Conference Paper: Communicating Information Needs on Facebook
Cliff Lampe (1), Jessica Vitak (2), Rebecca Gray (3) & Nicole Ellison (4)
1. University of Michigan, c...@umich.edu
2. Michigan State University, jvi...@msu.edu
3. Michigan State University, Gray...@msu.edu
4. Michigan State University, nell...@msu.edu
Abstract
Social network sites such as Facebook have become an increasingly important channel for fulfilling a wide range of communication goals, including requesting help from one’s social network to address information needs. Using survey data (N= 614) collected from non-academic staff at a large Midwestern University, we show how social capital, network characteristics, and use of Facebook are related to how useful individuals find Facebook to be for informational purposes and their propensity to seek different types of information on the site. We find that bridging social capital and engagement with one’s network through directed communication behaviors are important predictors of these dimensions of information behavior, and that there are a number of demographic and usage behavior differences between those who engage in these behaviors and those who do not. Following presentation of results, we discuss theoretical implications of our findings and offer suggestions for future research in this area.
This paper provides us with a very timely discussion about Facebook (FB) as an information seeking (versus purely social) tool. Through a survey of 614 university staff (non-faculty) members, using six measures (some original) and a few controls (i.e. sex, age, education, self-esteem, etc.), the researchers present non-causal but intriguing relationships describing FB user’s willingness to use the site as an information-seeking tool, the characteristics of those users, and how their perceptions of social capital, appropriateness, and their engagement with the site influenced that willingness to seek out information.
Results revealed FB users were not likely to engage in active information-seeking with their networks, while still illuminating characteristics of those user’s who were more likely to seek such information than the rest. These high-information seekers were female, younger, reported having more total FB friends and more ‘actual’ FB friends, and spent more time on FB engaging in reciprocal communication with their networks. One limitation was that the sample was highly educated (71.7% had a college degree) and thus deviated from the general United States population.
In their discussion section, the authors elaborate on a few patterns they found, and my specific question is based on some of those observations and is intended to be more pragmatic rather than theoretical. I’m interested in the strategic goals of FB, the company.
The most intriguing observation for me was the revelation of a distinction between FB’s usefulness for information, as perceived by the sample, and the users’ engagement in actual information-seeking behaviors on FB. While most did not use the site to engage in information-seeking behaviors, many still found the information they did receive from the site to be useful; they just encountered this useful information incidentally instead of proactively. The authors note on the same page that they expect to see increases in users perceptions of FB as an appropriate place for non-social interactions over time. For me, this begs the question; does FB want us to shift our thinking about the site and it’s primary purpose?
In this paper the difference between total and ‘actual’ FB friends is discussed and it’s revealed that the sample only considered one-third of their total FB friends as ‘actual’ friends. Considering the apparent shift in seeing our FB connections more as acquaintances rather than actual friends and the changes in FB over the past few years (i.e. introduction of the newsfeed, introduction of FB pages for businesses), does it seem as if FB is engaged in a proactive strategy to adapt and to sell itself as more of an information-seeking ‘search engine’ type of website than a purely social one? This could lead to great implications for users’ privacy, especially the privacy of those users that might assume FB to be purely social and still interpersonal in nature.
While users today seem to not actively seek out information, they still see the site as a good source of information and appear to have many more connections that are not ‘actual’ friends. Like any good company that seeks to survive long-term, FB may have noticed this trend and may be making changes in anticipation of the eventual ‘paradigm shift’ that the authors mention in this chapter; a shift that may lead to the site being viewed as not purely social but also very informational (perhaps an eventual competitor to the behemoths of the internet world such as Google and Yahoo).
Interesting question Igor.
As one of the authors, there’s no way we can speak to Facebook’s goals or business plans. One thing that I think is important to consider is that many research studies to this point have shown there’s massive heterogeneity in both motivations for Facebook use and types of Facebook use. It would be hard to paint all Facebook users with one type of outcome.
You raise another interesting point I would like to draw out some more. There’s some theory in information science about how we see information going by in a stream and sort of file it away in case it’s useful in the future. This is in contrast to the model where an information need arises and we seek out answers to that need. Some of that “information trolling” may be happening as people witness information exchanges in their newsfeeds.
Well, hello to everyone. Facebook is a really fascinating subject for discussion in lieu of the fact that this coming Friday May 18 it will start trading on Wall Street. Regarding Facebook goals and business plans, it’s like always: “Make the world more open and connected” … and get rich along the way.
I have read your paper, Cliff, and wanted to tell you that it is loaded with insights and creates a real ground for thought. Can I ask you a couple questions? The easy one is, how many Amazon gift cards did you raffle? The hard ones are, why do you avoid the term “social search” in the context of your paper, and how in your opinion will the introduction of Open Graph and GraphRank affect information seeking on Facebook? Thank you.
We handed out 10 Amazon gift certificates through a raffle.
In terms of “social search” I think that’s a term we could use. We avoided it, because there’s a growing body of research on social search that deals mostly with behavior on social Q&A sites like Yahoo Answers and Naver. We wanted to distinguish this work from that body of literature, though there are definitely parallels. Two works we reference a lot, by Merrie Morris and Jaime Teevan at Microsoft, are firmly in that social search literature.
I think there are lots of interesting things here regarding Open Graph and how Facebook connections are now being propagated to other sites. We see something similar in Google’s move to a socially based search based on their internal networks of Google Plus, gmail and gtalk. There’s definitely a lot of research that needs to be done on that in the future.
Your thoughts on the Facebook IPO are interesting. From a research perspective, we don’t have anything to say about that, but it will be interesting to see how a move from a focus on growth to a focus on return for stockholders will change practices in the company. Farhad Manjoo has some really neat insights on this if you follow his reporting…
Thank you for your answer, Cliff, and I completely agree that we should follow analytical and research perspectives on all things related to Facebook (by the way, should we re-define research in a post-fact society?). After 11:30 EST today Facebook is a publicly traded company, which means that it has migrated from tech to the corporate world with all the implications.
We see Facebook as a social and technological innovation but people who run Facebook repeatedly call it a “product.” So, as you say, some changes will surface for sure. There is always a lot of rumors and speculations on Wall Street and the hottest now is that Facebook plans to integrate a search option.
You know, I’ve always had trouble internalizing the concept of the Social Web since everything around is social and technology is social by default. But with the unveiling of Open Graph and GraphRank and the prospect of Facebook search, it comes to mind that the Social Web might be simply Facebook.
You probably remember the time when AltaVista, Excite, and InfoSeek were the premier search engines but then came Google and suddenly became the embodiment of WWW at least for a regular Internet user.
One has to be an extrovert to be part of the Social Web. Right now one in seven people on Earth are on Facebook (at least they claim it). The saturation point will probably be around two out of seven. If Facebook is able to reach this number, perfect its GraphRank as Google did with PageRank, and collect the best social services under its umbrella as it did with Spotify and Instagram, that would complete the Social Web.
Last but not least, Facebook is already preparing for small screens in anticipation that the Social Web will be mobile. If Facebook stays the course and doesn’t succumb to the sirens of Wall Street, then we will have WWW with desktops and notebooks and the Social Web with smartphones, tablets, and whatever comes next. I’ve got to tell you, this is going to be the mother of all digital divides!
Thank you for the mention of Farhad Manjoo, I just followed him on Twitter and look forward to reading some of his perspectives!
I also agree that FBs new focus on making a profit as a publicly traded company will impact it’s operations. I wonder if the widespread heterogeneity in motivations for and types of FB use are as frustrating for those within the company as they might be for researchers who have a hard time pinning down stable patterns to explain how it is being used. I know that the study in this paper did not focus on FB the company, but perhaps future studies might be able to take such a perspective to give us such insights. Knowing the motivations of the creators of the medium might help us to better study how the audience uses it to share messages and meanings. As Tatyana mentions, their recent partnership with Spotify, acquisition of Instagram, and OpenGraph policy definitely points to goals that seem much more ambitious than to be the best social networking site. The idea of the Social Web is truly a fun one!
I also wonder if the ‘information trolling’ that a FB Newsfeed allows is changing Internet users’ expectations and making them, for lack of a better word, lazier in how they get their information. Instead of seeking it out like they would have to do in a Google search, FB allows users to scroll through the Newsfeed and take in the information without any effort on their part. It even prioritizes what it thinks is the important information. As FB and other SNS become more popular, I think the need for ‘social media literacy’ may appear in the new future because we will have to teach our kids how to actively seek out information without depending on big companies to prioritize it for them.
PS I must apologize for the delayed response, I am actually volunteering at a children’s camp in Turkey and have been particularly busy over the past two weeks traveling to Turkey and getting orientated with the new job for the summer.