Deanna Smith presented research on how users interact with family on Facebook. She observed 4 profiles over 2 weeks to analyze interactions like likes, comments and shares with family. She also interviewed participants. The data showed varying levels of family friend connections and interactions. Most participants felt family could overstep bounds, modifying their online behaviors. In conclusion, social media allows family to stay connected, but users should curate profiles carefully for family and careers.

1. R E S E A R C H P R E S E N T A T I O N
B Y D E A N N A S M I T H
The Digital Family Structure

2. Research Objective/Questions
 How do users of the social media site Facebook
interact with their family online?
 Are their actions modified with family members
compared to interactions with their friends?

3. Methods
 Observe four American Facebook profiles and evaluate their
interactions with their family members (liking pictures,
posting comments, sharing media).
 Monitor how many times daily they are directly interacting
with a family member (how many comments, how many likes,
how many shares) and mark the data in a Microsoft Xcel
sheet.
 Assess the amount of family members that the user is
Facebook Friends with.
 Complete Skype or Facebook Chat interviews in order to
assess their accessibility to their family members on
Facebook; are family members blocked from specific photo
albums? Do they include their family members in their “About
Me," section?

4. Ethical Issues
 Not to be overstep my boundaries when assessing
their familial interactions online.
 -To remain unbiased through a digital format.

5. Timetable
 Recruit four Facebook users and ask for permission
to observe and evaluate their interactions with their
family members online.
 Record observations over a two-week time period
and record data in a Microsoft Xcel sheet.
 Commence interviews the third week in order to
include their perspective.

6. Research
 Participants: Paige, Miranda, Matt, and
Parker.
 Age Range: 18-22
 All four participants are American citizens
currently residing on the East coast.

7. Data
Participant # of
“friended”
family
members
Daily
Comments
Daily Likes Daily Shares
Paige 7 M: 6 Tu: 2 W:
11 Th: 0 F: 5
Sa: 7 Su: 16
M: 3 Tu: 6 W:
0 Th: 20 F: 10
Sa: 0 Su: 0
M: 1 Tu: 0 W:
3 Th: 0 F: 0
Sa: 0 Su: 2
Miranda 5 M: 2 Tu: 21 W:
13 Th: 5 F: 25
Sa: 11 Su: 13
M: 0 Tu: 0 W:
5 Th: 11 F: 2
Sa: 1 Su: 2
M: 4 Tu: 0 W:
0 Th: 0 F: 0
Sa: 1 Su: 0
Matt 12 M: 22 Tu: 50
W: 3 Th: 2 F:
15 Sa: 32 Su: 5
M: 11 Tu: 3 W:
0 Th: 2 F: 0
Sa: 12 Su: 5
M: 2 Tu: 2 W:
5 Th: 3 F: 3
Sa: 2 Su: 1
Parker 3 M: 0 Tu: 3 W:
6 Th: 11 F: 3
Sa: 0 Su: 0
M: 2 Tu: 0 W:
4 Th: 1 F: 3 Sa:
0 Su: 0
M: 0 Tu: 0 W:
0 Th: 0 F: 1
Sa: 0 Su: 0

8. Conclusions
 Social media is a good way for family members to
keep updated and stay in touch with each other.
 It is important to clean up your social media sites not
only for family members, but for potential
employment opportunities.
 The majority of the participants feel that family
members can overstep their bounds on Facebook,
thus causing them to modify their behaviors online.