Information about http://userpages.umbc.edu/~zeynep/papers/ZeynepSocialGroomingandFacebook.pdf
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace:…
Tags: airline tickets, close friends, erving goffman, facebook, information communication, internet use, maryland baltimore county, myspace, privacy concerns, rapid adoption, robin dunbar, s college, social computing, social interactions, social networking sites, social ties, theoretical frameworks, university of maryland baltimore, university of maryland baltimore county, weather forecasts,Pages: 30
Language: english
Created: Sun Feb 17 16:03:00 2008
Display cached document
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and Myspace: What Can We Learn About
These Sites from Those Who Won't Assimilate?
By Zeynep Tufekci, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
This paper explores the rapid adoption of online social network sites (also known
as social networking sites) (SNSs) by students on a U.S. college campus. Using
quantitative (n=713) and qualitative (n=51) data based on a diverse sample of
college students, demographic and other characteristics of SNS users and non-users
are compared. Starting with the theoretical frameworks of Robin Dunbar and
Erving Goffman, this paper situates SNS activity under two rubrics: 1) social
grooming; and 2) presentation of the self. This study locates these sites within the
emergence of social computing and makes a conceptual distinction between the
expressive Internet, the Internet of social interactions, and the instrumental Internet,
the Internet of airline tickets and weather forecasts. This paper compares and
contrasts the user and non- user populations in terms of expressive and instrumental
Internet use, social ties, and attitudes toward social- grooming, privacy, and
efficiency. Two clusters are found to influence SNS adoption: attitudes towards
social grooming and privacy concerns. We especially find that non-users display an
attitude towards social grooming (gossip, small-talk, and generalized, non-
functional people-curiosity) that ranges from incredulous to hostile. Contrary to
expectations, non-users do not report a smaller number of close friends compared
with users, but they do keep in touch with fewer people. Users of SNS are also
heavier users of the expressive Internet, while there is no difference in use of
instrumental Internet. Gender also emerges as an important predictor. These
findings highlight the need to differentiate between the different modalities of
Internet use.
Keywords: social network sites, Dunbar, Goffman, presentation of self, social
grooming, Internet, Facebook, Myspace
Short Bio: Zeynep Tufekci is an assistant professor in the Department of
Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Her
research interests include social and cultural impacts of technology, gender,
inequality, social networks, surveillance and privacy .
Author's Note: The author would like to thank the editors of this issue, Keith
Hampton and Barry Wellman, as well as the anonymous reviewers for their
insightful and constructive comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Portions of
this research were supported by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at
the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
1 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and Myspace: What Can We Learn About
These Sites from Those Who Won't Assimilate?
Social computing applications, led by social network(ing) sites (SNSs) like Facebook
and Myspace, have burgeoned in the past few years; scholarly research on the social
consequences of social computing has not caught up. A focus of past research has been
possible inequalities rising from the Internet's capacity to provide access to information,
jobs and economic mobility, education, access to government services and similar benefits
(Dimaggio et al., 2004). As Internet access has become near-universal, earlier concerns of
a digital divide have faded. Yet looking at Internet use in a fine-grained manner,
disaggregating specific modalities of practice, does reveal persistent divisions and
differences. The specific character of Internet use and socio-psychological disposition of
users can also influence social outcomes, even after controlling for demographics and total
Internet use (Livingstone, 2007; Zhao, 2006). It's not just the Internet but what you do with
it and as well as who and what kind of person you are.
The rise of social computing opens a new dimension of benefits (and harms) stemming
from differential use. These applications have the potential to create gaps in social capital
(Putnam, 2000), transform the role of weak ties (Granovetter, 1973) and shift the
boundaries between public and private.
The rapid diffusion within a few years of SNSs invites two connected questions about
their adoption process. Why have these applications, which initially had little corporate
backing, no paid advertisements, and significant negative media attention, attracted so
many users so quickly? Conversely, even on college campuses, where access is rarely the
bottleneck, why has a small but seemingly persistent minority chosen not to adopt these
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
2 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
technologies and what can we learn from an analysis of these non-users? How do these
applications relate to the larger context of Internet use? Finally, what are the possible
social implications of use and non- use of these sites?
Social Network(ing) Sites (SNSs) -- A Brief Overview
These sites center around the profile, which for users is "a representation of their
sel[ves] (and, often, of their own social networks)-- to others to peruse, with the intention
of contacting or being contacted by others" (Gross, 2005). Boyd offers the following
definition: "A `social network site' is a category of websites with profiles, semi-persistent
public commentary on the profile, and a traversable publicly articulated social network
displayed in relation to the profile" (boyd, 2006a).
The most prevalent examples of SNSs are Facebook, which started as a college site
and is still dominated by college users, and Myspace, which has always been open to the
general public. Multiple studies show that somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of all
college students have a profile on a SNS (Lampe et al., 2006; Gross, 2005; Stutzman,
2006a). All SNS allow users to articulate their social network via links between their
profile page and other profiles. Profiles linked to each other in this manner are called
friends. Profile owners also express an online persona through pictures, words, and page
composition, as well as through data fields where information ranging from favorite books
and movies to sexual orientation and relationship status (single, in a relationship, etc.) is
indicated.
Partly due to the high level of offline-online integration (Ellison, 2007), students tend
to use their real names and engage in high levels of self- disclosure especially on Facebook
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
3 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
(Tufekci, 2008). Facebook allows users to "tag" individuals on photographs uploaded to
the site, which means identifying the person in the photograph and thereby linking the
picture to that person's profile, and thus creating a searchable digital trail of a person's
social activities. A "news feed" feature shows what one's "friends" have been doing on the
site: a typical entry might read "Sally has Left a Message on Jim's Wall," or "Alice and
Bob are now friends." Users also provide status reports--"Mary has a headache from
studying for the organic chemistry exam!" All of this activity is framed by semi-public
comments people leave on each other's profiles short salutations, humorous repartee, and
more. A profile on an SNS is not a static entity; rather, it is a locus of social interaction that
evolves and changes to reflect various dynamics within social networks and communities.
Conceptualizing SNS
I draw on the work of Robin Dunbar (1998), who proposed that gossip, people-
curiosity, and small talk, all of which are seemingly non-functional and are often popularly
understood as mere distraction or deviation, are in essence the human version of social
grooming in primates: an activity that is essential to forging bonds, affirming relationships,
displaying bonds, and asserting and learning about hierarchies and alliances. Dunbar
suggests that our seemingly insatiable appetite for gossip is neither a random, irrelevant
fact, nor simply a construction of a singular culture. While the particular forms of gossip
are entangled in culturally shaped constructions, ranging from celebrity gossip in our
mediated mass culture to daily chatting around the village well in a peasant society, gossip
in general can be seen as a corollary of our disposition towards sociality, which int egrally
involves figuring out where we and all others stand in relation to each other (Dunbar,
1998).
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
4 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Social grooming should be seen as both a bonding activity and a competitive activity:
it is a means to improve one's reputation and status as well as access to resources and
social and practical solidarity. An inability, unwillingness or lack of talent in social
grooming activities may be of real detriment to a person's interests through a disadvantage
in accumulation of social capital, which can be understood as resources that accrue to an
individual through "more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and
recognition." (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1992; Putnam, 2000)
SNSs replicate many of the functions of gossip or social grooming: users display their
own bonds and observe those of others through profile "friends," leave semi-public
messages to each other (which serve mainly as acknowledgement), present a public self for
their community, and watch and participate as all others also engage in these activities in
an interlocked dance of community formation1 . At their core, these sites are about mutual
acknowledgement, status verification, and relationship confirmation (boyd, 2006a; boyd,
2006c).
Much of the activity on a SNS can also be conceptualized as a form of presentation of
the self, in the sense of Goffman (1959). Users engage in impression management by
adjusting their profiles, linking to their friends, displaying their likes and dislikes, joining
groups, and otherwise adjusting the situated appearance of their profiles (boyd and Heer,
2006; Lampe et al., 2007; Tufekci, 2008).
Dunbar's notion of social grooming and Goffman's concepts of the presentation of the
self and impression management are complementary aspects of the construction of the
social self. As Goffman articulated, "for a complete man to be expressed, individuals mus t
1 Donath (2007) has made a similar argument in a paper published while this article was under review.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
5 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
hold hands in a chain of ceremony" (Goffman, 1956). It is through social interaction and
socially embedded public or semi-public action that we affirm our relations, construct our
status and ultimately produce the social "me" in the sense proposed by Mead (1934).
Factors in SNS Adoption
Given the recent rise of these sites, it is not surprising that there are relatively few
large-scale, quantitative, analyses of SNS use that incorporate details about users and non-
users, types of use, and possible consequences. However, existing research already finds
important social consequences as well as differences in access and usage. Due to the
limited amount of existing research on SNS, this study was developed in a two step
approach which involved incorporating early qualitative findings into the research design
in the latter stages.
EXPRESSIVE AND I NSTRUMENTAL INTERNET
Previously, scholars have generally categorized Internet use under three broad
headings: commercial, informational and communicative uses (Kraut et al, 1999; Weiser,
2001). Following Petric (2006) and Zhao (2006), I suggest a related by somewhat different
division: between social and non-social uses, between the expressive internet and the
instrumental internet. By the expressive internet, I mean the practice and performance of
technologically mediated sociality: using the Internet to perform and realize social
interactions, self-presentation, public performance, social capital management, social
monitoring, and the production, maintenance and furthering of social ties. The expressive
internet should be recognized as "a social ecology involving other people, values, norms
and social contexts" (Petric, 2006). The instrumental internet, on the other hand, refers to
information seeking, knowledge gathering and commercial transactions on the Internet,
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
6 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
and non-social communication involved in such transactions. This is the Internet of online
banking, shopping and checking the weather 2 .
The expressive internet has been expanding rapidly, a process often described in the
popular press as the rise of social computing. Studies show that these tools have been
assimilated as a means of social interaction and social integration for increasing numbers
of people and communities (Quan-Haase, 2007; Haythornthwaite, 2005), and that people
are increasingly using the expressive internet in ways that complement or further their
offline sociality (Hampton, 2007; Hampton & Wellman, 2003; Wellman et al. 2001).
Given social grooming conceptualization of SNS proposed in this paper, users of SNS can
be expected to be interested in social uses of the Internet.
RQ1: How does social network site usage fit with different types of Internet use as
well as total amount of use?
FRIENDSHIP AND S OCIAL TIES
While these applications are designed in order to facilitate social interaction, there is
fairly little known about the strength of their impact on existing or potential social
relations. Ellison et al. (2007) found some differences in social capital formation among
college students depending on their intensity of Facebook use. The strongest association
they found was between Facebook use and bridging social capital, i.e. looser ties between
people situated in different, non-overlapping social groups. Such ties, also referred to as
weak ties, are crucially important in providing a window of access to opportunities outside
one's own immediate network (Granovetter, 1973). Due to the high levels of offline
integration (Ellison, 2007) SNSs could also promote strong ties.
2 As with any ideal typology, there will be activities that reside on the boundaries. People do chat about
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
7 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
RQ2: How does SNS use relate to number of friends kept in touch as well as to weak
or strong ties?
People may differ in their inclination to view the Internet as a place for engaging in
social activities and friendship management. While some researchers have argued that
Internet has serious shortcomings for community and friendship building (Blanchard and
Horan, 1998), others find that it may facilitate interaction (Walther, 1996).
RQ3: Do people's attitudes toward online sociality in general impact their SNS
adoption?
DEMOGRAPHICS AND PLACE O F R ESIDENCE
Hargittai (2007), in one of the few academic publications concentrating on non-users
of SNS, provides a unique level of detail regarding the demographic and socio-economic
background of college level users and non- users of SNSs. Her findings were that
demographic and place of residence matter and that being female, not living with parents,
having ready Internet access and spending more time on the Internet were associated with
higher rates of SNS adoption. Gender remains a strong pivotal point. Although access and
total amounts of use have converged between genders, strong divergences in modalities of
use, in self-perceived and real skill levels, and in attitudes remain (Boneva, 2001; Hargittai
and Shafer, 2006; Jackson et al., 2001).
RQ4 How do demographics and place of residence influence SNS adoption?
PRIVACY
Another important consequence of SNS adoption concerns privacy. Participation in
these sites involves extensive self- disclosure (Tufekci, 2008) and may discourage those
products on Amazon and blog about the weather.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
8 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
who are concerned about privacy (Acquisti and Gross, 2006). While privacy controls exist
for most sites, a significant number of users do not employ them. This makes sense if, as I
argue, the purpose of using these sites is to be seen. Further, the privacy controls often
simply mean that only SNS "friends," who may number in the hundreds and thousands,
can access the profile. Most SNS users, especially college students, freely add most people
who ask to be "friended." There have already been many cases reported in the media about
negative consequences stemming from SNS posts, ranging from denied diplomas to lost
jobs.
RQ5: How do students' privacy concerns impact their decision to join SNS?
SOCIAL G ROOMING
While social grooming through language may well be an important human activity
(Dunbar, 1998 there is no reason to presuppose that everyone will be equally disposed to
such activity. Interest in exchanging and browsing social information about friends and
acquaintances, curiosity about people is likely to be related to interest in an application
specifically facilitates such activity.
RQ6: How does general interest in social grooming relate to adoption of SNS?
Methods
SAMPLE AND DATA COLLECTION
This study reports results based a sample of college students in a diverse, mid-sized
public research university. The quantitative results (n=713) were collected at three points
in time (Spring and Fall of 2006 and Spring of 2007) and qualitative results (n=51) at two
(Spring and Fall of 2006).
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
9 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
The qua litative phase consisted of focus groups. Undergraduate respondents were
recruited through announcements in classes specifically excluding those in which the
survey was administered. The focus groups were divided into non- users (no profile), light
users (rarely checks the profile), medium- users (checks the profile couple of times a week)
and heavy users (checks and updates most everyday) in order to better gauge the consensus
beliefs of these subgroups (citation) and to understand the differences between users and
non-users. The interviews were transcribed and coded.
The survey instrument was developed in light of the findings of the qualitative phase
and pre-tested with a group of non- users and users. The survey was then administered to
students enrolled in multiple sections of an introductory social science course, a popular
elective for fulfilling general education requirements. The survey was administered in
class, in a paper-and-pencil format.
Questions were added to the survey after the first round of data collection, based on a
preliminary analysis of the first round results and further qualitative interviews. The
advantage of this approach was that this allowed for further probing based on data in an
area for which there was virtually no published research during the time of the study.
However, this incremental approach also introduces a weakness in that not all questions
were asked across all the samples. The data from the three rounds of survey data collection
were compared with regard to key variables, and there were no statistically significant
differences in racial or gender composition or in average age of the students. The sample
was thus combined for analysis for questions that were asked in all three rounds. Analysis
was performed separately for questions tha t were asked only in later rounds. While I don't
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
10 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
have any reason to suspect that the six- month apart samples differed in any key aspects, it
must be kept in mind that some analyses are in effect from a different, later sample.
Demographic characteristics of the sample are described in Table 1.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
11 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Table 1 Demographics of the Combined Sample
Percent of the Sample
(n=713)
Gender
Female 52.6
Male 47.4
Race / Ethnicity
White 45.2
African-American 12.7
Hispanic 2.3
Asian-American 31.2
Other 8.6
Grade
Freshman 44.7
Sophomore 28.9
Junior 19.2
Senior 9.2
Social Network Site (SNS)
User 85.4
Non-User 14.6
The combined sample was generally representative of the undergraduate population of
the university, as the targeted class was a popular choice to fulfill mandatory requirements.
Women were somewhat overrepresented (52.6%, as opposed to 44.0% in the university as
a whole). The school reports minority enrollment of 41 percent, arrived at by aggregating
African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American students, leaving 59 percent as
combined sum of white and "other" the similar total in the sample was 53.8. Thus, white
students might potentially be somewhat underrepresented, although it is not possible to
ascertain this for certain. The sample had a significant portion of first-year students
(44.0%), who tend to be heavy users of social network sites. Students, to the degree they
had declared majors, ranged from humanities and social sciences to engineering and
physical sciences and were not concentrated in any particular major.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
12 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
M EASURES AND VARIABLES
To address the relationship between SNS usage and maintenance of social ties, the
students were asked how many friends they kept in touch with at least once a week
(Weekly Friends). (The response options were 0-5, 6-10, 11-16 friends a week, etc.). A
subsample was about their ties. We distinguished the strength of the tie (Marsden and
Campbell, 1984) by asking about the number of people to whom they felt very close (Very
Close Ppl) and the number of people to whom they felt somewhat close (Somewhat Close
Ppl). Following previous research on social networks, Somewhat Close was defined to
include those who are more than acquaintances but less than those who are very close.
The instrument also measured the amount of daily internet use (Daily Internet) and
whether students used Instant Messaging at all (Uses IM). Daily Internet was measured in
intervals of 30 minutes, topping at three hours or more. Similar to previous research on
SNS (Ellison, 2007; Hargittai, 2007) place of residence was controlled by asking students
if they lived in dormitorie s (Lives Dorm).
Students were asked whether they thought that a person could have a close friendship
with someone they know only through online methods in order to gauge the impact of a
general disposition toward online sociality. Students were also asked about their level of
concern with online privacy (Privacy) with options ranging from 1=not concerned at all to
4=very concerned.
Questions used to probe the types Internet activities were adapted largely from the
Pew Internet & American Life Project which been ongoing for many years. The selected
questions were used in multiple Pew surveys, including the "Parents and Teens " survey of
2004 which used these questions for both to teenagers and adults (Lenhart & Madden,
2005). However, unlike the Pew survey, which asked whether the activity was performed
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
13 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
at all, this instrument asked about the frequency, coded from very often to never (4 to 1).
Table 2 lists the wording of these questions as well as means and standard deviations for
responses from the total sample.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
14 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Table 2: Internet Practices among College Students
EXPRESSIVE INSTRUMENTAL
Std. Std.
Question Mean Dev Question Mean Dev
Look for health, dieting, or
Send or read email 3.805 .486 physical fitness information 2.202 .895
online
Send or receive instant Go online to get news or
messages 3.391 .946 information about current 3.079 .846
events
Send or receive text Look for news or
3.128 1.058 2.429 1.016
messages using a cell phone information about politics
Go online for no reason at Look for religious or
all, just for fun or to pass the 3.632 .687 spiritual information online 2.127 .875
time
Read Blogs of Other People Look for information about a
2.386 1.083 2.321 .946
job online
Go online to create or work Go online to get information
on your own web page about a college, university or
1.761 1.003 2.890 .911
other school you were/are
thinking about attending
Go to web sites about
movies, TV shows, music
2.431 1.085
groups, or sports stars you
are interested in
Look for information online
about a health topic that's
hard to talk about, like drug 1.751 .905
use, sexual health, or
depression
Buy things online, such as 2.213 .724
books, clothing or music
Go online to do school work 3.511 .608
or research
Scale: Very Often (4)= Everyday or Almost Everyday; Sometimes (3) =Once a Week or So; Rarely (2) =
Once a Month or So; and Never(1).
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
15 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Items that corresponded to social interaction, self- expression, communication or
entertainment were aggregated into a variable called Expressive, and those that
corresponded to informational and commercial uses to a variable called Instrumental.
Expressive thus comprised the use of email, instant messaging, send ing or receiving text
messages, go ing online just for fun, reading blogs, and working on a personal web page.
Instrumental included purchasing things online, doing school work, looking for health and
fitness information, news, politics, job searching, going online to look up a college,
looking up websites of movies and seeking information about health issues. Online games
were excluded because interviews revealed the complicated nature of games, ranging from
very social to very insulating (Steinkuehler & Williams, 2006). The Instrumental scale,
summing nine variables with a maximum value of 36, had a mean of 22.4 and a standard
deviation of 4.4 (Cronbach's alpha=.74). The Expressive scale, summing five variables
with a maximum value of 20, had a mean of 14.2 and a standard deviation of 3
(Cronbach's alpha=.66).
Social Grooming: Since there were no existing scales that measure social grooming,
eight questions that closely followed social grooming themes of people-curiosity, social
interaction and keeping in touch (Dunbar, 1998) were created. Efficiency: Also, non-users
strongly suggested in interviews that they believed efficiency was the main motivation for
SNS use, five questions measur ing interest in efficiency on and off the Internet were
added. Since these questions were derived using preliminary results, they were asked only
of a sub-sample of the students in the later waves (listwise N=498). These questions are
shown and analyzed in Table 4.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
16 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Analysis and Findings
PREDICTORS OF SNS USE
To model the odds a person would become an SNS user, I ran three logistic
regressions (Table 3). In our first model, our predictors were female (dummy coded), age
(ranging from 18 to 25+), dorm residence (dummy coded), amount of time spent on the
Internet, number of friends kept in touch with every week, Instant Message use (dummy
coded user or not), Expressive Internet Use scale and Instrumental Internet Use scale. In
the second model, I added number of close friends and somewhat close friends, and in the
third model, I added a variable indicating whether the student believed friendship through
only online methods was possible (dummy coded as possible or not).
Table 3: Logistic Regression Results: Odds Ratio (eB) of using a Social Network Site. 3
Model One Model Two Model Three
Uses P Uses P Uses P
SNS Value SNS value SNS Value
Female 4.191*** .000 5.021*** .000 4.987*** .000
Age .867 .086 .836 .077 .837 .081
Lives Dorm 1.725 .105 1.245 .573 1.235 .589
Internet Per Day 1.022 .886 1.108 .543 1.130 .477
Weekly Friends 1.257* .031 1.340* .050 1.333* .054
Uses IM .680 .357 .474 .153 .464 .143
Online Privacy Concern .709* .027 .667* .029 .666* .029
Expressive 1.464*** .000 1.486*** .000 1.493*** .000
Instrumental .950 .176 .928 .110 .923 .094
No of Very Close People 1.031 .878 1.036 .860
Somewhat Close People 1.049 .734 1.051 .727
Online Friendship .787 .512
Baseline odds (constant) 1.570 .828 2.945 .683 3.093 .669
Cox and Snell R2 .19 .21 .22
N 506 369 363
*Significant at .05 **Significant at .01 ***Significant at 0.001 Marginally significant (0.10 > p > 0.5)
3 Since not all questions were asked in all samples, and since not all subjects answered all the questions, the
N for the models varies. Specifically, number of close friends was asked to a subsample of subjects. Running
model one specifically for the subsample used in model two and three revealed no substantive differences in
the results.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
17 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Amount and Type of Internet Use
The total amount of time a student used the Internet in general was not linked to the
likelihood of SNS use. In the interviews, non-users of SNS indicated that they felt
comfortable using the Internet. Similarly, use of instant messaging, another popular
method of communication, was not associated with a change in the odds of becoming an
SNS user.
However, while the total amount of Internet use was similar between non- users and
users, the manner of Internet use mattered significantly. In the interviews, non-users of
SNS also reported Internet use concentrated around practical needs: online banking,
shopping, researching and such. Quantitative results confirmed that the use of the Internet
for expressive purposes was highly significant in predicting SNS use, while use of the
Internet for instrumental purposes was not.
Our interviews revealed that the differences in disposition towards Internet use
persisted even when non-users of SNS were employing expressive applications. To the
degree they used social network sites, they had specific objectives looking up musical
groups, finding ideas on fashion and makeup, and so on. The interviews revealed that the
non-SNS-users could understand looking something up, but not necessarily looking around
just for fun. One non-user confessed that the constant pressure to join these sites had her
seriously considering whether she should: "I'm not going to do it because what's in it for
me? Nothing." This pattern was also observed in other mediated methods: one student
expressed, with the understanding that she knew this was out of the ordinary, that she
checked email only when she knew someone was going to email her.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
18 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Social Ties and Online Sociality
In interviews, SNS non- users emphatically stated that they had friends in their lives
and were involved in social interactions with people around them. As can be seen in all the
models in Table 3, the number of frie nds students kept in touch with weekly was
significantly associated with SNS use. However, in our third model, I added the number of
close or somewhat close friends and found no association between SNS usage and numbers
of close friends. Also, in model three, I added a dichotomous variable which indicated
whether or not the student students believed close friendship could be achieved through
online interaction alone. This variable was also not statistically significant.
Privacy Concerns :
In the interviews, the non-users were often concerned with online privacy, but they did
not see online SNS as dangerous. Many pointed out that disclosure on these sites was
voluntary: "But if you don't put it on there, no one can find it." Another compared it to
threats in real life: "Some random person from the mall could follow you home, that's way
more dangerous than someone tracking you down on the Internet." In line with previously
reported results (Tufekci, 2008), the logistic regressions did show that higher online
privacy concerns somewhat lowered the odds that a student would use SNS.
Demographics and other characteristics:
Gender was the strongest predictor in the model and the only demographic variable
that was statistically significant. In all the models, the odds of a woman using SNSs were
four to five times the odds of a man.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
19 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Living in dorms was not associated with an increased likelihood of using SNS. While
age appeared to be marginally significant, I found that the significance of age declined
with each round of data collection, suggesting that this effect may have been an artifact of
the spread of SNS initially among a younger population.
SOCIAL GROOMING, EFFICIENCY, AND SNS USERS AND NON-USERS
In the interviews, a majority of the SNS users talked about how much they enjoyed
learning about their friends' and even strangers' lives. Especially the heavy users
expressed that their use of these sites was partially driven by their curiosity about how
people from their pasts were doing or whether they had changed. Some students also
reported "getting lost" in social networking, continually checking profile after profile,
leaving message after message. One student talked about how receiving messages made
her feel good, so she tried to leave messages to extend the good feeling to her friends. The
important element in this interaction was not the content of the message, but the act of
leaving the message as a means of acknowledging the other person.
Among non-users of SNSs, a very different response emerged. The idea of SNSs as
fun did not seem comprehensible to the non-users. They were all familiar with these sites,
and all had been asked by their friends to join. But why they should want to use them was
just not clear. One non- user remarked how her friends would check out other people's
profiles and sighed, "I don't understand what people get out of looking at other people's
profile. Live your life."
Non-users generally reported that that they did not find it interesting to keep up with
friends from their past. One student was somewhat exasperated: "People from my high
school would try to find me. ... I had 39 pending friendship requests. I looked at the list and
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
20 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
I knew five of these people. Five. Who the hell are you? Why are you bothering me? I
haven't seen you in seven years, if I've seen you at all."
Non-users expressed that they also did not understand why people are so curious about
people they don't know, commenting about not just about social networking sites, but life
in general. There was a spirited discussion about how confusing, and stupid, they found it
that many of their friends followed the lives of celebrities, or gossiped about people they
hardly knew. One said in a mocking voice, to approving nods: "Look at what Katie did this
weekend, she's with who now? ... sighs ... You don't even know this person."
These differences are clearly visible in Table 4, where the responses to questions
clustered around social grooming, especially regarding curiousity about other people,
people from one's past, and enjoyment of keeping in touch with friends were significantly
different between users and non- users. SNS users were also more likely to enjoy socia l
events and reported being more outgoing. However, shyness or enjoyment of meeting new
people were not significantly different between the two groups. The differences between
the groups were more about how and how much to keep in touch with existing friends be
they weak or strong ties.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
21 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Table 4: T-tests comparing Social Grooming and Efficiency Disposition Between users
and non-users of SNS
N Mean P value
SOCIAL GROOMING
I am curious about other User 443 3.12 .037
people's lives**
Non-User 86 2.93
I like keeping in touch with User 443 3.46 .006
friends**
Non-User 86 3.24
I am curious about people User 446 3.13 .001
from my past ***
Non-User 2.82
I am outgoing* User 449 3.19 .023
Non-User 86 2.98
I like to follow trends*** User 445 2.43 .001
Non-User 85 2.11
I do not enjoy social User 439 1.81 .013
events*
Non-User 85 2.08
I am shy User 446 2.43 .819
Non-User 86 2.45
I like meeting new people User 446 3.32 .116
Non-User 86 3.17
EFFICIFENCY
I am worried about wasting User 445 2.29 .130
time on the internet
Non-User 86 2.10
I value efficiency highly User 441 3.44 .421
Non-User 86 3.50
I am a very busy person User 442 3.13 .405
Non-User 86 3.21
I am usually bored User 442 2.32 .398
Non-User 86 2.23
I am always in a hurry User 443 2.50 .594
Non-User 85 2.55
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
22 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Efficiency
When asked about what they thought drew people to SNSs, the consensus theory
among non-users was efficiency people must be using these sites as a time-saver. One
non-user suggested that, as college students, they were all very busy, and SNSs were
"more and more taking the work out of meeting people. If you are a college student you
have many things to do and it's cutting one element out and also giving you the benefit you
desire." While SNS users did mention the efficiencies of SNSs, such as being able to find
classmates to get notes for missed classes, or updating large numbers of people quickly on
developments in one's life, for most users of these sites, the main theme was one of
satisfaction derived from social interaction and observation itself.
I tested the efficiency/time-crunch hypothesis with multiple questions and found that
this was not the difference between the users and non-users, no matter how the question
was phrased. Questions such as "I value efficiency highly," "I am always in a hurry," "I
am worried about wasting time on the Internet," "I am a very busy person," and "I am
usually bored" produced similar responses across both sub-groups (Table 4).
Self-Presentation
The non-users also did not like the idea of engaging in presentation of self through
these sites. One remarked, shaking her head: "America is so self-obsessed. They are so
about `look at me. Look how I cool I look in this dress I'm wearing right now drinking
with my friends. Check out how long this beer-bong cable is.' I don't understand it."
Another complained that people were just fishing for affirmation: "People will out-and-out
lie on their profile. `My favorite movie is this movie; my favorite band is this band.' I've
been friends with you for ten years and I've never in my life heard you listen to that band.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
23 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
You are just saying so that people will look at your profile and will say, `Oh man, that is so
cool. That's cool.'"
One non-user remarked: "They are wasting their talents. They should be paid for that
kind of work." Once again, engaging in this kind of activity without a direct goal, such as
making money, seemed hard to comprehend for this group.
ARE THE NON- USERS DISAPPEARING?
While the number of non-users decreased from 17.1 percent to 12.5 percent during the
sampling time frame, the differences were not statistically significant (Table 5). The
percent of female users remained steady across the three time periods (9 percent of women
were nonusers in all three waves) while men steadily increased their participation (26% of
the men in the first wave, 21.7 in the second wave, and 15.4 in the last wave were non-
users).
Table 5: SNS site usage over time.
Wave One Wave Two Wave Three Total
User 17.1% 14.5% 12.5% 15.1%
Non-User 82.9% 85.5% 87.5% 84.9%
(?=1.896, Asymp. two-sided p=0.388)
LIMITATIONS
This study examined a purposive sample of undergraduate college students. Since the
data in this paper is from a purposive sample, this limits the generalizability of the results.
The study also represents data collection in more than one point in time and some of the
questions were only asked of subsamples. In effect, this can be seen as related subsequent
studies. Causal assertions cannot be made, as the data is cross-sectional in nature.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
24 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Discussion and Conclusions
Contrary to the perceptions of non-users, SNS adoption does not seem to be about
efficiencies, or yet another shortcut in the students' busy lives. The students who do not
use SNSs are neither hermits, nor socially isolated, nor fearful of the Internet. However,
the non-users are less interested in activities that can be conceptualized as social grooming.
Also contrary to what one might expect, the non-users reported similar numbers of
very close and somewhat close friends as compared with SNS users. However, the number
of friends one kept in touch with weekly was significantly higher among SNS users.
Keeping in touch may be conceptualized partially as a form of social grooming. Even if
social grooming is essential to the functioning of complex societies, it may be that not
engaging in it as much as other people do is not harmful to a small minority of individuals'
capacity for maintaining friendship.
In fact, the lack of overlap between instant message non-use and SNS non- use shows
that SNS non- users are not reticent toward communicating via the Internet; nor are they
closed to the possibility of genuine social interaction through online methods. It is the
social browsing (Lampe et al, 2006) and social grooming functions of SNSs that they are
less interested in. Conversely, activities which can be grouped under these headings were
often mentioned as among the most attractive features of SNSs in interviews with users.
The most significant predictor of SNS use in the logistic models, besides gender, was
the tendency to use the Internet for expressive purposes: reading blogs, creating web pages,
emailing, etc. Importantly, there was no relationship with instrumental uses of the Internet,
such as information seeking and commercial transactions. This result highlights the need to
differentiate between the different modalities of Internet practices.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
25 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
In the interviews, non-users confessed to disinterest in and bafflement by social
grooming activities and this was demonstrated in the quantitative analysis. Non-users
might understand why one might sit in a sidewalk café with a friend and chat, but not
comprehend why one would spend hours there simply to watch people go by, see who is
sitting with whom, and observe how others interact among themselves. It was as if the non-
users were people without a sense of smell, wondering why others buy expensive water
with which to squirt themselves. Why waste so much money? People must like the shape
of the bottle, they might imagine.
The combined analysis of quantitative and qualitative results suggests two principal
clusters that influence SNS adoption among undergraduate students: disposition towards
social grooming and privacy concerns. Our sample of non- users was too small to perform
factor analysis to model these clusters. They may represent different groups of non- users,
or they may overlap partially or totally.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
26 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
REFERENCES
Acquisti, A., & Gross, R. (2006). Imagined communities: awareness, information sharing,
and privacy on the Facebook. 6th Workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technologies,
Robinson College, Cambridge University, UK.
Blanchard, A. & Horan, T., 1998. Virtual Communities and Social Capital. Social Science
Computer Review, 16(3), p.293.
Boneva, B. 2001. "Using E- mail for Personal Relationships: The Difference Gender
Makes." American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 45, no 3, pp. 530-549
Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. (1992). An invitation to reflexive sociology. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
boyd, d. (2006a). Friends, Friendsters, and MySpace Top 8: Writing Community Into
Being on Social Network Sites. First Monday. 11(12).
boyd, danah and Jenkins, H. (2006b). "MySpace and Deleting Online Predators Act
(DOPA)." MIT Tech Talk. May 26. Retrieved from:
http://www.danah.org/papers/MySpaceDOPA.html
boyd, d., Heer, J. (2006). Profiles as Conversation: Networked Identity Performance on
Friendster. Proceedings of the Hawai'i International Conference on System
Sciences, Persistent Conversation Track. Kauai, HI.
boyd, d. Ellison, N. (2007). Social Network Sites: Definition and Conception. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication.
boyd, d. (2007). Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What. Knowledge Tree. 13.
DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Celeste, C., & Shafer, S. (2004). Digital inequality: From
unequal access to differentiated use. In K. Neckerman (Ed.), Social Inequality (pp.
355-400). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Donath, J. (2007). Signals in social supernets. Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication, 13(1), http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/donath.html
Dunbar, R. (1998) Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language. Harvard University
Press.
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook "friends:"
Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4).
Goffman, E. (1956). The Nature of Deference and Demeanor. American Anthropologist
vol. 58, no 3, pp. 475-499.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
27 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City, New York:
Doubleday Anchor Books.
Granovetter, M. (1973) The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, vol 78,
pp. 1360-1380.
Gross, R., Acquisti, A., & H. John Heinz, I.I.I. (2005). Information revelation and privacy
in online social networks. Proceedings of the 2005 ACM workshop on Privacy in
the electronic society, pp. 71-80 .
Hampton, K. (2003). Neighboring in Netville: How the Internet Supports Community and
Social Capital in a Wired Suburb. City and Community vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 277-311.
Hampton, K. N. (2007). Neighborhoods in the Network Society the e-Neighbors study.
Information, Communication & Society, 10, p.p. 714 - 748.
Hargittai, E., & Shafer, S. (2006). Differences in actual and perceived online skills: The
role of gender. Social Science Quarterly, 87 (2), 432-448.
Hargittai, E. (2007). Whose space? Differences among users and non-users of social
network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1)
Haythornthwaite, C. (2005). Social networks and Internet connectivity effects.
Information, Communication & Society, 8(2), 125 - 147.
Jackson, L. A., Ervin, K. S., Gardner, P. D., & Schmitt, N. (2001). Gender and the Internet:
Women communicating and men searching. Sex Roles, 44 (5/6), 363-379.
Kraut, R., Mukhopadhyay, T., Szczypula, J., Kiesler, S., & Scherlis, W. (1999).
Communication and Information: Alternative Uses of the Internet in Households.
Information Systems Research, 10(4), 287-303.
Lampe, C., Ellison, N., & Steinfield, C., (2006). A Face(book) in the crowd: Social
searching vs. social browsing. Proceedings of the 2006 20th Anniversary
Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (pp. 167-170). New York:
ACM Press.
Lampe, C. A., Ellison, N., & Steinfield, C. (2007). A familiar face(book): profile elements
as signals in an online social network. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on
Human factors in computing systems, 435-444 .
Lenhart, A., & Madden, M. (2007). Social networking websites and teens: An overview.
Retrieved October 10, 2007 from
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/198/report_display.asp
Lenhart, A., & Madden, M. (2005). Teen Content Creators and Consumers. Retrieved
January 28, 2008 from
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Teens_Content_Creation.pdf
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
28 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Marsden, P. and Campbell, K. E. (1984) Measuring tie strength. Social Forces 63:2 , pp.
482-501
McKenna, K. & Bargh, J. (2000). Plan 9 From Cyberspace: The Implications of the
Internet for Personality and Social Psychology. Personality & Social Psychology
Review, 4(1), 57-75.
Mead, G.H. (1934). Mind, Self, and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist.
Ed. by C. W. Morris. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lampe, C., Ellison, N., & Steinfield, C. (2007). A familiar Face(book): Profile elements as
signals in an online social network. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on
Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 435-444). New York: ACM Press.
Livingstone, S., & Helsper, E. (2007). Gradations in digital inclusion: Children, young
people, and the digital divide. New Media and Society, 9, 671-696.
Petric, G. (2006). Conceptualizing and Measuring the Social Uses of the Internet: The
Case of Personal Web Sites. The Information Society, 22, 291-301.
Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling Alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New
York: Simon and Schuster
Quan-Haase, A. (2007). University Students' Local And Distant Social Ties: Using and
integrating modes of communication on campus. Information, Communication &
Society, 10(5), 671 - 693.
Steinkuehler, C., and Williams, D. (2006). Where everybody knows your (screen) name:
Online games as "third places." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication,
11(4).
Stutzman, F. (2006a) An Evaluation of Identity-Sharing Behavior in Social Network
Communities. iDMAa Journal, 3(1).
Tufekci, Z. (2008). Can You See Me Now? Audience and Disclosure Regulation in Online
Social Network Sites. Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society (forthcoming).
Walther, J. (1996). Computer-Mediated Communication: Impersonal, Interpersonal, and
Hyperpersonal Interaction. Communication Research, 23(1), 3.
Weiser, E. B. (2001). The functions of Internet use and their social and psychological
consequences. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 4(6), 723-743.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
29 of 30
Zeynep Tufekci. (Forthcoming). Grooming, Gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What Can
We Learn About These Sites From Those Who Won't Assimilate? Information,
Communication and Society.
Wellman, B., Quan-Haase, A., Witte, J., & Hampton, K. (2001). Does the Internet
Increase, Decrease, or Supplement Social Capital?: Social Networks, Participation,
and Community Commitment. American Behavioral Scientist, 45(3), 436-455.
Zhao, S. (2006). Do Internet Users Have More Social Ties? A Call for Differentiated
Analyses of Internet Use. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 11,
no 3, pp. 844-862.
Pre-Publication Version. Contact zeynep at umbc.edu for latest version.
30 of 30