Making Sense of
Social Network Sites
Fred Stutzman
UNC School of Information and Library Science

Adoption
Use
Privacy
Identity

2005-Present

300 Million Users
180 Countries
70 Translations
70% International

(Lenhart 2009)

http://bit.ly/32xwPF
46% Americans use SNS
65% Teens 12-17
73% Adult SNS users have FB Account
Pew Internet and American Life Project

(InsideFacebook.com, 2009)

Value?

Social Ties
http://bit.ly/Soi27

Offline to Online
http://bit.ly/1eaqGm

Support
http://bit.ly/1wH6ax

Participation
http://bit.ly/1V6gRB

Challenges?

Privacy

Context
Privacy
Disclosure

Managing Contexts
• Presence of multiple
social groups
• Behavioral Strategies
• Mental Strategies
• “Least Common
Denominator” http://bit.ly/yS8yI
(Lampinen et. al., 2009)

Context Tension
• Connections across
status and power
boundaries
• Propriety, work/
family
• Inadvertent
disclosures leading
to harms
http://bit.ly/6HTDB
(Skeels and Grudin, 2009)

Two Studies

Study Goals
• Why are motives for using multiple
profiles?
• What strategies to people employ in
managing multiple profiles?
• Is this an effective strategy?
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu

Motives
• Privacy
• Identity
• Utility
• Propriety
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gi/435888435/
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu

Forms of Regulation
• Multiple identities in a
single space
• Single account, highly
segmented privacy controls
• Segmentation by site
• Different social media for
different audiences
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu

Concealment
• Three genres identified
• Pseudonymity
• Practical Obscurity
• Obscure name variants, non-
disclosure of identity
• Transparent Separations
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu

Going Friends Only

Friend Network
• No Steps Significant
• People with less
friends were less
likely to go friends-
only (411 vs 500,
p=.003)

Expectancy Violations
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu

Discursive Privacy
• Active Privacy
• Deleted a wall post left on someone else’s wall,
Deleted a wall post someone left on your wall
(α=.73)
• Conversant Privacy
• Advised someone to change their FB profile,
Changed FB profile based on advice, Asked
someone to make private a FB photo containing
your image,Asked someone to completely remove
FB image (α=.69)

Directions

Participants
• 15 participants, two in 40’s, six in
50’s, seven in 60’s, nine females and
six males
• Semi-structured interviews, in-person
and by phone
• TOLA (Transitional, Older, Late
Adopting Users)
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu

Framework
• Adoption, Experience
• Audience, Connections, Motivation
• Social Support
• Privacy
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu

Adoption
• Reconnection drives adoption and use
• Real names the norm, searching
important
• Reconstruction of the life story
“[In Facebook] I will click on one of my
friends and I will see two other people that I
have not heard from in years and be able
to get in touch with them and I think it’s a
great thing for that.”
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu

Connections
• Networks are close; small in size
• Attention focused on “important”
others
• Reconnections, old crushes
• Observing the extended family
• Attention shifts; the “dance” of
reconnection
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu

Contexts
• Family, friends, reconnections and co-
workers main cited contexts
• The “time gap” as unique boundary
• Lack of common ground
• Shifting norms and identities
• Bridging “different lives”
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu

Support
• SNS is a supportive place
• Emotional and informational support
provisioned most commonly
“One of my nieces’ parents has been rather
ill, and people have been just giving her
messages of support. She’s someone who is
regularly on Facebook and talking about
her mother’s condition and the surgeries
she’s had, and people were voicing support
for how she was doing.”
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu

Asking for support?
• SNS is not a place where the sample
goes for support
• Privacy; Multiple groups;
Compromising disclosures
• Established modes for connection
with supportive others
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu

Reciprocity
• SNS is full of supportive givers; fewer
“askers”
• Users are willing to mobilize
“In other words posting on the Wall where
all of my friends can see it – everyone on
my friends list can see it – I would not do
that. And that is because of this mix of
people, different kinds of relationships.”
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu

Implications

Transitions
http://bit.ly/34H8uY

Information
Grounds
http://bit.ly/3LMJXF

Mobile
http://bit.ly/2iEmDa

Thank you!
Fred Stutzman:
fred.stutzman@unc.edu
Twitter @fstutzman
http://fredstutzman.com
Fred Stutzman, fred.stutzman@unc.edu