Understanding Loneliness in Social Awareness Streams - ICWSM 2014 Presentation

Understanding
Loneliness
in Social Awareness Streams
expressionsandresponses
photo by @skalgubbar
1

Jeremy Ting
@kingofting
Jed R. Brubaker
@whatknows
Rannie Teodoro
@rannieteo
Mor Naaman
@informor
presenting today:
Funda Kivran-Swaine
(@fundinha)
the work with wonderful co-authors:
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@fundinha
understanding loneliness
Is social media making us lonely?
What can we learn about the experience
of loneliness from social media?
3

loneliness
is common
everybody feels lonely at some point in their lives.
however, when prolonged, loneliness can lead to severe problems
like poor antibody response, depression, or even suicide ideation.
photo by Hartwig HKD / Flickr Creative Commons
4

loneliness
is social pain
occurs when there is a discrepancy between the quality or quantity of
people’s perceived relationships and their relationship standards.
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lonelinessis idiosyncratic
experience of loneliness varies greatly between people.
people’s reactions to loneliness also can differ a lot.
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lonelinessis not solitude
one can be lonely in a crowd.
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loneliness
What does
8
feel like?

@fundinha
understanding loneliness West Broadway, New York, 1978 © Thomas Struth Courtesy Schirmer/Mosel
Researchers have been trying to understand
the experience of loneliness since 1970s.
*1978, NYU.
Researchers collected ~25,000 responses to a newspaper survey that asked:
How do you usually feel when you are lonely?
* Rubenstein, C., & Shaver, P. (1980). Loneliness in two northeastern cities. The anatomy of loneliness, 319-337.
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@fundinha
in 2014
there is a new way to understand loneliness.
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@fundinha
in 2014
people are increasingly saying:
...I’mlonely....
in online public environments.
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@fundinha
People increasingly are using
social awareness streams (SAS) to
communicate about their emotional experiences,
including loneliness.
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@fundinha
When people express
loneliness
on SAS, they sometimes get responses.
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@fundinha
We can start to address:
What are the evident circumstances that surround explicit expressions of
loneliness on Twitter?
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@fundinha
What are the prevalent communication practices around
loneliness on Twitter?
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@fundinha
What types of responses do individuals expressing loneliness receive?
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@fundinha
What are the relationships between expressions of loneliness and the
responses they receive?
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@fundinha
the data
lonelytweets
profile&interactiondataofauthors
responsestolonelytweets
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@fundinha
the data
lonely tweet: ...<lonelyphrase>......
Iamsolonely
IFeelsoisolated
iamfeelingleftout
Ifeelsoalone
...
...
lonelytweets
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@fundinha
I’msolonely
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the data
lonelytweets

@fundinha
I’msolonelyat...
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the data
lonelytweets

@fundinha
...andI’msolonely
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the data
lonelytweets

@fundinha
I’msolonelybecause...
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the data
lonelytweets

@fundinha
I’msolonely
#$@!#$
#$@!#$
the data
(groupsof)responsestolonelytweets
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@fundinha
profile&interactiondataofauthors
the data
I’msolonely
tt-24h t+24h
gender
# followers
# friends
photo by @skalgubbar
# tweets
# interactions / # tweets
# tweets
# interactions / # tweets
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@fundinha
1development of the coding schemes
2qualitative coding
3quantitative analysis & hypotheses testing
the study
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@fundinha
1development of the coding schemas
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@fundinha
3 categorical dimensions for
expressions of loneliness
temporalbounding
context
interaction
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@fundinha
temporalbounding
context
interaction
enduring, transient, or ambiguous
other-directed or not
oneormoreof:
social
physical
romantic
somatic
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@fundinha
temporalbounding
context
interaction
enduring, transient, or ambiguous
other-directed or not
oneormoreof:
social
physical
romantic
somatic
Everyday,I’msolonely
Inthishorriblehouse,
withoutagirlfriend
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@fundinha
3 categorical dimensions for
responses to expressions of
loneliness
EXPLICITACKNOWLEDGMENT
UN-ENGAGING
EXPLICITSUGGESTIONS
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@fundinha
EXPLICITACKNOWLEDGMENT
UN-ENGAGING
EXPLICITSuggestions
Everyday,I’msolonely
Inthishorriblehouse,
withoutagirlfriend
AW...I’MSOSORRYTO
HEARTHAT.THATMUSTSUCK
Thatsoundsterrible.
whydon’tyoucome
overtodinnertotalk
aboutitwithus?
wompwomp.whining
again...
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@fundinha
2qualitative coding
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@fundinha
4454
lonelytweets
903
groupsofresponsestothese
We read and qualitatively coded:
34

@fundinha
What do people talk about when they talk about
loneliness?
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@fundinha
0
20
40
60
80
100
social context
physical context
romantic context
somatic context
oﬄine
online
What do people talk about when they talk
about loneliness?
night
bed
home
room
school
date
cuddle
love
relationship
boyfriend
hungry
sick
hurt
tired
cry
eat
friend
wish
talk
text
person
36

@fundinha
3quantitative analysis & hypotheses testing
37

@fundinha
ﬁrst, some descriptives
38

@fundinha
Who talks about loneliness?
70%
30%
men women
* matches known literature on emotional disclosure.
women talk about their emotional experiences more frequently than men.
39

@fundinha
experiences of loneliness range from
ephemeral and ordinary (transient) to
permanent and worrisome (enduring).
Transient
Enduring
* matches known literature on loneliness.
most experiences of loneliness spark and die out quickly.
40

@fundinha
ﬁndings
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@fundinha
A differences between enduring &
transient loneliness
B factors that contribute to receiving a response
C differences in responses
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ﬁndings

@fundinha
A differences between enduring &
transient loneliness
43
ﬁndings

@fundinha
Expressions of transient loneliness
are more likely to call for
social interaction.
photo by Michael J. Moeller / Flickr Creative Commons
(42.1% vs. 30%) (χ2 = 62.1, df = 2, p < .001),
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understanding loneliness in social awareness streams
@fundinha

@fundinha
Expressions of transient loneliness
are more likely to call for
social interaction.
initiating social action is a more common
reaction to milder experiences of loneliness.
45
(42.1% vs. 30%) (χ2 = 62.1, df = 2, p < .001),
understanding loneliness in social awareness streams
@fundinha

@fundinha
Women are more likely to express
enduring loneliness than men.
photo by Michael J. Moeller / Flickr Creative Commons46

@fundinha
Women are more likely to express
enduring loneliness than men.
(16% of women vs. 11% of men) (χ2 = 19.61, df = 2, p < .001)
women communicate about emotional
experiences more than men do.
47

@fundinha
People who express enduring
loneliness are less social on Twitter.
photo by Michael J. Moeller / Flickr Creative Commons48

@fundinha
People who express enduring
loneliness are less social on Twitter.
0
0.078
0.155
0.233
0.31
49
transient
enduring

@fundinha
B factors that contribute to receiving a response
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ﬁndings

@fundinha
in SAS nobody is obliged to
RESPOND
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@fundinha
percentage of lonely tweets
that got at least
one response:
23%
overall average response-rate for
these people’s tweets:
3.4%
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@fundinha
in SAS nobody is obliged to
RESPOND
but people respond to expressions of loneliness
more than they respond to other tweets
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@fundinha
Other-directed lonely tweets
are more likely to get
responses.
photo by David / Flickr Creative Commons
54
(O.R. for self-directed lonely tweets =0.63, p<.001)

@fundinha
Men are more likely
to get responses.
photo by David / Flickr Creative Commons
(O.R. =1.27, p<.01) 55

@fundinha
Expressions of enduring
loneliness are less likely to
get responses.
56 photo by David / Flickr Creative Commons

@fundinha
Expressions of enduring
loneliness are less likely to
get responses.
likelihood of receiving a response
reduced by 37%.

@fundinha
that’s not good.
58
what kind of responses do the expressions of
enduring loneliness receive?

@fundinha
C differences in responses
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ﬁndings

@fundinha
Expressions of enduring loneliness
are less likely to get responses that
dismiss loneliness.

@fundinha
Expressions of enduring loneliness
are more likely to get responses
acknowledging loneliness.

@fundinha
0
20
40
60
80
transient
enduring
acknowledging
un-engaging

@fundinha
enduring loneliness
attracts less responses.
but more responses acknowledging
the experience of loneliness.
63

@fundinha
what makes us lonely in the
age of connectedness?
have we forgotten how to be alone?
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@fundinha
65
“American loneliness may, I think, be
defined as being alone when one has
not elected to be alone, when the
state of being alone will be
recognized by others as
inappropriate.”
Margaret Mead

@fundinha
social awareness streams
places where people disclose and
communicate about loneliness.
66

Understanding Loneliness in Social Awareness Streams - ICWSM 2014 Presentation

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