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They can also provide social status orreassurance, depending on the number received and who they were received from. A studyby Lenhart and Madden (2007) explored the activities teens do on social networking sites.36The majority of respondents who used a social networking site (55%) had communicatedwith people they knew, posted public messages on a friend’s profile page or sent a privatemessage. One-third had sent visual messages such as a wink, poke, given e-props or kudosto their friends.Posting photosUsers can post photos and videos on their social networking sites, in addition to their profilephoto. Photos are important both for constructing and revealing one’s identity, and forsharing important events and moments with a wide group of people (especially family andfriends).You feel really excited when you know you have got a message or someone hascommented on one of your photos – Girl 15, urban/suburbanI went on Facebook primarily because I knew both my children had got their pages onit…and you could go and see their photo albums – Female 60, rural/semi-ruralAn opportunity to experiment and play about with one’s identity onlineSocial networking sites allowed more confident users to experiment with their onlinepersonality.
Generally speaking, such users’ online personalities were exaggeratedextensions of their offline ones. Social networking sites allowed these people a degree ofdetachment from their offline lives to portray an alternative version of their identity.However, a minority of younger female users reported creating fake profiles for fun. Some ofthem had pretended to be older males in their thirties and forties and had set up profilepages as these ‘men’, including posting fake photographs. They said they enjoyedpretending to be someone they were not and experiencing what it was like to be a differentgender and age. They simply viewed it as harmless fun.It also emerged that some fake sites could be used to bully friends they had fallen out with.This issue is expanded on in section 6.3.You can pretend to be anyone, you can trick someone.
A friend of mine told someone shewas gay! We could do anything and we changed our name and someone thought we wereboys and we were gay and we played a trick on this girl - Girl 15, urban/suburban36Lenhart A. and Madden M. (2007) Social Networking Websites and Teens: An Overview.
PewInternet and American Life Project. The study questioned 935 young people aged 12-17.35Social NetworkingAs noted above, the personality that people displayed on their profile was usually largelyinfluenced by their offline personality, although sometimes it was exaggerated or more freelyexpressed.
For less confident people this could be liberating:I am quite quiet and shy in real life, but on Bebo I can be somebody who is more confidentand cheeky because nobody has to see my face. I like that and it does feel like people aretreating me differently. Or maybe it is just my imagination – Female 18, urban/suburbanExaggerating personalityAlthough some users enjoyed the opportunity to play around with their online identity, othersfound this tendency annoying. Our research found a strong degree of cynicism in somepeople about the things that others posted on their profiles and the ways in which theydepicted themselves.Really confident people often lie [on social networking sites].
You put what you want onBebo. You portray your own image; basically you’re selling yourself. Bebo is advertisement –Male 24, urban/suburbanThis quote shows that some users are aware, however cynically, of the potential that peoplehave to manipulate and create their online identities.A few users highlighted the problematic aspects of expressing an aspect of their personalityin photos in this way, especially if it contrasted with the behaviour that was expected of themin other areas of their life, such as work.
This was particularly mentioned by teachers.I am a primary school teacher and all it takes is for one of my parents to get hold of a pictureof me drinking and smoking and the respect they have for me is gone – Female 27,rural/semi-rural6.2Building a social networkOnce the profile is set up, the user can begin social networking; that is, they can invitepeople to be their friends and accept friendship invitations from others to build up theirfriends list.Having such a potentially large network of friends has a number of benefits for users;keeping in touch with friends and family, keeping in touch with people not seen on a regularbasis, finding old friends, contacting friends of friends, and contacting people they didn’tpreviously know at all.
By extending their social networks, users have the opportunity tocommunicate with people who share their interests, and with people from different countries,cultures and backgrounds. This is the fundamental principle of social networking.Research by Withers (2006) and Boyd (2007) highlights that a lot of the network building andcommunication taking place on social networking sites resembles familiar offline behaviour.Withers (2006) states that the difference between managing friendships online and in theoffline world is that social networking sites display one’s relationships with other people in avery public way.36Social NetworkingSocial networking sites also stretch the definition of what we have conventionally called‘friends’.
On a site a friend is anyone who either accepts an invitation, or has their invitationaccepted, to be friends. They can be offline friends, family, people a user had lost touch with,friends of friends or complete strangers. Some users even accept as friends people whothey do not like or do not wish to talk to, as they feel it would be socially awkward to rejectthem.Compare this with the conventional understanding of offline friends. Offline friendship isnecessarily more personal and usually based around factors such as shared interests,experiences or compatible personalities. These factors do not have to be present in anonline friendship.Friend connections are much more clearly and publicly displayed online.
Online friendsprovide a much more visible reference point for others to judge one by, than is the case inthe real world. Boyd (2007) has highlighted the importance of identity through network forteenagers online.37 In this way people are judged by their associations, and their networksprovide meaningful information for others.Boyd38 also writes about teenagers using social networking sites to carry out online thesocial situations that are traditionally offline; hanging out, flirting, trying to build social status,deciding the image they want to present and taking risks which will ultimately help them toassess their boundaries in the real world.Aside from the physical benefits of communicating with others and expressing oneself, siteusers describe emotional benefits, including feeling part of a group and getting attention.They also talk about the joy of getting feedback from their peers when they log on and havea friend invitation, messages or comments on their photos.39While these are clear benefits to communication, media coverage and third-party researchhas often focussed on the potential pitfalls of this key element of social networking sites.It seems clear that the public display of friend lists provides a fun aspect of networkingonline.
However, when users collect multiple friends it doesn’t just make it possible for othersto connect with their friends. It also means that people who they don’t know have access topersonal information about them. In addition, if the privacy settings on their profile are open,then anyone can see their personal details regardless of who the viewer is. The risk is thatothers may use these data, such as their date of birth or address, to commit identity theft,fraud or stalking.Browsing profiles and collecting friends are popular activitiesAfter directly communicating with others, browsing profiles (their own as well as otherpeople’s) was the most popular activity for users.
This was especially the case among theyounger users we spoke to. For them, using social networking sites generally, and browsingin particular, were serious leisure activities to rival other forms of entertainment such astelevision.Like this girl will come into school and she’ll be like “Oh my God you were on Beboyesterday I loved your message” and give it a rate.
I love that – Girl 15, urban/suburban37Boyd, Dana. Why Youth Love Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in TeenageSocial Life, (2007).38Ibid.39Lenhart and Madden (2007), p. 15.37Social NetworkingAnd then you go to their friends and see if their friends are cool, you know, based on the waythey dress and the way they pose – Girl 15, urban/suburbanYounger users also reported that collecting ‘friends’ and competing with their offline friendsto have the highest number of online friends was a high priority.
In qualitative discussionsfemales of all ages, and younger males, mentioned the competitive nature of collectingfriends.My friend started first and had quite a few friends, it made me want to join and get morefriends than her. How childish is that at 27! - Female 27, rural/semi-ruralYeah how many friends have you got mate?...I have one more than you - Boy 12, rural/semiruralThe reason I have so many friends on my site is that I wanna be popular and cool – Girl 15,urban/suburbanAlong with publicly showing the number of friends, some social networking sites also allowusers to display their ‘top’ friends, and to rank their friends on this basis.
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