Social network sites

What are social network sites?

What do users do on them?

Social network sites are forming and

maintaining friendships?

Overview

Rapid personal website page construction- Photos, links, personal information Communication tools- Asynchronous (e.g. `newsfeed`,`walls`)& synchronous (e.g. `IM`)

What are SNS?

Friends listsSocial facilitation tools (chat, gifts, etc.)

Sites differ in their focus- E.g. Myspace more of a self-promotion tool

(e.g. music, etc.), Neogen more friendship/social interaction orientated

And also their demographic- Hi5 is more blue collar and Neogen more white collar

- Different nationalities prefer different sites

What are SNS?

Trust and intimacy

“An animal clever enough to speak seems

too clever to be believed”

Marek Kohn (2008)

“On the internet, nobody

knows you’re a dog.”

Like

- Honesty

- Held in esteem by other friends

- Friends of friends

- Similar interests to self

Dislike

- Selfishness

- Is famous

- Friend is different to other friends

- Has large number of friends

Characteristics of `friends`&`fans`

What people like about SNS…

Reasons

Keep in contact with existing friends

Renewing contact with old friends

File sharing (esp. photos)

Organise social life (parties, events)

Finding out about friends

Meeting new people

Making new friends

Applications

Networking for work

• There is a huge market

•Reciprocity/mutuality important

-- Not merely one way interaction

-- Social network sites are (predominantly) for socialising

•Offer value to the user (content)

- And users will spread your message for you

- Viral campaigns

Some Conclusions