in my life, and in the life of my family.