Kathleen Ferguson | 3114056

Social Networking

Defined

“web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public

or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list

of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view

and traverse their list of connections and those made by others

within the system.”

(boyd & Ellison, 2007)

Layman’s Terms

Social networking exists in the online

environment and allows individuals to

connect with people, share thoughts,

feelings, photos,

videos and audio.

Social

Networking

in 5 Words

Recipe to Social Network

Ingredients:

Social network site of your choosing

Personality

Friends

Photos, videos and any other visual aids

Thoughts & feelings

Method:

Join a social networking site –Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc., if you haven’t already. Add a handful of friends and stir. Season with a little personality. Upload photos, videos and any other visual aids to assist in your profile’s development. Whisk in your thoughts & feelings into multiple status updates. Voila!

A key ingredient to social networking is...

Or

Impression Management

Social networking & impression management

go hand in hand.

Impression Management:

Refers to the process of consciously controlling information in order to lead others’ opinions or perceptions

in favour of personal or social goals.

We could call this, ‘self PR?’

When we construct a

profile on our social

networking site, we are

controlling what

information we want

people to know about

ourselves; we are

managing the

impression we make on

other people.

Social media endorses impression management.

How

The process of collating information to

present in your personal profile is called

impression management.

“Profiles tell us how people choose to

portray themselves when asked explicitly to

do so.”

(Barash, et al., 2010)

“By looking at others’ profiles, teens get a sense of what types of presentations are socially appropriate; others’ profiles provide critical cues about what to present on their own profile”.

(boyd, 2007)

Learning how to manage impressions is a

valuable social skill acquired only through

experience. This process begins as

children and further develops as adults.

(boyd, 2007)

As social networks are still a relatively new

technology, the process of impression

management within these sites is still a

new concept.

In the context of social networking

sites, body language and tone of voice are

not immediately visible and the skills

people need to interpret situations

and manage impressions are

different.

(boyd, 2007)

Although we try to manage impressions, often

people may misinterpret what we are trying to

convey.

When we post status updates or tweets, we encode a

certain message we wish to portray.

However, our declared friends may

decode our message in the

unintended way.

There are 5 identified dimensions

of impression management.

(Barash, et al., 2010)

Ingratiation

A conscious attempt to beautify or perfect one’s image in the eyes of another.

2Intimidation

Enough said...

Self-promotion

Exemplification (appearing

virtuous)

Supplication (looking weak to engender help)

Another key ingredient to social networking is...

FRIENDS!!!!!

Facebook friends, or friends in any other

social networking site, interact with, and

provide feedback to your profile and

postings.

Golder, et al.

recently conducted

a study on Facebook

and found that

users only ‘poke’

and message a small

number of people,

despite the large

amount of declared

‘Facebook friends’.

(Golder, et al., 2007: Huberman, et al. 2009)

So why all the friends, if you aren’t

going to interact with them?

It all has to do with popularity,

self-esteem and acceptance. The

more friends we declare on our

profile, the cooler we look...

...or so we like to think!

This then leads us to self-esteem!

Yes, self-esteem issues are present in online

social networks as well. Sorry people, we

can’t escape them!

Research has found self-

esteem levels in adolescence

who social network are

directly related to the tone of

responses received to

information posted on

personal profiles...

(Pempek et al., 2009)

As such, adolescence groups engage with

social networking sites to gauge peer opinions

of themselves and to seek peer acceptance

which ultimately leads to the formation of one’s

identity.

(Pempek et al., 2009)

Although, let’s face it, the cool

kids would never say, cool at

school.

By early 2006, many

considered

participation on the

key social network

site, MySpace, esse

ntial to being seen

as cool at school.”

(boyd, 2007, p.1)

“

Did you know?

People who receive attention from multiple

people will post more often than people who

receive little attention.

(Huberman, et al. 2009)

As a result, people with more declared friendswill network more frequently.

This can be likened to life outside of social media, those who have more friends will socialise more, than those who do not.

Random Fact # 1

Across the globe

over the past

year (2010)

average time

spent on social

networking sites

grew from 3

hours per month

to 5.5 hours.”

(Joe’s Blogg, 2011)

“

Random Fact # 2

In 2011, Facebook’s user-base hit in

excess of 640 million users – half of

which login daily.

(Joe’s Blogg, 2011)

Random Fact # 3

Facebook was

the most-

searched term

in 2010 for the

second year

running.”

(Charlton, 2011)

“

And there you have it.

Social networking online is

here to stay.

Although there are so many deeper

elements to social networking, at the end

of the day the beauty is, communicating

with friends is now easier than ever.

For an interesting video on social

media facts for 2011, click the

image below.

Referencesboyd, dm & Ellison, NB 2007, ‘Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol 13, no. 1, viewed 19 October 2011, <http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html >.Pempel, TA, Yermolayeya YA, Calvert SL 2009, ‘College students’ social networking experiences on Facebook’, Journal of Applied Development Psychology, vol. 30, pp. 227-238.

Joe, 2010, Joe’s Blogg, weblog, viewed 20 October 2011, <http://www.joesblogg.com/2010/03/social-media-usage-statistics-2010/>.

Charlton, G, 2011, Econsultancy Digital Marketers United, weblog, viewed 20 October 2011, <http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/8175-10-fantastic-facebook-infographics>.

boyd, d 2007, ‘Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life’, MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Learning – Youth, Identity, and Digital Media Volume, (ed. David Buckingham). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Barash, V, Ducheneaut, N, Isaacs, E & Bellotti, V, 2010, ‘Faceplant: Impression (Mis)management in Facebook Status Updates’, Proceedings of the Fourth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, Association of Artificial Intelligence, pp. 207-210

Huberman, BA, Romero, DM & Wu, F 2009, ‘Social networks that matter: Twitter under the microscope’, Peer Reviewed Journal on the Internet, vol. 14, no. 1-5