THE SOCIAL WEB: POPULARITY OF SOCIAL NETWORKS - Research Paper Example

? THE SOCIAL WEB: POPULARITY OF SOCIAL NETWORKS SUBMITTED BY: SUBMITTED INSTITUTE: INTRODUCTION Social networking websites are increasingly becoming popular now days (Ellison & Boyd, 2007). According to DiMaggio and colleagues (2001), internet is a field that needs to be researched on, especially by sociologists. Internet has become an integral and significant Part of daily lives and it impacts all social interactions in every field of life (DiMaggio, 2001). Online social networking is most popular among internet activities (Ellison & Boyd, 2007). There are many online social networks, like Face book, Twitter, Cy-World, Bebo, My Space and Orkut. Each of the above mentioned online social networks have some unique features, but on the whole, all of these serve the purpose of social networking (Ellison & Boyd, 2007). Online social networks, especially face book are gaining popularity because of their uses and applications in various fields of life. 1.1 The Social Web When computer-based software connects people or organizations, it is said to be a social network and if this is web based, it is called online social network (Garton, et al; 1997). ‘Social Network Sites’ abbreviated as SNS are gaining more and more popularity and membership everyday (Ellison & Boyd; 2007). The nature of these websites differ in details like some SNS’s connect already existing relations, some encourage new connections, some sites offer platforms to discuss any topic of interest while others work by establishing small online communities of likeminded people or those who share a view on specific phenomenon (Ellison & Boyd; 2007). All such sites form what is called the social web. Social network sites enable people to make their selves appear visible via their website profiles. This allows for new contacts to be made; however, according to Haythorntwaite (2005; cited in Ellison & Boyd, 2007), though these SNS’s are rich in presenting personal and profile details in any desirable manner, most people use these websites to stay connected with their pre existing contacts rather than creating new ones. While describing basic structure of SNS’s, Cachia (2008) has stated in a research paper, that social websites usually have three features common; namely: a profile, list of contacts and social networking. 1.2 History of Online Social Networking According to Cachia (2008), the first SNS (classmates.com) appeared on the internet around 1995. Social networking was initially limited to rebinding ties with class fellows or dating; but with time, as more and more SNS’s emerged, this focus broadened. In 1997 another novel SNS emerged, namely: sixdegrees.com (Ellison & Boyd, 2007). Six degrees combined three main features including provision of sending messages, connecting with friends/strangers and presenting one’s self via profile; however this site according to Ellison & Boyd (2007) wasn’t a big success and had to be closed in 2000; mainly because most people were at that time reluctant to connect with people whom they did not already knew offline. MySpace is another SNS, launched with the idea of connecting people in mind, however since the website allowed uploading of up to 4 MP4 videos, it rapidly gained more popularity as a music promotion platform (Cachia, 2008). My Space was launched at a time when another famous SNS, ‘Friends finder’ was deleting fake accounts and reviewing its censor policy; one reason for the popularity of My space as per Cachia (2008) was perhaps that it allowed room for fakesters (people holding fake profiles) in addition to freedom of posting anything online which was not destructive. The next development in the history of SNS is marked by launching of Ryze.com, which was the first initiative in promoting business via online social networking; though developed on lines similar to those of Ryze.com, LinkedIn soon overtook ‘Ryze.com’ and ‘friends finder’ popularity wise (Ellison & Boyd, 2007). The launch of ‘Flicker’ in 2004 was the next significant development in SNS. Flicker was designed mainly to enable the users to share photos; it included provisions of tagging friends in photos and allowed users to comment on photos (Cachia, 2008). You tube and Bebo gained popularity around 2005; and at the same time face book high school networking was also gaining popularity. However, face book was banned at that time due to privacy issues and this allowed room for focus to stay on ‘You Tube’. ‘You tube’ is unique in its design, since it allows under-detailed profiles and commenting on any uploaded video (Ellison & Boyd, 2007). It was not until the end of 2006 that face book became universal. Since face book came with so many additional features and unique applications, it soon outgrew all other SNS and according to Cachia (2008), face book continues to lead the SNS with 90 million active users. 1.3 Face book Face book surfaced in 2004 as an exclusive SNS to be used by Harvard students only; however after facing a lot of trials on the website’s privacy issues, it was re-launched as an SNS open to everyone in 2006. Face book allows a uniform profile creating provision for all its users (Cachia, 2008). Other main features of face book include friend finder, applications for fun and knowledge, online games, communities and groups. 1.4 Twitter Launched in 2006, twitter was basically developed by some programmers who worked at the Odeo Company, San Francisco with the aim to revive the dying company by being able to send messages to people. Twitter is still considered the second most popular website after face book. Twitter’s most popular features are perhaps tweets (short messaging) and third party applications (Picard, 2011). 1.5 My Space My Space, launched at a time when Friends finder was reviewing its user policy was able to gain quite a lot of popularity. My Space was strategically developed, keeping the needs and demands of users in mind. The reason of popularity of my space can heavily be located in the fact that this was the first SNS to allow sharing of MP3 files without having to download them (Cachia, 2008). 2. LITERATURE REVIEW A literature review of the relevant researches was conducted on order to gain authentic and up to date information regarding SNS and their usage. For ease of understanding, the following literature review consists of two sections: the first one focuses on the usage and applications of online social networking in various fields of life, while the second one is devoted to investigating the reasons for popularity of an online social network. 2.1 Impact and Use of Online Social Networking in Various Fields of Life Social networking sites are being used in various fields of life these days. According to the Kaplan Test Prep’s 2010 survey of college admissions, the officers reported that four out of every five college’s admission committees go through face book profiles of the candidates while making the admission decisions (Cohen, 2011). According to one report, 7% business proceeds via face book alone (Pick, 2010). Many individuals and organizations are using social media not only for marketing of products, but also for business deals and online sale and purchase of products. Alef (2010) has quoted the example of the book ‘Chasing youth culture and getting it right’ by Wells (2010). The author of this book maintains two face book profiles, one for personal use and the other for marketing and sale of this book. In addition to recruiters, businessmen and admission committees, online social media is also being used in academics. According to Gruzd and Staves (2011), there is an increasing trend of using online social media for scholarly purposes. Research has shown that scholars are adopting social media usage for data collection and sharing of knowledge mainly due to two reasons: familiarity with social networking and support from the scholarly communities online (Gruzd & Staves, 2011). In a detailed paper, Henrix and colleagues (2008) have over viewed the usage of SNS face book in health and science libraries. The results show that libraries are mainly using face book for two purposes: to market the books and to facilitate readers, especially students. In another study, Cain (2007) acknowledging the extensive usage of online social media by pharmacy students for educational purposes reported that there is a strong need to encourage healthy usage of social media among students at all levels and this practice should also be made safe by warning the online social media users against threats involved in using these sites and for sharing information via SNS. 2.2 Popularity Comparison and Reasons for Popularity of Face Book Many surveys have been conducted all over the world to identify the most popular social networking website. According to a study report broadcasted and published via BBC (2009), face book is more popular than twitter, My space and bebo combined. The report concluded that teenagers no longer like to use twitter because they feel no one is viewing their profiles; on the other hand, face book usage is must more popular among teenagers and all other age groups as well. Most users also access face book via their handsets (BBC, 2009). According to Pick (2010), almost 7% of business traffic proceeds via face book, almost half of the face book users log in every day and approximately 35 million of them update their profiles daily. Apparently everybody is getting on the face book band wagon these days (Alef, 2010). According to Cachia (2008), the main factor in the success of face book is it’s easy to use interface, with provision of uniform profiles. This uniformity in profile designs make it easy for viewers to look for things they are looking for in other’s profiles, since the sequence and outlook of this information is the same on all face book profiles. The other two distinguishing features of face book which play a role in its popularity are the provision of a ‘wall’ where anyone can post information and availability of a news feed home page which keeps updating with every minute (Cachia, 2008). Some research has also focused specifically on the socio psychological implications of face book. One study by Lampe and colleagues (2007) focused on relationship between face book usage and social bonding. This study revealed, not that only face book users interact with others more frequently, in addition they also end up making more social capital in form of friends. Regression analysis was conducted on this survey data from 286 college students, and they were found to have three kinds of social capital, the greatest being that of bonding and bridging. The findings also suggest that frequent face book usage can prove to be socio-psychologically healthy and that people suffering from low self esteem and decreased life satisfaction can actually benefit a lot from face book friends (Lampe, et al; 2007). Joison (2008) conducted a study to determine the reason why face book is so popular and what gratifications do face book audience draw from book usage. To achieve this, a sample of face book users were asked to describe how they used face book and what features of face book did they enjoy the most. The obtained phrases were qualitatively analyzed and coded into 46 items. These items were then completed by 241 face book users in phase 2 of the study. As a results of factor analysis in light of this data, seven distinct uses and gratifications that face book users draw from it were identified. These include: social connection, shared identities, content, social investigation, social network surfing and status updating (Joison, 2008). The study revealed that the patterns of face book usage, site visits, user demographics and privacy settings preferences vary, and are associated with different gratifications and uses (Joison, 2008). A comparative study on gratifications derived from social media usage was conducted by Hasse and Young (2010). This study compared the uses and gratifications that users draw from face book and that of instant messaging. The aim of this study was to establish how social media fulfills the needs of users. According to the factor analysis, face book users draw following six gratifications from it: pastime, affection, fashion, share problems, sociability, and social information. Hasse and Young (2010) concluded that face book is perceived as fun, past time and social media to make new contacts while instant messaging is mostly used to maintain existing relationships and important communication. Face book is further used to keep in touch with contact’s social lives and to communicate with many persons at a time (Hasse & young, 2010). The final study reviewed for this paper is that by Park and colleagues (2009). In this study, a survey was conducted based on some 1700 college students. The survey aimed at determining the face book user’s gratifications and their relationship with the student’s offline political and civic participation and practices. The factor analysis of this data indicated four needs that face book users fulfill via online social networking. These are: socializing, entertainment, self-status seeking, and information (Park, et al; 2009). The researchers further concluded that these needs vary with demographic variables and that informational uses of face book correlated highly to civic and political lives of the individuals rather than to the recreational aspect of life. Face book allows a lot of exposure to information, which in turn opens up more choices and opportunities especially for students and different brands and companies which have used face book effectively, have gained from it in terms of marketing and sales (Wells, 2009). Despite its negative implications like threat to privacy, online stalking and exploitation, online identity theft and fake profiling etc; Face book also has a lot of positive implications. 3. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The focus of the above literature review was twofold. Firstly, it focused on how and where, in what fields of life social network websites are being used. Various studies have indicated that social media websites are being used in academics (Gruzd & Staves, 2011; Henrix, et al, 2008 & Cain, 2007). Other studies reviewed above (Pick, 2010 & Alef, 2010) revealed that social networking is effectively being used by businessmen these days, for various purposes. These include: for marketing, making online deals and for prompting, selling and purchasing products online via social network channels. Recruiters and admission committees also use social networking these days for help on final decision making. The second aim of this paper was to identify which social network site is most popular among users and why. The answer to this question is doubtlessly face book (Alef, 2010; Pick, 2010 & BBC, 2009). Various researchers have shown that face book is popular because it is unique in certain features. Firstly, it provides a wall, which makes posting of information very easy; secondly it enables group communications on a very large scale where sharing and uploading information becomes convenient and time saving; thirdly face book has uniform profiles for all users and this makes it easy to keep track of the lives of contacts (Hasse & Young, 2010, Cachia, 2008). The above review of literature has also highlighted some user gratifications of face book. Many researches that focused on finding out the factors which users like about face book identified the following factors. People use face book for: socializing, entertainment, self-status seeking, and information (Park, et al; 2009). Other gratifications that users draw from frequent usage of face book include: social connection, shared identities, content, social investigation, social network surfing and status updating (Joison, 2008). Using face book and being an active member and participant of social networking sites can prove to be psychologically healthy as well. Those suffering from low self esteem and decreased life satisfaction can actually benefit a lot from face book friends (Lampe, et al; 2007). Social networking can be effectively used by business men, students, teachers, recruiters and by people from any profession for that matter for career growth and gain in knowledge in addition to socializing. Online social networking has blessed internet users with rich platforms, where communication has been made easy and convenient. Social networking is not limited to chatting with friends any more, rather it offers means for personal, social, psychological, organizational s well as professional growth. It can therefore be concluded, that online social networking is increasingly gaining popularity in all fields of life; be it academic, social, personal, business, marketing, recruitment or college admissions. Among the many popular social networking web sites, face book is the most popular one due to uniform and easy to use profiles, provision of a wall, constant and live news feed, applications, games and group features. REFERENCES Alef, D. (2010). The face behind face book. (Online). CA: Santa Barbara. Available at: http://titansoffortune.com Accessed: June 14th, 2011. BBC News. (2009). Face book driving mobile net usage.12:04, UK. July 14th, 2009. BBC. (Online). Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8149652.stm Accessed: June 15th, 2011. Cachia, R. (2008). Social Computing: Study on the Use and Impact of Online Social Networking. JRC Scientific and technical reports. (Online). Available at: http://ftp.jrc.es/EURdoc/JRC48650.pdf Accessed: June 15th, 2011. Cain, J. 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