Fred StutzmanThoughts about information, social networks, and privacy

This week, Christian Yoder and I were in Vancouver to present our note, “Identifying Social Capital in the Facebook Interface” at the CHI 2011 conference.  This research was envisioned and led by Christian – it was his undergraduate honors thesis, for which he received highest honors.  It was a proud moment to see a student I had mentored presenting research at the premier venue for HCI studies.  Christian presented the findings to a packed room – I’d guess about 250 people with an overflow room as well.  We were lucky to be slotted with CMU’s Moira Burke, who does amazing work on the relationship between Facebook use and social well-being.

Over the past few years, a number of influential studies have explored the relationship between Facebook use and social outcomes – with no work being more prominent or influential than the body of work constructed by Ellison, Lampe, and Steinfield.  Over a number of studies, the MSU team has robustly identified both main and interaction effects in the relationship between Facebook use and social capital.  One of the most prominent findings from this work concerns the relationship between Facebook use and bridging social capital – the idea that Facebook effectively brings you closer to your extended group of weak ties.

Building on this work, Christian decided to explore this relationship in more depth – by focusing on the relationship between Facebook interface element use and bridging social capital.  Since we know that Facebook use is associated with bridging social capital, we wanted to understand what types of uses are associated with bridging social capital.  Christian devised and implemented a survey that measured intensity of use of Facebook wall posts, status updates, direct messages, and chatting, and explored the relationship between these types of uses and social capital.  We found that wall posting, in particular, was associated with bridging social capital – which conditionally supported our hypothesis that “third party visible” communication (a unique affordance of SNS) is critical to the production of social capital.

You can read more about the precise details of the study, including the methodology and measurement techniques, by downloading the pre-print or viewing the slideshare of Christian’s talk.  A key take away from this research is the importance of publicly visible communication – for all of the criticism Facebook has taken over the way it handles the News Feed, the ability to broadcast to a bounded public proves inherently useful.  A secondary take away is the fact our gender control was significant, which indicates that males, who may feel more comfortable disclosing information publicly due to different attitudes about privacy, gain more from public disclosures than females.  NB: All limitations apply – self report, study done at one college, etc.  We welcome your comments and feedback!

A big thanks goes out to both Jane Brown and Paul Jones, who mentored this work as thesis advisors.  The work was supported by a grant from UNC’s Office of Undergraduate Research, and Christian’s travel was made possible by the UNC JOMC Knight Chair.  Thank you!  Finally, I’m happy to add Christian’s paper to a growing list of my students that have been published.  In January, work on social networks and privacy by my undergraduate student Jamila Thompson was published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.  Earlier, Brett Bumgarner’s excellent work on motivations for Facebook use was published in First Monday.  I’m very proud of all these students!

I’m pleased to share my dissertation, Networked Information Behavior in Life Transition. Thank you to Dr. Gary Marchionini and my committee for their wonderful guidance and feedback.

Download PDF (Large file)

Abstract

This study explores the supportive and informational uses of social network sites that facilitate adaptation to transition. Adaptation to transition is a complex process contingent upon the management of stress associated with transition and general integration into the transitional environment. This study focuses on the transition to college, a major life event requiring integration into new settings, the negotiation of informational challenges, and the mastery of new roles and identities.

Social network sites represent a connective infrastructure within personal networks. Because social network sites are inherently connective, they afford a location for provision and receipt of social support during transition, and a site for the acquisition of information necessary for integration into the transitional environment. Drawing on data collected directly from a social network site that describes the networked activity of a freshman class over the course of their first semester at college, from a sample survey of freshmen with 1,198 respondents, and from 15 semi-structured interviews, this research has two primary components.

In the first component of analysis, I explore the structure and dynamics of socio-technical networks during transition. Using exponential random graph modeling, I identify the role and magnitude of preference, socio-demographic, and configuration factors in structuring socio-technical networks during transition. I then use an econometric framework to demonstrate that certain types of information sharing and profile change are associated with socio-technical network growth.

In the second component of analysis, I explore uses of social network sites that facilitate adaptation to transition. Using multiple regression and structural equation modeling, I demonstrate that supportive and social-informational uses of social network sites in transition exert a direct and mediated positive effect on overall adaptation. I then draw on interviews to explore supportive and informational uses of the social network site during transition, finding that social network sites are useful in pre-transition preparation, for social adaptation, and for academic support throughout the transition. Upon evaluation, I demonstrate that a social network site is a useful place to turn for the social and informational support that facilitates adaptation to transition.

Yesterday, I successfully defended my dissertation, “Networked Information Behavior in Life Transition.”  Thank you to everyone that came and supported me.  The defense was an experience I’ll never forget.  I would like to thank my committee:

• Dr. Gary Marchionini, SILS, UNC-Chapel Hill
• Dr. Deborah Barreau, SILS, UNC-Chapel Hill
• Dr. danah boyd, Microsoft Research
• Dr. Sri Kalyanaraman, JOMC, UNC-Chapel Hill
• Paul Jones, JOMC and SILS, UNC-Chapel Hill

It was a great honor to work with my committee, and I appreciate their guidance in my work.  There are still a few edits remaining on my dissertation, and I will post it when I submit the final copy to the graduate school.  In the meantime, I’ve posted the slides from my talk as a Slideshare.

After months of extensive research, I have proved that blogging and writing a dissertation have an inverse relationship.

I’m happy to invite you to my dissertation defense, December 8 at 10AM, in Manning 014. This is a small room so seating might be limited. Full information is available on the SILS website.

I hope to post my dissertation in a few weeks. I will share it here when it is ready for public viewing.

On Friday, September 24, I’ll be presenting the following Informatics Seminar at UC Irvine’s Department of Informatics:

Title:
Socio-Technical Support Networks During Life Transition

Abstract:
Modern life is characterized by transition.  Completing education, moving between jobs and residential relocation are examples of the transitions that challenge us, enable personal growth, and facilitate the construction of our life stories.  Successful adaptation to transition is a function of social-informational processes.  During a transition, individuals are challenged to make sense of their transitional environment, while developing socially supportive resources that aid in transition.  Large-scale adoption of social media, and resultant tightly-coupled mediated sociality has the potential to facilitate life transition; through social media, individuals are able to answer situationally relevant information needs, while drawing on extended support networks.  Using observational data collected during one such transition – the transition to college – this project explores social network site information practices during life transition.  In particular, I explore the dynamics of network configuration during the early stages of transition, identifying factors relevant to the assemblage and growth of socio-technical support networks.  I then explore the outcomes of social network site use during transition, identifying information behaviors associated with adaptation to transition.

I believe the talk will be at 3PM.  I’m looking forward to visiting the Department of Informatics, as well as meeting with faculty and students.  I’ll update the post with location information as we get closer to the date.