Social Network Activity and Social Well-Being

Auteur-es

Moira Burke, Cameron Marlow, Thomas Lento

Nombre Auteurs

3

Titre

Social Network Activity and Social Well-Being

Année de publication

2010

Référence (APA)

Burke, M., Marlow, C., & Lento, T. (2010). Social Network Activity and Social Well-Being. https://doi.org/10.1145/1753326.1753613

résumé

Previous research has shown a relationship between use of social networking sites and feelings of social capital. However, most studies have relied on self-reports by college students. The goals of the current study are to (1) validate the common self-report scale using empirical data from Facebook, (2) test whether previous findings generalize to older and international populations, and (3) delve into the specific activities linked to feelings of social capital and loneliness.

In particular, we investigate the role of directed interaction between pairs – such as wall posts, comments, and “likes” – and consumption of friends’ content, including status updates, photos, and friends’ conversations with other friends.

We find that directed communication is associated with greater feelings of bonding social capital and lower loneliness, but has only a modest relationship with bridging social capital, which is primarily related to overall friend network size. Surprisingly, users who consume greater levels of content report reduced bridging and bonding social capital and increased loneliness. Implications for designs to support well-being are discussed.

Mots-clés

Social network sites, social capital, loneliness, computer-
mediated communication

URL

https://research.facebook.com/file/205729714945323/social-network-activity-and-social-well-being.pdf

doi

https://doi.org/10.1145/1753326.1753613

Accessibilité de l'article

Libre

Champ

Data Science, Human Computer Interaction & UX

Type contenu (théorique Applicative méthodologique)

Méthodologique

Méthode

The method involved analyzing survey data containing standard well-being scales and server logs of participants' activity on Facebook for the two months prior to the survey. The survey included items from bonding and bridging scales, as well as the UCLA loneliness scale. A subset of users was also given the Facebook Intensity Scale to validate users' self-reports of site activity.

Cas d'usage

Facebook

Objectifs de l'article

The objectives of the article are to analyze the relationship between social well-being and social networking site activity, and to explore the impact of directed communication and consumption on social capital and loneliness.

"The goals of the current study are to (1) validate the common self-report scale using empirical data from Facebook, (2) test whether previous findings generalize to older and international populations, and (3) delve into the specific activities linked to feelings of social capital and loneliness. [...] we investigate the role of directed interaction between pairs—such as wall posts, comments, and “likes”and consumption of friends’ content, including status updates, photos, and friends’ conversations with other friends"

Question(s) de recherche/Hypothèses/conclusion

The hypothesis are : H1. Bonding social capital will increase with the amount of direct communication. H2: Loneliness will decrease with the amount of direct communication. H3. Bridging social capital will increase with consumption. H4. Consumption will be associated with loneliness.

The conclusions are that "The present study confirms previous survey-based findings that greater SNS use is associated with increased social capital and reduced loneliness. This can be interpreted in many ways: (1) people who feel more socially connected gravitate toward technical systems that reify those connections, (2) using sites like Facebook allows people to reinforce fledgling and distant relationships, or (3) there is a positive feedback loop."

"Directed communication plays the expected role in bonding social capital."

"People who feel a discrepancy between the social interactions they have and those that they desire tend to spend more time observing other people’s interactions. Whether the loneliness causes the clicking, or the clicking causes the loneliness is left to the future waves of this study."

Cadre théorique/Auteur.es

The theoretical framework of the article includes social capital theory and the concept of weak ties. The main authors cited include Putnam, Krosnick, and Rosenberg.

Concepts clés

Social capital, Loneliness, Bonding and bridging social capital

Données collectées (type source)

The type of data collected was survey data, and the sources were Facebook server logs and the UCLA loneliness scale. For each participant, activity data was collected two months prior the survey.

Définition des émotions

Non

Ampleur expérimentation (volume de comptes)

1193 participants, subset de 155 users

Technologies associées

social networking sites, survey tools, and server logs

Mention de l'éthique

Non