1. Social Media: Where We
Stand, Where We’re Heading
Jessica Vitak
University of Maryland
October 19, 2012
jvitak@umd.edu / @jvitak
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2. What is social media?
Social (adj): relating to human society and its members.
Media (n): storage and transmission channels or tools
used to store and deliver information or data.
Takeaways:
1. Social media is not a new phenomenon.
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7. 7

8. What is social media?
Social (adj): relating to human society and its members.
Media (n): storage and transmission channels or tools
used to store and deliver information or data.
Takeaways:
1. Social media is not a new phenomenon.
2. Social media is facilitated through technology and evolves with
technology.
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9. Social Media Since 2000
Key difference:
Publishing (Web 1.0) vs. Participation (Web 2.0)
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10. Key Feature #1: User-Generated Content
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11. 11

12. Unmasking Reddit’s Violentacrez, The Biggest Troll on the Web 12
October 12, 2012

13. Key feature #2 Social bookmarking/Social tagging
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16. Key Feature #3: Interaction Drives Communities
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17. Social Network Sites Defined
All SNSs have three main features:
1) A uniquely identifiable profile
2) List of connections (e.g., “Facebook Friends”)
3) Users can consume, produce, and interact with content
Ellison & boyd (in press)
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18. Who uses SNSs?
Source: Madden & Zickhur, 2011. Pew Internet Project.
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19. SNS users are more likely
to be:
• Women
• Young
No statistically significant
differences based on:
• Race
• Income
• Education
• Geographic location
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Source: Madden & Zickhur, 2011. Pew Internet Project.

20. Why do people use SNSs?
Joinson (2008) Papacharissi & Mendelson (2011)
• Social connection • Expressive info seeking
• Shared identities • Habitual pass time
• Viewing/sharing photos • Relaxing entertainment
• Social investigation • Cool, new trend
• Social network surfing • Companionship
• Status updating • Professional achievement
• Escape
• Social interaction
• Meet new people 20

21. What SNS users do: “Liking”
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22. What SNS users do: Commenting
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23. What SNS users do: Broadcasting
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24. What SNS users do: Private
Messages
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25. Impression Management on SNSs
Impression
Management:
Sum of behaviors
individuals engage in
to either control or
manipulate observers’
attributions of them
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26. Negative effects of SNSs
Interactions on these sites
are real.
• USATODAY: Political spats on
Facebook spill into real life
Assuming privacy is always a bad idea.
• Eagles’ employee loses job after badmouthing team
decision on his Facebook page.
• Bank intern fired after calling in sick & getting caught
through Facebook pictures.
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27. Benefits to Using SNSs
Social Capital: original “friends with benefits”
 benefits derived from interactions with your social
network
Bridging Bonding
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28. Bridging Social Capital
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29. Bonding Social Capital
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30. Recent Research
Does use of Facebook for political purposes have any tangible
impact on participation?
Vitak et al. (2011)
• Study of undergrads use of
Facebook in month prior
to 2008 presidential
election
• Those who were highly
engaged in political activity
on FB were highly engaged
elsewhere
• Those who reported
seeing their Friends post
political content were
more likely to be politically 30
active

31. Recent Research
How do students use Facebook to collaborate on school work?
Lampe et al. (2011)
Positive Collaboration
• Arrange group meeting
• Ask for help
• Manage group project
Negative Collaboration
• Sharing homework answers
• Sharing quiz/test answers
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32. Recent Research
Can Facebook help improve college adjustment and retention?
Gray et al. (2012)
Example: Inigral’s Schools application
Facebook + Bonding
Collaboration Social
Behaviors Capital
+
College + Social + Persistence
Friends on Adjustment 32
Facebook at College
to College

33. Research at MSU
Tong et al. (2008): When you have
too many “friends” on a SNS, people
How much I like you
rate you as less socially attractive
# of FB Friends
Total FB Friends
• Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe (2011)
• Actual friends matter more than Actual
total friends when it comes to Friends
perceptions of social capital
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Among undergrads: 25%
Among MSU staff: 37%

34. What does it mean to be a Facebook
“Friend”?
• Robin Dunbar claims you can only manage meaningful relationships
with 150 people.
Dunbar: “Our minds are not
designed to allow us to have
more than a very limited
number of people in our social
world. The emotional and
psychological investments that
a close relationship requires
are considerable, and the
emotional capital we have
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available is limited.”

35. Facebook users have *a lot* of
Friends
• Vitak (2012): Most users reported
having many Facebook Friends
2nd
• M = 500, Median = 433, SD = Tier
361, range: 62 – 1600
• And many were weak ties Weak
Ties
• 8% of network considered close ties 3rd
Tier
• 52% of network considered very weak
ties
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36. Pew data: SNS users vs. non-
users
• How big is your social
network?
• Average American: 634 ties
• Average Internet user (669) vs.
non-user (506) ties
• Average cell phone user: 664 ties
• Average SNS user: 636 ties
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* Source: Hampton et al. (2011)

37. SNSs & Context Collapse
Selective Self-Presentation:
We present different
versions of the self
depending on our audience Ego
Context collapse occurs
when we “perform” for
different audiences at same
time (e.g., weddings)
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38. Context Collapse on Facebook
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39. Impact of Context Collapse
Marwick & boyd (2011)
• Treat public space (Twitter) as if it were bounded
Vitak, Lampe, Gray, & Ellison (2012)
• Strategies for maintaining work/personal life boundary
Vitak (2012)
• Engaging with privacy features
• Increased disclosures
• Increased perceptions of social capital
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40. Future of Social Media?
Depends largely on how companies handle users current concerns.
When using Facebook, users are most concerned about:*
1. Personal information being sold to other companies for marketing
purposes.
2. Their account being compromised (e.g., their ID & password
posted online).
3. Personal information like a phone number or email address
becoming publicly visible.
4. Someone hacking their account & being unable to access it.
5. Private messages becoming publicly visible.
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* This is based on a new dataset that is still being collected, so any statements based on this are purely speculative.

41. Future of Social Media?
Social relationships will always matter. Period.
What could alter the balance is trust.
These companies focus on CONTROL OF INFORMATION.
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What they don’t have is the embedded networks that Facebook does.

42. Thanks!
Jessica Vitak
University of Maryland
iSchool Page: http://ischool.umd.edu/faculty-staff/jessica-vitak
Email: jvitak@umd.edu
Twitter: @jvitak
Homepage: http://jessicavitak.com
Academia: http://umd.academia.edu/JessicaVitak
Google Citations Page:
http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RC9bN7kAAAAJ&hl=e
n
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