This paper was presented at CSCW in Banff, Canada, Nov 4-8, 2006.

Authors:

  • Cliff Lampe (Michigan State University)
  • Nicole Ellison (Michigan State University)
  • Charles Steinfield (Michigan State University)

Overview of Facebook usage by MSU undergraduates:

  • 96% of MSU undergrads have Facebook pages.
  • They spend an average of 30 minute/day on FB.
  • Only 5% think that professors are looking at their page.
  • For the most part, they think it is only MSU students and high school friends looking at their page.

Why do they use Facebook?

  • They keep in touch with their high school friends (abandoned social networks)
  • They check out pages of people they already know or have met offline
  • They get information on classmates and people in their dorm/fraternity
  • ** All of these communications have is a strong tie to an offline network based on geography
  • They do not use it for finding dates, random hook-ups, or for making new friends.

Changes since Facebook started?

  • There is a heightened awareness of how public it is (because the interfaces is changing and related news coverage) and therefore there is more concern about privacy settings.

Big open question:

  • What does “friend” on these sites mean?

My thoughts:

I think that “friend” on a SN site is just a label for someone you know at any level. Scott Golder’s paper Rhythms of Social Interaction: messaging within a massive online network looks at how many of your “friends” you communicate with within Facebook and finds that it isn’t many of them!

I am intrigued that people do not use FB to meet new people. They are using it in ways that I can imagine using it myself.