Social Support and Information-Sharing on Facebook by Adult Users

“There's a Network Out There You Might as Well Tap”:

Social Support and Information-Sharing on Facebook by Adult

Users

Jessica Vitak and Nicole EllisonMichigan State University

November 16, 2010

SNS Research

Jessica Vitak & Nicole Ellison | National Communication Association | November 16, 2010

We know a lot about college students’ use of SNSs and other variables of interest...

• Facebook use and social capital (Ellison et al., 2007)• Self-presentation on Facebook (Zhao et al., 2008)• # of friends and social attraction (Tong et al., 2008)• Privacy disconnect (Acquisti & Gross, 2006)

…but not a lot about adults and SNSs.

Sept. 2005

May 2008 Nov. 2008 Dec. 2009 May 2010

Ages 30-49 12% 25% 36% 58% 61%

Ages 50-64 7% 11% 16% 36% 47%

Age 65+ 5% 7% 4% 22% 26%

All Internet-using adults age 18+

8% 35% 47%

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project

Social capital & SNSs


Social capital: benefits individuals accrue from members of their social network (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 2000).

Putnam (2000) distinguishes between bonding social capital and bridging social capital.

Research by Ellison and colleagues has looked at a variety of predictors related to forms of social capital:

• Facebook Intensity (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007)

• Changes over time (Steinfield, Ellison, & Lampe, 2008)

• Connection strategies (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2010)

• Facebook Friends vs. actual friends (Ellison et al., 2010)

• Disclosures & reciprocity (Vitak, Ellison, & Steinfield, 2011)

Managing Tensions: Benefits vs. Risks


In order to accrue social capital, the individual must relinquish something (e.g., privacy, information).

Passive consumption is not enough (Burke et al., 2010).

Disclosures may not be enough either (Vitak et al., 2011).

Audience considerations (boyd, 2008)

Privacy concerns (e.g., Dwyer, Hiltz, &Passerini, 2007)

Present study


RQ1: What do Facebook users perceive to be benefits and risks of using the site to exchange social support?

RQ2: What do Facebook users perceive to be benefits and risks of using the site to exchange information?

Methodology


18 semi-structured, in-depth phone interviews with adult Facebook users (61% female) ages 25-55 (M = 44).

Questions focused on various uses of Facebook’s features for self-presentation, relationship maintenance, and interaction.

Used Atlas.ti to code and analyze interviews, employing an iterative process.

Created data matrices to questions related to bonding and bridging social capital.

Findings: Emotional Support


Benefits:

• Convenience is key

• Lowered barriers to interaction

“It actually does make you feel better because you know somebody at least cares enough to respond. And the variety of responses, they didn't come just from friends and family, they came from political people and people that have genuine cares and concerns, and so it's nice.”

Findings: Emotional Support


Risks:

• “Cheap” medium = inauthentic support

• Public nature of content

“I think [posting a message to elicit emotional support] on a public forum has this sense of ‘I'm trying to elicit some sympathy or some empathy here,’ and so it might feel a little less sincere if I got the comments.”

Findings: Information-Seeking


Benefits:

Can access a diverse set of people when looking for answers to both simple and more complex questions.

Pre-existing relationship greater trust in information.

“Surely somebody out of the 350 people would have an answer to something I needed, or know where to direct me to find it.”

Findings: Information-Seeking


“most of my [Facebook] friends are nurses, so I can get nursing advice from them whereas if I have a question about a car or something, most of my Facebook friends are clueless.”

Risks:

More homogeneous networks may decrease opportunities for accessing novel information.

Multiple audiences may constrain disclosures.

Discussion


Relationship between tie strength/type of relationship and use of Facebook for emotional support.

See media multiplexity (Haythornthwaite 2005).

Privacy concerns and low self-efficacy may decrease opportunities for accruing social capital.

Interaction between network characteristics and social capital outcomes.

Tie strength and network size

Conclusions


Present study provides a deeper understanding of the mechanisms through which adult Facebook users accrue social capital.

Important to consider how network structure and individual attitudes toward social media impact their experiences.

Future research should consider methods through which to quantitatively examine the present findings.

Thanks!


Jessica VitakDepartment of Telecommunication, Information Studies, & MediaMichigan State [email protected]

Nicole EllisonDepartment of Telecommunication, Information Studies, & MediaMichigan State [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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Social Support and Information-Sharing on Facebook by Adult Users

Technology

social capital ellison

social support

facebook intensity ellison

bonding social capital

forms of social capital

social capital outcomes

facebook friends

actual friends ellison