Faceted Identity, Faceted Lives Sep.30.2010 Shelly D. Farnham, Ph.D. Yahoo! Elizabeth F. Churchill, Ph.D. Yahoo! Research http://www.flickr.com/photos/23045224@N04/2645051915/ Social and Technical Issues in Being Yourself Online
Jul 15, 2015
Faceted Identity, Faceted Lives
Sep.30.2010Shelly D. Farnham, Ph.D.
Yahoo!
Elizabeth F. Churchill, Ph.D.
Yahoo! Research
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23045224@N04/2645051915/
Social and Technical Issues in Being Yourself Online
12/2/2010
Industry Research as Social Scientists
Domain• Communication, collaboration
• Social networks, groups, communities, mobile social
Understanding users• Individuals
• Pairs, groups, communities, networks
Social engineering• Technologies as interventions
with social outcomes
• Use understanding of natural social processes to inform design
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Problem Space
Increasingly, users connecting
to people from different areas
of their lives through social
media, especially networks
Increasingly, different social
media sites are sharing and
aggregating content
Implicit models of social
organization in networks carry
problematic assumptions: that
one identity, and one social
context, fits all
3
12/2/2010
Agenda
Background• Theoretical framework
• Related research
Study• Methodology
• Results
Conclusions and Implications
Yahoo! Presentation, Confidential 4
12/2/2010
Social Identity Theory
Identity exists on a
spectrum, from personal to
intergroup• Social Identities are categories of
identity to which one assigns oneself
• Social identities often associated with
normative, socially accepted roles and
behaviors
Many authentic facets to
self
Yahoo! Presentation, Confidential 5
bride
mom
professor
girlfriend
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Boundary Theory
Yahoo! Presentation, Confidential 6
Self and identity
are negotiated
around space and
time to retain
distinct
categories of
existence
Some of these
boundaries vary
in permeability
Nippert-Eng, (1995), Ashfort et al. (2000)
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Boundary Theory
Yahoo! Presentation, Confidential 7
Micro-transitions, managing life boundaries on
a daily basis
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Identity and Social Context:
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Behavior = Function (Person, Situation)
Situation = where + when + what + who else Identity enactment depends on the audience
Yahoo! Presentation, Confidential 8
professional
social
Intimate relationship
family
public
12/2/2010
Not all Facets Compatible
Role Strain• A felt difficulty in meeting the norms of roles, e.g., if two roles are incompatible in
the moment
Behaviors appropriate to one role can negatively
impact another
Cognitive load in switching
Yahoo! Presentation, Confidential 9
party animal colleagueNumerous examples of people
losing jobs because of Facebook content
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Online: Flattened Identity Problem
Flattened networks
• In real life, multiple identities, multiple networks
• Online, in most networks identity become flattened
Facebook primarily “social” facet….?• Created for socializing with friends, not family or work colleagues
• Yet, increasingly family and colleagues joining Facebook
Shelly’s Facebook:
Closefriends (52)
Extendedfriends (62)
Colleagues (55)
Family (5)
ArtandTechbuddy (24)
Sfbuddy (8)
Startupbuddy(4)
Don’treallyknow (50)
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Personal/Work Boundaries in Facebook
While some find value in seeing personal side of
colleagues, most feel uncomfortable mixing
personal/professional, especially where differences in
status (Skeeps and Grudin, 2009)
Majority of people in Facebook do not adapt to
increasing number of professional connections (DiMicco &
Millen, 07)
Those that adapt, do so through: (Lampinen et al. 2009):
• More private communication
• Self-censoring problematic content
• Enacting a more “inclusive” identity
• Enact only professional identity
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Questionnaire Study
12
Examine existing practices in identity and life
faceting offline and online to inform design
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Research Questions
Do people meaningfully vary in how they facet their lives?
What are common facets of identity?
What facets tend to be incompatible?
How do people use different technologies, in particular email vs. social networks, to support facets?
How does fear of sharing across facets impact the use of various social technologies?
13
12/2/201014
friends of friends
whole network
friends
Email Online Networks
By Intimacy in Network
me
Comparing Email vs. Networks
From:
me
By Shared Item
To:
Jim, Joe,
Bob
To: Joe
To:
Kim, Cari
e, bob
To: Cupcake
@yahoogroups
.com
To: Mary
To: Joan
high level of control, easily bounded no boundaries, easily overshare
Sharing Models
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Method
Questionnaire study• web-based questionnaire
• distributed online on the Yahoo! network over two weeks
Participants• 631 participants
• Recruitment requirements: In US, 18 and older
• 59% male, 41% female, mean age 50.4
(Note: US census estimated median age over 18 is 45)
Completion rates• Questionnaire had six pages total, each saved separately
• Participant included in final analysis if they completed at least
first two pages of questionnaire
• Of those included, 86% completed entire questionnaire
15
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General Social Tech Usage
70% go online for social tech more than once a day, 14% once a
day, averaging 129 minutes per day
99% had email, 2.9 emails each, 56 minutes spent per day
67% had a FB account, 39 minutes spent per day• 129 contacts, 57% real friends (as opposed to don’t really know them or know them through work)
9.2 mailing lists, 3.7 where know majority by name and face
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Participation in Areas of Life
17
Family most prominent area of life
Hobbies/interests compete with work/school
Social life social/clubs not as important as we might have
expected
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Important Identities in Areas of Life
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Family: sister, brother, mother, daughter, husband, dad, uncle, cousin
Relationship: boyfriend, spouse, caretaker, wife, husband, partner, fiancé
Hobbies/Interests: quilter, musician, participant, collector, artist, gardener
Work/School: writer, student, manager, mentor, co-worker, engineer, custodian
Social Life/Social Clubs: friend, member, leader, follower, organizer, connector, neighbor
Religious/Spiritual: educator, preacher, congregant, devotee, member, Christian
Community/Volunteer: board member, advocate, member, volunteer, worker, donor
Other*: philosopher, socialist, conservative, caregiver, liberal, leader,
Sports: assistant coach, fan, golf, runner, participant
* Many political identities in other, suggesting should be a primary category
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Relationships Between Areas of Life
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Family Relat Social Comm Hobb Sports Relig
Work/School -.06 -.05 .06 .12 -.07 .24 .07
Family .56 .34 .15 .35 .24 .31
Relationship .39 .16 .35 .22 .30
Social Life/Social Clubs .39 .47 .30 .27
Community/Volunteer .31 .37 .24
Hobbies/Interests .30 .25
Sports .25
Religious
Correlation Key
.80 = strong
.50 = moderate
.20 = weak
.00 = none
if positive: as Xh, Yhif negative: as Xh, Yi
X2 = % variance
Work most distinctly segmented from other areas of life
Relationship most correlated with family – for many people probably
considered the same
Social life most correlated with interests/hobbies– indicating time
spent on hobbies often occurs in context of social life
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Technology and Areas of Life
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N = 620
N = 408
Question: To what extent do you use [technology] for any of the following areas of your life?
Email usage more diverse than Facebook
Use technology for family, then hobbies/interests
Email and Facebook usage positively correlated (r = .33, p < .001)
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Faceted Identity
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(1 = not at all, and 7 = extremely so)
Questions, averaged:
“I have parts of my life that are really very
different from each other.”
“In different situations with different people, I
often act like very different persons.”
“I prefer to keep different parts of my life
separate.”
“I have many different sides of me, and the side I
show depends on the social situation.”
People vary in level
of identity faceting
Many users report
high levels of
faceted identity• Mean: 4.3
• 63% 4 and over
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Facet Incompatibility
22
Fewer users report
having incompatible
facets
Mean: 2.9
26% 4 and over
Correlated with
identity faceting
(r = .45, p < , .001)
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Facets and Social Technology Usage
Yahoo! Presentation, Confidential 23
Faceted identity has small,
but significant impact on
usage levels
The more faceted, the more
usage
Comparable to extroversion
UsageExtravert
Self-
Monitor
Faceted
Identity
Incomp.
Facets
Email:
Work .12 -.10 .07 .06
Family .10 -.11 .01 -.01
Relationship .22 .04 .19 .21
Social .31 .04 .14 .19
Interests .06 -.08 .14 .13
Media .16 .03 .15 .17
minutes / day .11 -.04 .04 .13
intensity .14 -.05 .09 .14
count emails .08 -.06 .10 .12
Facebook:
Work .09 -.02 .03 .07
Family .02 -.03 .02 .02
Relationship .14 .09 .16 .20
Social .10 .04 .18 .18
Interests .10 -.06 .05 .09
Media .07 .04 .14 .24
minutes / day .05 -.05 .09 .05
intensity .10 .00 .05 .09
contacts .15 -.03 .07 .00
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Age, Email, and Facet Incompatibility
Younger
participants spent
less time in email
for personal use if
they were low in
facet
incompatibility.
24
Interaction effect: F(1, 427) = 6.79, p < .01
12/2/2010
Incompatible Facets and Sharing Online
25
Worry Question: To what extent does worry about incompatible roles and
identities prevent you from sharing using the following social technologies?
Correlations between identity faceting and extent to which worry prevents social technology usage
Social Technology WorryIdentity Faceting
Facets Incompatibility
professional networks .23 .31
social networks .20 .34
instant messaging .20 .30
email .18 .31
group mailing lists .23 .30
social games .15 .16
Generally people do
not indicate worry
prevents them from
sharing
Higher levels of worry
in social networks
Level of worry
correlates with level
of facet
incompatibility
12/2/2010
Themes in Open-ended Comments
“social networks are very public only things that won't
come back to haunt you should be posted in them,
email is a bit more private and controllable”
“I use email for personal, non-public communication. I
assume anything on facebook or other social network is
open to the public and not secure.”
“Email is used to connect with people I already know
and to talk to them privately. Social networks are like a
virtual gathering with people who are friends,
acquaintances and strangers.”
26
Privacy
People use email for communications that need to be private
12/2/2010
“E mail is for people you know, work, social life, church,
friends, family, etc. Social networks are for strangers.”
“E-mail for immediate family. Facebook for extended
family”
“Facebook is more to connect with acquaintances on a
limited basis, but still being part of their life. E-mail is
usually more in-depth and personal with closer friends
and family.”
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Themes in Open-ended Comments
Intimacy vs. Reach
People use email for inner social circles, social networks for outer social circles
12/2/2010
“When you post something to a social network, everyone can see it,
whether it be a private or public profile, even then all of your "friends" can
see it. I don't necessarily want every single person connected with me on
Facebook to see one thing that maybe only a few of my real friends need
to see. Or maybe I don't want my mom to see something that I did at work
or with friends. Or maybe I don't want my boss or another co-worker to
see my status when I called in "sick" to work.”
“The difference for me is, that I am gay, so I try to keep family separate, co-
workers separate from my gay family, as that is a private part of my
life,who I am talking to shouldn't be a concern of anyone elses.”
“[email] Can share different things with different people instead of sharing
everything with everyone.”
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Themes in Open-ended Comments
Maintaining Boundaries
social networks not effective for maintaining boundaries
12/2/2010
“Behavior on Facebook is an issue - I don't want
someone else's poor decisions to reflect on me just
because I know them. On Facebook there are people I
would avoid/ignore except they are friends of friends
and it would be rude to do so.”
“I would rather use email than social networks with
people I don't know and for topics of a personal or
private nature. Social networks are not 100% under my
control, and might cause issues when hunting
employment.”
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Themes in Open-ended Comments
Control
with social networks you are not in control
12/2/2010
Implications
People meaningfully vary in level of identity faceting
The more faceted the identity, the more social
technology usage, but also the more worry,
especially with social networks
Users effectively choose appropriate communication
channels depending on boundary management
needs
As social media technologies increasingly adopt a
social aggregation strategy, should provide tools for
segmenting areas of life, especially
work/family/social streams
Overall, family needs to be a more prominent focus in
designing social media
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