9:20 Got Facebook?

Investigating What's Social About Social Media

S. Craig Watkins
University of Texas at Austin
Recent privacy debacle with Facebook
Despite this, a site that young people are found of and use
Lot of research by Craig is looking at young people's engagement with social med
ia
14-15 to late 20s / early 30s
Sociological perspective about social media
Broader social context about social media practices
Environment includes technological and social context
What do people actually do with social media?
What is it about the structure of everyday life that provides parameters for wha
t people do with SM
The fluidity of social media across mobile and web platforms
Parameters of age, gender, class and ethnicity
Different degrees and intensities: more nuanced ways people participate in socia
l platforms
Working with MacArthur Foundation
Recent book The Young and the Digital
Subtitle is that we are beginning to think about what is social about social med
ia
For a lot of researchers, moving beyond if these places are social and thinking
about why - precise ways
Facebook is growing, approaching 500M users
According to data team, 60M status updates per day
55 minutes per day spent online - possible 1.5 to 2 hours
3 billion photos uploaded monthly
When it first started 2004/2005, almost exclusively 18-22 year olds, and by coll
ege students
Age distribution has widened, and uses have widened
Social media behaviours are very particular depending on age
Have different consequences
Digital tipping point is between 13 and 14, teenagers start creating their profi
le, autonomous space and experiences - once you get to high school, large pressu
re to become a member of the online community
Three distinct genres of participation - hanging out with each other to build fr
iendships; to mess around, explore, experiment, learn about different things; ge
eking out, to master technologies, behaviours, digital photography, knowledge (s
tudy from MacArthur)
Tendency to generalise regarding young people but there are nuanced ways they ca
n use these tools
Survey nationally to compare and contrast one unique moment in life cycle - coll
ege years vs. recent college graduates
How does it begin to impact kinds of decisions / practices they make?
905 students, half and half current / recent college students
If you use FB in college, does your usage change once you enter the paying workf
orce
Asked questions regarding community, social capital, types of communication, civ
ic participation, gaming, posting photos
Recognising strategies / usage has evolved
Degree to which they share personal information - not much difference
Political and religious views - see some distinctions
How does context and experiences impact those choices
Who do they communicate with - people who live far away nearby, not much differe
nce
Strong ties and weak ties
Mark Granovetter reference to Strength of Weak Ties and how you can expand your
network, leading to greater social and career mobility
Question of the digital divide, and gulf between technology rich and poor
10 years ago: access gap, now the participation gap
Examining segregated practices and looking at ways FB / MySpace reflect differen
t groups / uses
2-3 years ago, leave high school, leave MySpace, go to college, go to Facebook
Words students used:
MySpace: crowded, trashy, creepy, busy, general public, uneducated, fake, open,
immature, predators, crazy
Facebook: selective, clean, trustworthy, simple, college, educated, authentic, p
rivate, mature, stalker-friendly, addictive
FB has grown more diverse: African Americans increasingly use FB (Black 11%, His
panic 9%, Asian/Pacific Islander 6%)
High percentage of initial FB friends share same race/ethnic identity
Hispanic: 13 hours; Black 12:59 hours; [lost rest, went too fast]
Time spent using a computer a day: hispanic: 1:49; black: [lost rest, went too f
ast]

Asked to rank top three FB activities you use: roughly similar ranking patterns
across different races/ethnicities
More qualitative analysis: see some differences - reference to Facebook Data Sci
ence 2010
There is a degree to which black and latino are much more active on mobile than
white counterparts
"Hardware for accessing the internet by race" Pew Internet
Using mobile to do a wider variety of things - what does this rise of mobile dev
ices mean?
Is it empowerment or are there challenges to think about this kind of experience
@scraigwatkins
theyoungandthedigital.com