Social networking site for the general public

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Social networking site for the general public

• Cathy Dwyer
• Pace University
• cdwyer_at_pace.edu

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Outline

• Definition and description of key features
• How do people use these sites? What value do they
  obtain from using them?
• What is the business model for these sites?

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How popular are these sites?

• MySpace 130 million members (2 US)
• Facebook 12 million members (10 US)
• Hi5 50 million members(33 global)
• Xanga 40 million members(50 global)
• CyWorld 15 million members(25 of South
  Koreans are members)
• WikiPedia List of Social Networking
  Sites Alexa Global Top 500

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Definition of a social networking site

• A social networking site is a web based
  application that supports social interaction and
  the development of new relationships
• Usually free subscription
• Members create profiles to introduce themselves
  to others and describe their interests
• Members can friend others, creating visual
  signal of relationship
• Features synchronous and a-synchronous
  communication
• Facilitates sharing of content (music, videos,
  pictures)

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Profiles - MySpace
Profile identifies you to other members Profiles
enable, communication, provide a way for you to
update friends on your activities Private
profiles can only be viewed by friends
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Facebook profile
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CyWorld profile
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Facebook Friends

• friending
• Send invitation
• If other person accepts, you are added to their
  social network and they are added to yours
• friends have access to their profile

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Communication private messages
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Communication
public comments (also called testimonials) Posting
to the wall (Facebook) Visible to anyone
viewing a profile
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Online survey comparison of Facebook and MySpace
members

• Researchmethod Online survey
• Period 8/1 9/15/06
• Universe MySpace and Facebook
  members (survey
  customized for both sites)
• Sample type Ad-hoc sample
• Recruitment post notices in both sites,
  iTunes download for completing
  survey
• Analyzableresponses 117 (69
  Facebook, 48 MySpace)

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Basic demographics

• 69 Facebook members completed the survey
• 29 male and 40 female
• average age 20.36
• 48 MySpace members completed the survey
• 29 males and 19 females
• average age 22.93

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Ethnicity
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Frequency of Use
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(No Transcript)
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Size of Social networks (median 200)
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50 prefer SNS over e-mail
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Prefer SNS over Instant Messenger
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Do members develop relationships that extend
beyond SNS?
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Trust in profiles (.005)Facebook mean 4.29,
MySpace 5.13
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Privacy (.033)Facebook mean 3.88, MySpace
3.29
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More than a third would like to know who has
looked at their profile, but not allow others to
know what profiles they have viewed
42/116 36
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What do you like the most?

• Its like having an online address book that
  automatically updates itself
• Having access to contact information for
  friends, as well as having a glimpse of what is
  happening with other people's lives
• Ease, automation, centralization
• It is an evolving way of organizing and keeping
  in touch with friends and other acquaintances
  whom may be out of reach otherwise
• No stigma of going out single, meet people who
  dont like bars/clubs
• The opportunity to network and communicate with
  millions of people almost anywhere in the world

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What is your greatest concern?

• Unfortunately, I was stalked once through the
  facebook. He was a younger man who attended one
  of my classes. Though I never met him face to
  face, he used the information such as my AIM
  screenname and my blog on the facebook to
  constantly contact me
• Employers gaining access to information/pictures
  that are irrelevant to someone's job performance
  but still used against them
• That I won't be paying attention and do
  something stupid
• Parents and teachers checking on my profile
• Someone who becomes obsessed with you to the
  point where they follow your every move

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Business model

• Highly desired demographic audience for marketers
• Advertising Google Ad Sense
• Membership upgrades (CyWorld)
• Promotion of entertainers (musicians, Borat on
  MySpace)
• Unknown social data mining?

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Web traffic (past 12 months)MySpace vs. Facebook
vs. CNN
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Facebook vs. MySpace
vs. CNN
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How are social networking sites using data?

• Architecture allows real time capture of all
  interactions within a digital space
• Preferences on books, music, movies is posted on
  profiles
• Huge data set creates closed universe for data
  analysis

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Marketers want data

• Product interest by region
• Product interest by gender
• From Facebook privacy policyWe may provide
  information to service providers to help us bring
  you the services we offer.
• From Facebook privacy policy Facebook may also
  collect information about you from other sources,
  such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging
  services, and other users of the Facebook service
  through the operation of the service (e.g., photo
  tags) in order to provide you with more useful
  information and a more personalized experience.

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Summary

• Overview of basic features of social networking
  site
• Popular activity combining multimedia with easy
  communication channels
• Evidence of conflicted attitudes
• Business model based on social data mining may
  undercut trust