Final Net

Analysis of Social
Networking Websites
Written by: Daniel Horan
Third Year Project in the

Department of Computer Science at
the University of Manchester
Degree Programme:
Computing for Business
Applications with Industrial
Experience
Project Supervisor:
Bob Wood
Daniel Horan Analysis of Social Networking Websites Page 1 of 40

Analysis of Social Networking Websites
Written by: Daniel Horan
Date: 30th March 2009
Project Supervisor : Bob Wood
ABSTRACT
SNS have emerged as an important technology because many people now consider
them an essential component of their everyday lives. Therefore it is vital that we gain
a greater understanding of the many different aspects of SNS and that is the main aim
of this study. The aspects which are the main focus of this study are user motivations,
attitudes towards the technology, privacy issues, the extent to which SNS have
substituted e-mail and the application of SNS in professional environments. To
achieve these aims I examined literature on the subject and conducted my own
research using a questionnaire and interviews. The investigation concludes with my
own personal theory on the future of SNS. This theory is generated from the
deductions I made using all of the research I conducted throughout this study.
Acronyms Used in this Report:
SNS (Social Networking Sites), CMC (Computer Mediated Communication).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who participated in the
research which was conducted for the project. I would also like to thank the project
supervisor Professor Bob Wood for offering advice and guidance throughout the
project.

ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................3
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES...........................................................................5
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION...............................................................................6
CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE STUDY..............................8

2.1 User Motivations and Attitudes Towards SNS ...........................................8
2.2 Privacy and SNS.............................................................................................8
2.3 The Effect of SNS on E-mail .........................................................................9
2.4 Application of SNS in Professional Environments ...................................10
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS .................................................................12

3.1 Questionnaires..............................................................................................12
3.2 Interviews......................................................................................................13
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS ...................................................................15

4.1 Questionnaire Results..................................................................................15
4.2 Interview Results..........................................................................................22
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION OF RESULTS ..........................................................24

5.1 User Motivations and Behaviour................................................................24
5.2 Security and Privacy Issues.........................................................................25
5.3 Barriers to Evolution Caused by Attitude .................................................26
5.4 SNS as a Substitute for E-Mail ...................................................................27
5.5 Professional Applications of SNS ...............................................................27
5.6 The Future of SNS .......................................................................................29
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION..................................................................................31
6.1 Achievements................................................................................................31
6.2 Reflection of Study.......................................................................................31
6.3 Future Research ...........................................................................................32
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................33
APPENDIX A: PROPOSED PROJECT PLAN .....................................................35
APPENDIX B: QUSTIONNAIRE TEMPLATE ....................................................36
APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS OUTLINE .......................................40

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Description Page
Figure 1: Number of different social networking site accounts 15
Table 2: Most popular SNS 15
Figure 3: Average number of logins a day 16
Figure 4: Average amount of new information posted a day 16
Table 5: Reasons SNS are used 17
Table 6: Most popular reasons why SNS are used 18
Table 7: Reasons why SNS are appealing 18
Table 8: Most popular reasons why SNS are appealing 19
Figure 9: Have you ever accessed a SNS on a mobile phone? 19
Figure 10: Is it easier to communicate with somebody through a social 20

networking site rather than through e-mail?
Table 11: Events organised through SNS 20
Figure 12: Do you have friends on SNS whose other contact details you 21
don’t have?
Figure 13: Could SNS be used in a professional environment? 21

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Since the dawn of the Internet the importance of CMC has significantly grown over
time. It is now at the point where it can be considered an essential component of our
everyday lives.
The early growth of CMC can be mainly attributed to e-mail software. This software
proved itself to be versatile and applicable in a number of different environments
because it could suit the needs of both individuals and organisations. However the
needs of society constantly evolve through time and technology must adapt to satisfy
these new requirements. Ambitious programmers recognised that certain aspects of
society were changing and decided to develop a new technology, in an attempt to
meet emerging new needs. From this SNS were born.
The first of many SNS to be introduced to the public was SixDegrees which was
released over a decade ago [1]. Although it is only in the past couple of years that
SNS such as Facebook and MySpace have seen a dramatic increase in popularity.
Their meteoric rise to prominence in our society has been particularly sudden, with
most people quickly integrating these sites into their daily practices.
The unexpected emergence of SNSs has been a surprise to many people because they
cannot comprehend how this technology has become so successful. Especially when
you consider the fact that there are plenty of other CMC methods available such as e-
mail and chat rooms. Industry analysts are constantly posing questions on this subject
which have yet to be clearly answered. Examples of these questions include what
needs are SNS satisfying that other methods of CMC communication don’t? Why are
users motivated to use SNS? What attitudes do people have towards SNS and other
methods of CMC? How are SNS being applied in different environments?
Finding clearer answers to questions such as these will be the main focal point of my
study. Through detailed research I intend to discover important information about
SNS which I can use as the driving force behind the rest of my project. This includes
information such as user motivations, posting frequency, attitudes towards the
technology and opinions towards privacy on SNS.
In order to find this information I will carefully construct a questionnaire to capture

both qualitative and quantitative data. To further develop and enrich this data I intend
to conduct interviews. These interviews will delve into further details about
interesting topics and details which arise from my questionnaire.
To ensure that these methods of research are structured and completed on time I will
create a project plan. This project plan allocates separate time periods for each
process required to complete the project. With regards to the research I have allocated
time for the design, implementation and analysis of both the questionnaire and the
interviews. This will help to keep the research focused and on schedule. (See
Appendix A for project plan).
Once I have gathered and analysed the results of my research I will use this to propel
the remainder of the project. SNS and e-mail software are competitors in the field of
CMC and I think it is important to consider how the sudden emergence of SNS has

affected the usage of e-mail software. Therefore I aim to determine from the research
the extent to which SNS have become a substitute for e-mail. I plan to do this by
exploring why users are motivated to use SNS and by also exploring the user’s
attitudes towards the technologies. I will also consider which method of
communication users prefer to use in certain situations.
I then aim to establish what this deduction means for the application of SNS in a
professional environment. As I discussed earlier e-mail software has been applied in
a number of different environments throughout time and I think it is important to
consider whether or not SNS could achieve the same level of versatility. I intend to
do this by evaluating the opinions of users of SNS and by researching companies
which have attempted to use social networking technology in their organisation.
The final aim of this project is to theorise on the future of SNS. To deduce this theory
I will evaluate all of the research I have conducted, as well as the previous deductions
I have made throughout the project.
Various studies have already been conducted into the areas of SNS which I aim to
explore in this project. The topic of user motivations has been covered in several
research studies [2, 3]. These studies discuss a variety of topics with one of these
being user motivations. Both studies suggest that SNS are mainly used to keep in
touch with friends for the purpose of maintaining friendships.
Research into the application of SNS in professional environments has also been
conducted previously. Sun Microsystems wrote a paper based on the introduction of
social media into their organisation. This paper discusses numerous topics including
how it was introduced, what affects it has had on the business and what the plans for
the future of this technology within the business are [4]. IBM also researched how the
introduction of their own internal SNS has effected their organisation [5]. Both of
these pieces of research are positive in their evaluation of the affects that SNS has had
on their organisation.
The remaining parts of the report will be broken down into chapters. Chapter 2 will
provide a detailed literature overview of some work already carried out in this field.
It will also discuss any background theory which is relevant to the project. Chapter 3
will outline the investigatory research methods used to gather information. This will
include the design rationale and methodology of these approaches. Chapter 4 will be
the results chapter where I present the results of the research. Leading on from this
will be a discussion chapter. This will include a detailed discussion of the results of
my research relating to the aims of the project. The final chapter will be a conclusions
chapter which will summarise the achievements of the project. This chapter will also
give me the opportunity to critically appraise the project and reflect upon the extent to
which the aims of the study were met. Furthermore I will recommend additional
research which could be conducted into this topic in the future.

CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE
STUDY
2.1 User Motivations and Attitudes Towards SNS
SNS have become an integral part of our culture due to their increasing popularity.
Due to this lots of studies have been conducted into figuring out what makes people
motivated to use SNS. Coyle et al found that the main reason for using SNS is to
keep in touch with friends. They also imply that communication on SNS is trivial
which means that the message content is unimportant [2]. Ellison et al support these
findings as they found in their study that people overwhelmingly used SNS to keep n
touch with friends [3]. Both these studies agree that SNS are important in maintaining
friendships, especially with old friends or acquaintances. This implies that SNS are
an important communication tool which is useful in maintaining friendships which
would be difficult to maintain via other methods.
Most research conducted into the motivations behind using SNS suggests that SNS
are an important communication method. However many people still have a negative
attitude towards the technology and dismiss it entirely. People with this attitude
usually suggest it is unhealthy to communicate with people through a computer and
that it is damaging people’s social skills. Janet Street Porter highlights the
stereotypical attitude which many people still have towards the technology:
“Nothing sums up the shallow world we live in more than a group of
people chatting away to each other for hours each day via sites like
Bebo, MySpace and Facebook. Have these sad characters got nothing
better to do? What is it about the real world that they find so
unappealing? [6]
The research overall suggests that SNS are an important communication method for
maintaining and developing friendships. However some people have yet to be
convinced that this is true and have a negative attitude towards SNS. This makes it
difficult to judge the current attitudes towards SNS as they appear to be so mixed.
The reasons behind using SNS appear to be clear but I will still attempt to gather both
qualitative and quantitative data in this study to confirm these reasons. I will also
hopefully be able to go into a higher level of detail on the subject. I will also attempt
to gather qualitative data in this study relating to attitudes towards the technology.
2.2 Privacy and SNS
The emergent use of SNS has lead to an increase in concern over privacy issues
relating to these sites. This concern has come from both researchers in the field and
social networking site users.
According to popular studies and news reports there are several issues relating to
privacy and SNS. These include the following: teenagers revealing too much about
themselves [7, 8], children being exposed to paedophiles [9, 10], and people having
their identities stolen [11]. All of these concerns involve the users of SNS providing

too much information to these websites. This information is then being used by an
external threat in a harmful way.
The research suggests that there are a number of factors to blame for these privacy
concerns. One of these is the SNS themselves for not providing adequate security to
protect information. Another is naivety from users of the sites and the parents of
users who are not educating their children properly. These factors have been
identified, but a clear explanation has not been given as to what could be done to
improve the situation. This is obviously the next step in the research agenda and it is
something I hope my study can make clearer.
I also think it is also imperative to consider the views of users on the issue of privacy.
James Rachels proposes that people have a “sense of privacy” which is violated when
private information is publicised against our will [12]. This suggests that people
believe they own their personal information and should be able to dictate who sees it.
SNS have violated people’s “sense of privacy” numerous times in the past through
changes in site design or policy. These violations have outraged thousands of users
and caused a heavy backlash against the sites.
There are two particularly good examples of changes which annoyed the users of
SNS. The first being when Facebook added the news feed feature which allows
friends to view the acts undertaken on the site by their other Facebook friends. Users
were completely against this idea even though none of the information displayed by
this feature was previously private. The information was just made more accessible
and visible. Users petitioned for the feature to be removed and one anti-news feed
group gained 284,000 members [13]. The other is a recent example when Facebook
granted itself the rights to every piece of a user’s information for ever even if it is
removed from the site. This again caused outrage with more than 25,000 people
joining Facebook petition groups [14].
These examples imply that users are concerned about privacy issues relating to SNS
and have strong opinions about them. However there is currently very little research
into user’s opinions on these privacy issues and how they could be resolved. I think
that the user’s views on this topic are critical to help in understanding the problem and
what could be done to help remove privacy concerns. That is why I will attempt to
gather some qualitative data in this study relating to users opinions on SNS and
privacy.
2.3 The Effect of SNS on E-mail
As I mentioned in the introduction, SNS and e-mail software are in direct competition
in the field of CMC. Social networking has recently taken a slight lead in this battle
because it has now overtaken e-mail in terms of worldwide reach. According to a
study from Nielson Online 66.8% of Internet users across the globe accessed
“member communities” last year, compared to 65.1% for email [15]. The figure for
e-mail is still quite high though and only slightly lower than the figure for social
networking. This implies that e-mail is still a relevant and popular technology.

The idea that e-mail is and will remain a significant CMC method is supported by
industry analysts. John Martellaro suggests that Twitter (a social networking site)
performs personal communication much better than e-mail. However he also believes
that e-mail will continue to be used for certain purposes such as commercial purposes.
Due to this he proposes that the texture of e-mail as a communication method will
change because of SNS like Twitter [16]. Colleen Coplick also agrees that e-mail will
remain a significant CMC method, but for a slightly different reason. She suggests
that e-mail will not be done with all together because it is an integrated platform. All
e-mail services are interconnected and can communicate between each other.
However SNS are currently not integrated and cannot communicate between each
other. Due to this she states that “I don’t think e-mail is going to go away anytime
soon.” [17]
The reasons suggested by these analysts for the continuing relevance of e-mail are
very fair points. However e-mail service providers want to continue developing their
software so that they can maintain competitive with SNS in the field of CMC. Yahoo
and Google currently have plans to develop new software called Inbox 2.0. With this
software they hope to add features of SNS to their present e-mail software. These
features include a personal profile and a list of friend’s birthdays which are coming up
in the near future. The companies hope to integrate these features seamlessly and
create a product which can have the advantages of both SNS and e-mail [18].
The research overall suggests that SNS are becoming a more popular technology than
e-mail. However it is clear that e-mail at present still serves important purposes that
cannot be served by SNS. This makes it difficult to judge the extent to which SNS
have become a substitute for e-mail. That is why I will attempt to gather some
qualitative data in this study relating to users opinions towards SNS and e-mail as
communication methods. I also hope to uncover the reasoning behind the usage of
each technology.
2.4 Application of SNS in Professional Environments
As I have discussed previously, CMC is rapidly developing due to the introduction of

social networking technologies. A number of industry analysts have suggested that
this technology could be used successfully in the workplace. Eric Sinod highlights
the opinion of most analysts particularly well:
“Social-networking sites truly do provide robust features that provide a
richer means of online communications. Rather than ban employees
from using the medium, managers should think ahead how to turn it to
their advantage.” [19].
As I mentioned in the introduction some organisations have already heeded this

advice and used social networking technology to their advantage. Sun Microsystems
are a prime example of this because they used a variety of social networking
technologies to improve communication within their organisation. All of their social
media projects were successful and expansion is constantly ongoing with plans for a
purpose built internal social network among other things [4]. IBM developed an
internal social networking site called Beehive. This site was built solely for IBM
employees and allowed them to perform most of the functions which are common to

SNS. Research by IBM showed that Beehive had many positive effects on their
organisation. Examples of these include employees having a higher sense of
citizenship and employees having greater access to new people and expertise within
the company [5].
Almost all of the companies which have integrated social networking technology into
their business seem to have common attributes. It appears as though they are usually
large companies, which are technology minded and distributed across a number of
countries. Other companies seem afraid of integrating the technology into their
business. A study by mobile operator 3 states that 35% of UK businesses have
banned SNS from their workplace [20]. This ban on SNS in the workplace is mainly
due to concerns about employee productivity and malware.
The research overall suggests that SNS could be applied affectively in the workplace.
Some companies have proved that it can be successful, while others are banning the
software from their business entirely. This makes it difficult to determine the overall
attitude towards the application of SNS in a professional environment. That is why I
will attempt to gather some quantitative and qualitative data in this study relating to
the potential usefulness of SNS in a professional environment. I hope to collect data
from a range of different demographics so that the data is balanced. Especially useful
demographics will include technical people and non technical people who are
employed by organisations.

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS
Two research methods were used in this study in order to gather data and information
about SNS which includes:
• The most popular SNS and the reasons why these sites are popular over other
SNS.
• The average number of times in a day that users log into SNS.
• The average number of times users post new information each day.
• Potential features which could be added to increase the amount of information
they post.
• The most popular reasons why a user uses SNS.
• The most popular reasons why SNS appeal to users.
• The popularity of accessing SNS on a mobile phone and why users do it.
• The popularity of SNS as a communication method over e-mail and the
reasons why.
• The popularity of using SNS to organise specific events.
• The number of people who have friends on SNS whose other contact details
they don’t have.
• Opinions on whether or not SNS could be applied in professional
environments and the reasons for these opinions.
• Opinions on the extent to which SNS could be a substitute for e-mail.
• The level of concern about security and privacy on SNS.
• Attitudes towards the purposes of SNS and e-mail.
The chosen research methods to gather this information include distributing

questionnaires and conducting interviews.
Understanding the aspects of SNS which are explored in this research will be the
foundations of my study. The research will be main tool used to conceive all of the
theories I propose in the project.
3.1 Questionnaires
The main aim of questionnaire distribution was to collect quantitative and qualitative
data, in order to gain a greater understanding about specific aspects of SNS and the
opinions that users have towards some of these aspects. (See Appendix B for
questionnaire template).
The questionnaire was created on the website esurveyspro.com. This is a website that
can be used to design, distribute and analyse the results of a questionnaire. This
website was an excellent tool as it offered me a straightforward way of distributing
the questionnaire to a large number of candidates. It provided me with a URL which I
could present to candidates as a direct link to the questionnaire. I believe that this
helped to improve the response rate of candidates because it allowed easy access to
the questionnaire from any Internet connection.

This range of information I attempted to gather in the questionnaire was very broad.
Therefore I used a mixture of closed ended questions and open ended questions in the
questionnaire to gather the information effectively. I decided to use closed ended
questions wherever possible because this would make filling out the questionnaire
easier for participants which in turn would improve the response rate. The closed
questions would also be easier to analyse as participants would be selecting their
answers from a set number of options. This makes it simpler to determine the most
favoured option overall. A few open ended questions are also included in the
questionnaire to uncover attitudes and opinions.
I made a decision early in the design of the questionnaire to not collect basic
demographic data such as age and gender. I felt as though it wasn’t particularly
important to document who had provided me with the data. However I wanted to
ensure that the data had been provided by a diverse range of demographics even if I
didn’t record their personal information. This is because I wanted to ensure that I had
opinions from many different varieties of social networking site users. I intended to
reach out to some distinct demographics with my questionnaire which were:
• Students
• The employed
• The unemployed
• IT professionals
• Frequent users of SNS
• Infrequent users of SNS
• Active users of SNS
• Passive users of SNS
The finalised questionnaire was distributed to a select number of people within my

own personal social network. Of the 189 friends I currently have in my social
network I invited 100 of them to join a group on Facebook. In this group I provided
the URL which would link the group members to the questionnaire so that they could
complete it. I chose to distribute the questionnaire in this way because it gave me
greater control over the demographic of people which would respond. Using the
knowledge that I had of these people already I could take an educated guess at which
demographic they would fall into. This meant that I could select equal numbers of
people from each demographic which would help to broaden the range of the data I
collected. Unfortunately not all 100 people responded and I was only able to get 51
responses to the questionnaire overall. To ensure that this represented a balanced
demographic I checked the population of my Facebook group after I had received the
responses. It proved to be slightly unbalanced because more students answered than
anybody else, but each demographic had at least 5 responses which I thought was
plenty.
3.2 Interviews
The main aim of conducting interviews was to enrich some of the data I had collected
in the questionnaire. I also wanted to uncover further information about important
issues and attitudes which had arisen from the responses to the questionnaire such as

privacy of SNS, stereotypical attitudes towards SNS usage and the usage of
communication in a single interaction with another person.
I selected ten questionnaire participants to interview. As with the questionnaire I

wanted opinions from a variety of social networking site users. Therefore I carefully
considered the demographics of the participants I chose in order to get the correct
balance of data.
The interview questions were designed to collect purely qualitative data. Therefore
the interviews consisted purely of open ended questions in order to collect the
opinions and attitudes of the participants. Before each interview I had a basic outline
of questions which I intended to ask. (See Appendix C for an outline of the interview
questions). However the interviews sometimes developed in a slightly different way
because I had to improvise some questions due to the responses of the participant.
This meant that I gathered additional information from each interview which was
useful.
Each interview lasted approximately twenty minutes per candidate and was conducted
face to face in a private area. The responses of each participant were recorded in note
form in my project logbook then fleshed out into full transcripts at a later date. This
proved difficult to do so I started to record the interviews from the fourth interview
onwards. This made it easier to translate the responses of the participants into a full
transcript.

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS
In this chapter I will present the results of the research which I conducted.
4.1 Questionnaire Results
51 questionnaires were completed between the period of December 2008 and January
2009. Respondents were from a mixture of demographics which should have helped
to ensure that the results reflected the overall opinions of social networking site users.
Figure 1 shows the respondents response when they were asked how many social
networking site accounts they have. The results suggest that it is possible for one
social networking website to cater for all the needs of users as 55% of respondents
only have one social networking site account. Multiple accounts proved unpopular as
only 12% of respondents had 3 or more accounts.
Figure 1: Number of different social networking site accounts

Number of different social networking site accounts
30
25
Frequency
20
15 28
10 17
5 1
5
0
1 2 3 4+
Number of Accounts
Table 2 shows the respondents response when they asked to name the SNS they have
an account on. It is implied that Facebook is by far the most popular social
networking site because all of the 51 respondents have a Facebook account. 39% of
respondents have an account on MySpace which makes it the second most popular
site. Other SNS were mentioned such as Bebo but these sites were rather unpopular
with respondents.
Table 2: Most popular SNS

Social Networking Site Frequency
Facebook 51
MySpace 20
Bebo 5
Orkut 1
My Year Book 1
profilePic 1
Live Journal 1
MSN Messenger 1

Figure 3 shows the respondents response when they were asked to state the average
number of times a day they logged in SNS. Figure 3 suggests that the number of
times people log into a social networking site is quite varied. The most preferred
response was 4 or more times a day with 37% of respondents. The second most
preferred response was 1 time a day with 24% which is on the other end of the
spectrum altogether. 2 and 3 times a day were joint third with 20% of respondents
each.
Figure 3: Average number of logins a day
Average number of logins a day
20
15
Frequency
10 19
12
5 10 10
0
1 2 3 4+
Number of Logins
Figure 4 shows the respondents response when they were asked to state the average
amount of new information they post on SNS a day. Figure 4 suggests that the
amount of information users post on SNS is very interesting especially when
compared to the amount of times users log in a day. 59% of respondents replied
between 0 and 2, 37% replied between 3 and 5, while only 4% replied 6 or above.
Figure 4: Average amount of new information posted a day
Average amount of new information posted a day
35
30
25
Frequency
20
15 30
10 19
5 2
0 0
0
0 to 2 3 to 5 6 to 8 9 to 11 12+
Amount of New Information

When respondents were asked what features could be added to SNS in the future to
improve the amount of information they post there were a number of intriguing
responses. The most prominent response was to improve the security and privacy
features of the website to ensure that no ID fraud can take place. Another popular
new feature mentioned was chat rooms or forums to encourage discussions on topics
such as world news, films, music etc.
Table 5 shows the respondents response when they were asked to state if they had
ever used a social networking website for a certain reason. Reasons of
communication proved most popular when respondents. These communication
reasons were to keep in touch with friends (100%), to post or look at photos (94%), I
use it when I don’t have any other contact information (88%), to organise events
(86%) and to send messages to multiple people at the same time (84%). The only
communication reason which proved unpopular was to meet new people who share
similar interests (21%). Other reasons proved popular as well such as I use it when
I’m bored (80%) and its fun (72%). The unpopular reasons were everyone is doing it
(43%) and to use applications like games (31%).
Table 5: Reasons SNS are used

Reason for using SNS Yes I have used a No I haven’t used a social
social networking site networking site for this
for this reason reason
To keep in touch with friends 51 0
Everyone is doing it 22 29
To post or look at photos 48 3
I use it when I’m bored 41 10
To meet new people who 11 40
share similar interests
Its fun 37 14
I use it when I don’t have any 45 6
other contact information
To send messages to multiple 43 8
people at the same time
To organise events 44 7
To use applications like 16 35
games
Table 6 shows the respondents response when they were asked to state which three
reasons were the main reasons they used SNS. Reasons of communication again
proved by far the most popular with all the other reasons receiving a small number of
responses. 98% of respondents replied to keep in touch with friends, 59% replied to
post or look at photos, 39% replied to send messages to multiple people at the same
time, 29% replied I use it when I don’t have any other contact information and 24%
replied to organise events. Again to meet new people who share similar interests was
the only unpopular communication reason with only 2% of people responding with
this reason. The other reasons had a small number of responses as only 17% replied I
use it when I’m bored, 6% its fun, 4% replied its cheap and nobody surveyed
responded to use applications like games.

Table 6: Most popular reasons why SNS are used
Reason for using SNS Frequency
To keep in touch with friends 50
Everyone is doing it 1
To post or look at photos 30
I use it when I’m bored 17
To meet new people who share 1
similar interests
Its fun 3
I use it when I don’t have any 15
other contact information
To send messages to multiple 20
people at the same time
To organise events 12
To use applications like games 0
Cheaper than texts 1
Its cheap 1
Table 7 shows the respondents response when they were asked to state the reasons
why a social networking site appealed to them. Reasons of communication again
proved most popular. These communication reasons were I can keep in touch with all
my friends easily (100%), I can organise things like events easily and I can transfer
photos between my friends easily (both 84%). The growing trend continued as the
only unpopular communication reason was they are the best way of meeting new
people (11%). All the other reasons available proved popular with respondents which
were they are free to use (94%), they are easy to use (82%) and they are more
accessible than e-mail (68%).
Table 7: Reasons SNS are appealing

Reason SNS are Appealing Yes a social No social networking site
networking site appeals doesn’t appeal to me for
to me for this reason this reason
They are easy to use 42 9
They are free to use 48 3
They are more accessible than 35 16
e-mail
I can keep in touch with all 51 0
my friends easily
I can organise things like 43 8
events easily
I can transfer things like 43 8
photos between my friends
easily
They are the best way of 6 45
meeting new people
Table 8 shows the respondents response when they were asked to state the three main
reasons why SNS appeal to them. These results went slightly against the trend which
was developing. The only popular reason was I can keep in touch with all my friends

easily (90%). Most of other reasons had an average response rate. I can transfer
photos between my friends easily and they are free to use (both 51%), they are more
accessible than e-mail (41%), I can organise things like events easily (31%) and they
are easy to use (24%). They are the best way of meeting new people received the
poorest response with only 2%.
Table 8: Most popular reasons why SNS are appealing

Reason SNS are Appealing Frequency
They are easy to use 12
They are free to use 26
They are more accessible than 21
e-mail
I can keep in touch with all 46
my friends easily
I can organise things like 16
events easily
I can transfer things like 26
photos between my friends
easily
They are the best way of 1
meeting new people
Figure 9 shows the respondents response when they were asked to state whether or
not they has accessed a social networking site on a mobile phone. The results show
that this practice is relatively unpopular. Only 31% of people stated that they had
accessed a social networking site on a mobile phone. Most of these people accessed
the social networking site to check their account to see if it had received any updates.
For example to check if had received a response to a message or to check who was
attending an event.
Figure 9: Have you ever accessed a social networking site on a mobile phone?
Have you ever accessed a social networking site on a

mobile phone?
40
35
30
Frequency
25
20
35
15
10
16
5
0
Yes No
not they thought it was easier to communicate with somebody through a social

networking site rather than through e-mail. A large majority of respondents (90%)
thought it was easier to communicate with somebody through a social networking site
rather than through e-mail. The main reason for this belief was that social SNS have
better HCI than e-mail which allows for greater levels of interactivity. Other reasons
included the fact that people checked their social networking accounts more
frequently so were more likely to see the message and the fact that sometimes e-mails
get lost in oversensitive spam filters.
Figure 10: Is it easier to communicate with somebody through a social

networking site rather than through e-mail?
Is it easier to communicate with somebody through a

social networking site rather than through e-mail?
50
40
Frequency
30
46
20
10 5
0
Yes No
Table 11 shows the respondents response when they were asked to state if they had
organised a specific kind of event through a social networking site. Organising social
events on SNS proved popular as 88% of respondents said they had done this at least
once. However organising professional events proved unpopular as only 9% of
respondents said they had done this at least once.
Table 11: Events organised through SNS

Event Type Yes I have used a social No I haven’t used a social
networking site to organise this networking site to organise
kind of event this kind of event
Social Event 45 6
Professional Event 5 46
not they had friends on SNS whose other contact details they didn’t have. The results
suggest that all respondents must have some acquaintances as friends on their social
networking site accounts. This is because every single respondent has some friends
on SNS that they have no other contact details for.

Figure 12: Do you have friends on SNS whose other contact details you don’t
have?
Do you have friends on SNS whose other contact

details you don't have?
60
50
Frequency
40
30
51
20
10
0
0
Yes No
not they thought social networking technology could be used in a professional
environment. The results show that the response to the question was mixed. 54% of
respondents thought it could be possible. One of the most popular reasons for this
belief is the fact that SNS are an excellent way to gather organise and distribute in
once place. Another popular reason is the fact that it would help to improve team
work and motivation within a company by offering an easy way to interact with work
colleagues. 45% of respondents thought it would not be possible to use SNS in a
place of work. One of the most popular reasons for this belief is the fact that the
security and privacy features are not yet of a high enough standard to ensure that
sensitive information is kept safe. Another popular reason is the fact that SNS could
be abused by employees and used for unprofessional reasons.
Figure 13: Could SNS be used in a professional environment?
Could SNS be used in a professional environment?
30
25
20
Frequency
15 28
23
10
0
Yes No

4.2 Interview Results
10 interviews were completed between the period of January 2009 and February 2009.
Participants were again from a mixture of demographics which should have helped to
ensure that the results reflect the opinions of social networking site users.
When asked which SNS they had an account on all ten participants stated that they
had a Facebook account. Four of the participants had an additional account on
MySpace with one of these also having a third account on Bebo. The main reason
given for only having a Facebook account was that it was the most popular social
networking site so it was more likely that friends would be members too. Other
reasons given include it is the most user friendly SNS and that it is the best site for
doing all the basic things which appeal to users.
When asked if they were active or passive users of SNS participants were split down
the middle. Five participants said that they were active and the other five said they
were passive. The main reason given for being active was that the participant had an
enthusiasm towards SNS and liked to talk to their friends using the technology.
Another reason given was that the participant liked to communicate with his friends
over a great distance and found that SNS were an easy and convenient way to do this.
The main reason given for being passive was that the participant only liked to post
when they had something important to say. Other reasons given include a concern
about privacy and who is accessing the posted information, shyness and a preference
towards using a mobile phone to communicate.
When asked if they were concerned about security and privacy issues on SNS most
participants said that they were. Participants who gave this response seemed to be
concerned about one of two things. Some said that they were not concerned
personally, but were worried about other user’s naivety in posting information. On
the other hand some participants said that they were concerned about the inadequate
privacy features of SNS. They felt that these features didn’t protect their information
or allow them to control specifically who could access their information.
Two participants were not concerned about security and privacy issues on SNS at all.
One participant was aware of the privacy risks on SNS but felt there was no need for
concern because he was very careful about the information he posted. The other was
unaware of the privacy risks and became concerned when I told him about the risks of
ID theft. He even said he would change the privacy settings on his Facebook account
to counter this threat.
When asked if they preferred to use one communication method throughout a single
interaction, nine participants said yes. The main reason given for this is that it is a
much simpler way to communicate because it is easier to keep track of where the
conversation is up to. The one participant who said it didn’t matter felt that it didn’t
matter which communication method was used as long as he got a response quickly.
Almost all of the participants thought that using e-mail for formal purposes and SNS
for informal purposes was a common stereotype. The main reason given for this was
that most people have a limited knowledge of technology and don’t understand it
properly. Participants feel that this means people don’t explore the technology fully
and use only its basic functions or they adhere to the images of certain technologies

portrayed by the media. One participant said they that didn’t think it was a common
stereotype because most of her friends used these technologies depending on the
context on the situation.
When asked if they had the stereotypical attitude previously discussed the majority of
participants said no. Most of the participants agreed that the technologies could be
used in a variety of different situations. Some participants stated that they did have
the stereotypical attitude. The reasons stated for this were that they were computer
illiterate so only used the basic functions of the technologies and that the images
represented by the technologies caused them to think this way.
Almost all of the participants agreed that SNS could not be used as a full substitute for
e-mail. The main reason given for this was that e-mail will always be better suited for
formal situations where documentation and professionalism is required. The main
example of this is communication with organisations in situations such as online
shopping and job applications. Many participants did believe though that SNS are
well on the way to becoming a substitute for e-mail in informal situations such as
chatting to friends.
A couple of participants did believe that SNS could become a full substitute for e-mail
in the future. However they felt that to do this SNS would need to be redesigned to
incorporate features of e-mail and to create a new image which was slightly more
professional.
When participants were asked about new features which could be added to SNS that
they would use many ideas were suggested. The most popular suggestion was
additional privacy features which would improve security of information. Some
participants went into further detail about this and suggested that users should be able
to completely control exactly who has access to their personal data. Other
suggestions included downloadable photo albums, a best friend function which would
prioritise information sent from a selected group of best friends, a calendar function
which could be used as an organisational tool and forums to discuss current events.
When asked if SNS could be used in a professional environment opinions were
mixed. Some thought it would not happen for a number of different reasons. One of
these was that there are too many barriers such as security issues and economic issues
preventing it. Another reason given was that many people have the stereotypical
attitude that SNS can only be used in informal situations which could carry over into
the workplace and cause a dip in productivity levels.
Some participants did believe that SNS could be used in a professional environment.
The main reasons given for this were that SNS may offer easy communication
between employees and that SNS may offer easy access to large amounts of data. The
majority of participants thought that the technology would have to be designed
internally for it to succeed. They also thought that the change to this technology
would have to be effectively managed so that employees were aware of how it would
affect them and what the potential benefits of the new system were.

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
In this chapter I will discuss the results of the research in relation to the aims of the
project. Based on these discussions I will then propose my own personal theory on
the future of SNS.
5.1 User Motivations and Behaviour
The research highlights that Facebook is the most popular social networking site.
This is because every single person who responded to the questionnaire and
participated in the interviews had an account on Facebook. Interview responses
suggest that people are motivated to join Facebook over other SNS because of its
status as the most popular social networking site. The majority of respondents believe
that the popularity of Facebook increases the chances of their friends already being
members of the site. Therefore they have the opportunity to interact with a larger
group of people than they would on other SNS.
Interacting with friends is clearly a feature which users consider to be important. The
results of the research confirm this to be true because they show that the main reason
why people are motivated to use SNS is to keep in touch with friends.
Communicating with friends also proved to be the most appealing aspect of a social
networking site to a user. These results support the findings of the studies I examined
on this subject.
The research highlights that most of the communication on SNS is between

established friends who know each other in real life. This is due to the fact that a very
small proportion of questionnaire respondents said that they use SNS to meet people
who share similar interests. This implies that users use SNS as a tool to develop and
sustain existing relationships that they have with friends, rather than using them to
create and develop new friendships.
The suggestion that SNS are used as a tool to sustain friendships is further supported
by the questionnaire results. All of the questionnaire respondents stated that they
have acquaintances as friends on their accounts. This indicates that people use SNS to
maintain long distance or non close, uninvolved relationships.
These deductions generated from the research lead me to believe that there is a reason
why keeping in touch with friends is the main reason people are motivated to use
SNS. It appears as though users are motivated to use SNS because they perceive it as
a tool which allows them to easily sustain and develop existing relationships with
their friends.
The questionnaire results highlight the fact that people like to check their SNS
accounts frequently throughout the day. This would lead me to believe that users of
SNS are active and like to frequently post new information. However the majority of
respondents suggest that this is not the case. Most respondents to the questionnaire
were passive users, this means that they use the service frequently but don’t post
much information. This is the case because the majority of respondents stated that on

average they only post information on SNS between zero and five times a day. This
therefore suggests that most people prefer to view information on SNS rather than
contribute their own. This could be potentially damaging to SNS in the future as
information flow would decrease which may make people less interested in checking
their accounts.
5.2 Security and Privacy Issues
The literature I examined prior to this study implied that most people are in one way
or another or another concerned about security and privacy on SNS. The research I
conducted proved this to be correct. It highlighted that there are differing levels of
concern from users about security and privacy on SNS. I have placed these levels of
concern into three different categories, one of which every user of a social networking
site falls into. These are not concerned at all, concerned about a lack of education and
concerned about inadequate features.
Users who are not concerned at all are not worried about security and privacy issues
on SNS. They make no use of the privacy features available and post whatever
information they like and don’t really care who sees it. This is the smallest group
because most people who participated in my research were aware of the threats to
information that there are on SNS.
Users who are concerned about a lack of education are not really worried about their
own security or privacy on SNS. This is because they make full use of the privacy
features available to them and believe that these are effective. However they are
concerned about other users (mainly friends) who don’t make use of the privacy
features to protect the information on their account. These users believe that people
should be educated about privacy threats before they create an account on a social
networking site. I think this group exists because people understand that there will
always be individuals in the world who are naïve to the threats and dangers posed to
them. One of the people I interviewed was unaware of the threat of ID theft and
became very concerned when I told him about it. He even said he would change his
privacy settings the next time he logged into Facebook.
Users who are concerned about inadequate features are worried that the current
privacy options available are ineffective and do not do enough to protect their
information. This group already makes full use of the privacy features available but
they want them to be more customisable. This way they can fully protect their
information and determine themselves who views any information posted which
relates to them. They want to limit certain information to only being viewable by a
select number of friends. I think this group exists because people want complete
control over information related to them. People believe that their information is
owned by them and nobody else. This means that they want to determine who gets to
view it. They believe that this is their right and not the right of anybody else
including a website or another person. This is brought on by a fear that certain friends
will see information that they shouldn’t be seeing. A prime example of such
information was given in one of the interviews I conducted which is photos. You may
not want work colleagues to see photos of you on a drunken night out when you
called into work sick the next day.

Most of the participants in my study fell into either the concerned about lack of
education group or the concerned about inadequate features group. This implies that
privacy and security are currently a huge issue for SNS. For SNS to evolve in the
future they must remove these fears about privacy and work harder to secure safe
information. They should educate users when they first create an account advising
them on the threats to their information and what features they can use to combat
these dangers. I also think that eventually customisable privacy must be introduced.
People are supplying information which I believe makes them the owner of it so they
should be able to have complete control over it.
At the moment I don’t think that the actual SNS themselves are too concerned about
these issues. I think this is because they are not forced by law to ensure that the
information on SNS is safe. They are not governed by the data protection act because
of section 36 of this legislation. This section exempts data which is used for an
individual’s personal affairs [21]. Therefore the government can only pressure these
websites into improving security but not force them. This is a key issue and until
something changes I personally doubt that SNS will make improvements to their
privacy features. This could be damaging in the long run as people will be more
apprehensive about posting information which could eventually lead to less users.
5.3 Barriers to Evolution Caused by Attitude
In the questionnaire I conducted it became clear that there is a possibility that people
have a stereotypical attitude towards SNS and e-mail. Most respondents had a
stereotypical view of SNS and e-mail. SNS are recognised as an informal method of
communication which you use to talk to friends. On the other hand e-mail is
recognised as a formal method of communication which you use to communicate with
professional entities such as businesses and universities. Therefore in the interviews I
conducted I wanted to discover further information about this attitude.
Almost every person I interviewed thought that it was common for people to have this
stereotypical attitude. Most people thought that this perceived attitude has been
brought on by a combination of the media and technophobia. The media coverage of
these two technologies is very stereotypical. E-mail is advertised as a formal
communication method while SNS are advertised as an informal communication
method. Writers also often express this attitude in opinion articles published in
newspapers or on websites. People who find technology hard to understand are
influenced by this stereotypical exposure. It encourages them to use the technologies
for their basic perceived functions instead of investigating the more advanced features
which could be useful in certain situations.
This stereotypical attitude is a big problem for the evolution of SNS in the future. The
vast majority of people perceive SNS as unsophisticated tools which are used for
informal purposes where message content is unimportant. My research proves that
this is currently the case, but I believe that the technology is much more powerful than
that. I think it deserves to evolve into a more socially accepted product which can
serve a variety of different purposes. The interviews I conducted show that some
people share this attitude and understand that technologies like e-mail and SNS can

serve a variety of different purposes. However until the majority of peoples attitude is
changed SNS may forever only be used as an informal communication method.
5.4 SNS as a Substitute for E-Mail
All of the research I have conducted suggests that SNS have only become a small
substitute for e-mail. I think it can be said with almost certainty that SNS are now the
preferred method of communication for informal messages where the message content
is unimportant. The results of my questionnaire support this theory as 90% of
respondents would rather communicate with somebody through a social networking
site rather than e-mail. Many different reasons are given for this with some being
more predominant than others.
The ability to create a personal profile on a social networking site was an attractive
attribute to respondents as they considered it to greatly improve the HCI of a social
networking site. This feature offers a wide range of interactive options to users which
e-mail does not such as photo albums, status updates, games to play against friends in
competition etc. Perhaps most importantly to users the personal profile allows them a
better connection to the person they are contacting because they can relate the person
to a personal profile which contains their name and a photo. This is considered an
easier way to relate to somebody rather than an e-mail address which could have no
relation to the person. An example of this is imthebest@hotmail.com which could
mean anybody. The person also becomes more than just an address and has a face as
well as a personality and interests.
Another important factor to consider is the popularity of SNS. People assume that
their friends will be members of a social networking site and check their account
daily. This means that the chances of a message being read quickly are very high
which is important to a lot of users.
Although e-mail is now barely used for social communication it is still used
consistently for formal communication. My research suggests that people believe that
this is down to two important features. One of these features is that it is easy to
document important information as e-mail inboxes allow you to create folders in
which you can store important e-mails. This feature is not yet available on SNS
which makes it difficult to ensure that important information is stored safely.
Another important factor to consider is the aura of professionalism that emits from e-
mail. When people look at an e-mail they instantly know its purpose and appreciate
the professional image and style of the software. With SNS there can be lots of bright
colours and fun applications which can put people off using it for a professional
purpose as the image is very laid back and social able.
5.5 Professional Applications of SNS
As discussed in the previous section SNS are only currently a substitute for e-mail in
terms of social communication where the content of the message is relatively
unimportant. This would therefore lead us to believe that SNS cannot be used in
professional environments. However when I asked people directly if they thought

SNS could be applied in a professional environment the response was very mixed.
People had strong opinions on this subject and could provide a good case for either
argument. The main argument for was that SNS are an excellent way to distribute
large amounts of information in one place. The main argument against was the lack
of professionalism and urge to use the technology for personal reasons. This seems to
imply that there are lots of potential benefits to using SNS in a professional
environment but there are also a lot of potential risks and drawbacks.
The background literature I read suggests that social networking technology can be
used in a professional environment to benefit an organisation. Both Sun
Microsystems and IBM proved this by successfully integrating social networking
technology into their organisations. These ventures were very beneficial to both
companies.
I proposed in my background research section that organisations which make

successful use of SNS tend to have a few common features. This is further supported
by my research as a popular opinion was that organisations should design their own
social networking site internally for it to be successful. To do this would require a
large company which is technology minded and these are some of the common
attributes I suggested when considering the background research. Therefore it seems
as though certain factors are essential for success when applying a social network in
an organisation.
When an organisation doesn’t have these attributes it tends to refrain from

incorporating social networking websites into their business. The background
research suggested that they usually even block external SNS such as Facebook
because they are concerned about their employee’s activities on these websites. This
is interesting as it is clear to see that SNS can potentially be beneficial to a business.
However managers of certain organisations are concerned about how this technology
will be used by their workforce and believe it will be detrimental to the operations of
the business. This is a fair point as employees sometimes find it difficult to separate
their working lives from their social lives when it comes to these websites. This is
where effective management should come in though to ensure that this powerful
technology is used in a way which is beneficial to the company. Some of the
participants in my research agree with this as they believe that effective management
of change would be essential in ensuring that a changeover to this new technology is
successful.
I believe then that the research shows it is possible for SNS to be used in a
professional environment. Although the organisation involved has a greater chance of
succeeding if it has certain attributes such as technology driven and distributed across
several countries. It is also much more beneficial and easier to monitor usage if the
website is built internally. This is not to say that other companies who don’t have
these attributes cannot benefit from SNS. They must ensure that the change to this
new technology is managed correctly so that employees are aware of how it would
affect them and what the potential benefits of the new system are. It is also important
that the organisation monitors the usage of SNS carefully to ensure that the websites
are being used appropriately in a way which will benefit the company.

5.6 The Future of SNS
The research I have conducted into the topic of SNS leads me to believe that there are
two possible paradigms which will determine how this technology will develop in the
future. These two paradigms are the e-mail to social networking site paradigm and
the social networking site to e-mail paradigm. I think that whichever one of these is
adapted will be vital in determining how we communicate in the future.
The e-mail to social networking site paradigm describes when the technology of e-
mail will start to incorporate features of SNS such as a personal profile and status
updates. On the other hand the social networking site to e-mail paradigm describes
when the technology of SNS will start to incorporate features of an e-mail system
such as documentation in folders and the ability to send mail to any address.
I think that these paradigms will come into practice due to the increasing competition
that is developing between these two technologies. As discussed in the background
research e-mail service providers such as Google and Yahoo are concerned about the
popularity of SNS and how they are losing a lot of customers to this technology. To
counter this they have plans to introduce a new e-mail system which will incorporate
aspects of SNS which is therefore the e-mail to social networking site paradigm. If
social networking is ever to expand its user base it will have to branch out to reach a
wider audience. This would be the professional crowd which means that SNS would
have to become more formal. To do this they would have to incorporate some aspects
of e-mail hence the social networking site paradigm to e-mail paradigm
The e-mail to social networking website paradigm has some potential advantages and
disadvantages. I think the main advantage is that most of the information needed to
make these changes already exists on most e-mail networks but it is currently
dormant. Therefore it is simply a case of adding the information to the user interface
and making it readily available to users. This is a large advantage to e-mail
organisations as it should help to make the development and implementation of these
new features much easier. I also think it is an advantage that these features could be
added without greatly affecting the current formal audience. It may be possible to add
these features in the background so that they can only be accessed by people who
want to access them. This would help to appease the current users of the technology
who may not want to use any social networking features which are added to the
software.
I would say that the major disadvantage of the e-mail to social networking website
paradigm is that now matter how hard it tries the new software may tarnish the formal
and professional reputation which e-mail software has developed. This could affect
current customers who like the professional image of e-mail and don’t want to see any
social networking features added.
The social networking site to e-mail paradigm also has some advantages and
disadvantages. I think the main advantage is that most SNS already have a very basic
mailing system in place. This system allows you to send private messages to your
friends but that’s about it. Therefore there is already a template in place for the
technology and all that is needed is for it to be developed further to incorporate some
of the more advanced features of e-mail. This could be particularly useful in ensuring

that the product launch is as seamless as possible. This is due to the fact that people
will already be familiar with an e-mail like system and be used to the idea before they
have to use the improved version. Also advantageous is the fact that people like to
use one communication method in a single interaction. If SNS could create a
complete package which met all of the customers needs then it would be highly likely
that they could dominate the communication market. This is especially true
considering the fact that social networking is currently the most popular way to
communicate on the Internet
The main disadvantage of this paradigm is that it would be very difficult for a social
networking site to develop an e-mail system which could communicate with external
parties who are not your friends on the website. There could be many potential
problems with interfacing the different systems correctly to ensure that messages are
received.
I think that overall the e-mail to social networking site paradigm currently has the
greatest chance of being a success. I think this is mainly due to the fact that the
developers of e-mail software should be more motivated and encouraged to create this
new software. E-mail software is currently trailing behind social networking as social
networking has overtaken e-mail in terms of worldwide reach. This statistic must
motivate organisations which develop e-mail systems into creating new features in an
attempt to earn back market share. SNS on the other hand are showing continually
growing numbers of people using their websites and will probably see no advantage in
developing a new e-mail feature to add to their websites.
In reality this means that it should be the e-mail software developers who are driving
the future development of Internet communication and being the innovators of
change. They are the ones who need to improve their service to attract the users who
use communication tools on the Internet as a method of social and personal
interaction.

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION
6.1 Achievements
This study of SNS has provided an insightful look into a number of important issues
relating to the technology. I have examined why users are motivated to use SNS, the
behaviour of users on SNS, security and privacy issues on SNS, the attitudes towards
SNS, the extent to which SNS have become a substitute for e-mail and the application
of SNS in a professional environment. From these examinations I have been able to
make educated deductions using the results of research which I conducted. These
deductions then allowed me to generate my own theory on the future of SNS.
Upon first glance it would appear that the different elements of this study are
unrelated. However this is not the case as several of the areas I have examined are
directly linked to one another. This can be clearly seen from the deductions that I
have made from the research.
I first of all deduced that the main reason people are motivated to use SNS is because
it as a tool which allows them to easily sustain and develop existing relationships with
their friends. This communication is typically trivial which means that the message
content is unimportant. With this trivial communication being the main motivating
factor it leads many people to believe that SNS can only be used for informal
communication. Due to this people also stereotype e-mail as well and believe that it
can only be used for formal communication. These are very stereotypical attitudes
which my research showed were particularly common. These stereotypical attitudes
are a barrier to the evolution of SNS. These attitudes are one of the several reasons
why SNS will currently only ever substitute e-mail when it comes to informal
communication. These attitudes also affect the application of SNS in professional
environments. Senior managers at many organisations claim that SNS would be
detrimental to their business because employees would be distracted by the SNS and
want to use them for personal communication instead of work related communication.
Therefore many aspects of this study are linked together which was important for the
clarity and relevance of the project.
6.2 Reflection of Study
I strongly believe that this study has been a success because it has achieved its aims
which were defined in chapter one. However some aspects of the project were flawed
which sometimes made it difficult to complete parts of the study effectively.
To help ensure that the project was successful and completed on time I devised a
project plan. This plan was formulated at the start of the study and outlined the
fundamental processes of the project as well as the time frame in which these should
be completed. However despite this careful planning some unexpected situations
caused the project plan and the milestones to be adjusted. For example the

questionnaire I distributed initially had a very low response rate. I think this was
because I distributed it in the middle of December which I now realise was too close
to the Christmas period. This delay in receiving the questionnaire results was a
hindrance to many other aspects of my project. Until I acquired a full set of
questionnaire results I couldn’t continue with my research because these results were
vital when it came to designing my interview questions.
The research I conducted was mainly effective because I think it was focused and
purposeful. Upon reflection I still believe that I made the right decision by not
recording the demographic data of research participants. The documentation of this
information was not important to the study and it would have only added to the
number of questions in the questionnaire. A further increase in the number of
questions may have decreased the questionnaires response rate which would have
been very detrimental to the study. However it was still important to consider the
demographics of people I was inviting to participate in my research because I wanted
to ensure that I collected a diverse range of data.
With hindsight I would say that the scope of this project was slightly too broad. I
think the project would have benefited from a more in depth look at a narrower range
of interesting topics such as the application of SNS and privacy on SNS. I believe
that this is the case because some of the data I gathered in my research was not
particularly interesting and didn’t really provide me with many points of discussion.
6.3 Future Research
Fundamentally there are several aspects of this study which could be developed
further in future studies. I would suggest that these are focused on a single topic of
interest so that they can go into greater depth than this study has.
The application of SNS in a professional environment is an especially interesting

subject which I think would benefit from further investigation. Future work could
examine a variety of different organisations which are applying their trade in different
environments. Important data could then be gathered from the employees of these
companies using research methods similar to the ones used in this study. This data
may include opinions on applying SNS in their organisation and how SNS could
affect their organisation. The data from the different organisations could then be
compared to see how different opinions are in the different sectors of the working
environment.
As mentioned earlier I consider this study to have been success. The study has
provided an insightful look into many different and interesting aspects of SNS.
However I believe that this study is merely scratching the surface of this fascinating
subject. Despite this the project does provide considerable capacity for future
development.

REFERENCES
1. Boyd, D., Ellison, N. Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship,
Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, Vol 13, Issue 1, 2007, 210 - 230.
2. Coyle, C., Vaughn, H. Social Networking: Communication Revolution or

Evolution?, Bell Labs Technical Journal, Vol 13, Issue 2, 2008, 13 - 18.
3. Ellison, N., Steinfield, C., Lampe, C. The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:” Social
Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites, Journal of
Computer Mediated Communication, Vol 12, Issue 4, 2007, 1143 - 1168.
4. Barker, P. How Social Media is Transforming Employee Communications at Sun

Microsystems, Global Business and Organizational Excellence, Vol 27, Issue 4,
2008, 6 - 14.
5. Research on the Use of Social Software in the Workplace, Retrieved December

2008 from
http://research.ihost.com/cscw08-socialnetworkinginorgs/papers/dimicco-millen-
geyer-dugan_cscw08_workshop.pdf.
6. Porter, JS. (7th February 2009), Why I Hate Facebook, Daily Mail, p12 - 13.
7. Gross, R., Acquisti, A., John Heinz III, H. Information Revelation and Privacy in
Online Social Networks (The Facebook Case), Workshop on Privacy in the
Electronic Society, Vol 1, 2005, 71 - 80.
8. Teens Who Tell Too Much, Retrieved October 2008 from

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E5D9163FF936A25752C0A
9609C8B63
9. Huffaker, D., Calvert, S. Gender, Identity, and Language Use in Teenage Blogs,
Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, Vol 10, Issue 2, 2005, Article 1.
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http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2005/PIP_Filters_Report.pdf.
pdf
11. Web Networkers ‘at Risk of Fraud’, Retrieved October 2008 from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6910826.stm
12. Rachels, J. Why Privacy is Important?, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol 4,
Issue 4, 1975, 323 - 333.
13. Inside the Backlash Against Facebook, Retrieved October 2008 from
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1532225,00.html
14. Erwin, M. (18th February 09), Facebook Grabs Rights to Photos, Metro, p1.

15. Social Networking More Popular Than E-mail, Retrieved April 2009 from
http://mashable.com/2009/03/09/social-networking-more-popular-than-email/
16. Will Twitter Kill E-Mail?, Retrieved April 2009 from

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/will_twitter_kill_e-mail/
17. Will Social Network Sites Kill E-Mail?, Retrieved April 2009 from
http://www.bizzia.com/buzznetworker/will-social-network-sites-kill-email/
18. Inbox 2.0: Yahoo and Google to Turn E-Mail Into a Social Network, Retrieved
October 2008 from
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/inbox-20-yahoo-and-google-to-turn-e-
mail-into-a-social-
network/?ex=1352696400&en=b7f0d6a896f23bec&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&em
c=rss
19. Can social networking co-exist with the workplace?, Retrieved October 2008 from
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-180956.html
20. Report: More Companies Ban Social Networks, Web 2.0 Sites, Retrieved October
2008 from
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/143336/report_more_companies_
ban_social_networks_web_20_sites.html
21. Data Protection Act 1998, Retrieved March 2009 from

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/Acts1998/ukpga_19980029_en_1

APPENDIX A: PROPOSED PROJECT PLAN

APPENDIX B: QUSTIONNAIRE TEMPLATE

APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS OUTLINE
This is an outline of the questions that I asked during the interviews I conducted.
These questions were sometimes slightly adjusted during an interview to coincide
with the responses received from the interviewee.
1. Which social networking websites do you have an account on?
2. Why do you use these websites over other similar websites?
3. Do you think you are an active or passive user of social networking websites?
Why?
4. Are you concerned about security and privacy issues on social networking
websites?
5. When communicating with somebody do you prefer it when the same method
of communication is used by both parties throughout that interaction? For
example if you text somebody would you prefer them to answer your message
via a text. Why?
6. Do you think that the following statement is a common stereotype ‘I use e-

mail for formal purposes and social networking websites for informal
purposes’?
7. To what extent do you think social networking websites could be used as a

substitute to e-mail? Why?
8. Are there any features not currently available on social networking websites
which you think you would use a lot if they were added to the service?
9. Do you think social networking websites could be used in a professional

environment i.e. work?

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Analysis of Social

Written by: Daniel Horan

Third Year Project in the

Daniel Horan Analysis of Social Networking Websites Page 1 of 40

Written by: Daniel Horan

Date: 30th March 2009

Project Supervisor : Bob Wood

Acronyms Used in this Report:

SNS (Social Networking Sites), CMC (Computer Mediated Communication).

Daniel Horan Analysis of Social Networking Websites Page 2 of 40

Daniel Horan Analysis of Social Networking Websites Page 3 of 40

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES...........................................................................5

CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE STUDY..............................8

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS .................................................................12

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS ...................................................................15

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION OF RESULTS ..........................................................24

APPENDIX A: PROPOSED PROJECT PLAN .....................................................35

APPENDIX B: QUSTIONNAIRE TEMPLATE ....................................................36

APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS OUTLINE .......................................40

Daniel Horan Analysis of Social Networking Websites Page 4 of 40

Table 2: Most popular SNS 15

Figure 3: Average number of logins a day 16

Figure 4: Average amount of new information posted a day 16

Table 5: Reasons SNS are used 17

Table 6: Most popular reasons why SNS are used 18

Table 7: Reasons why SNS are appealing 18

Table 8: Most popular reasons why SNS are appealing 19

Figure 9: Have you ever accessed a SNS on a mobile phone? 19

Figure 10: Is it easier to communicate with somebody through a social 20

Table 11: Events organised through SNS 20

Figure 13: Could SNS be used in a professional environment? 21

Daniel Horan Analysis of Social Networking Websites Page 5 of 40

In order to find this information I will carefully construct a questionnaire to capture

Daniel Horan Analysis of Social Networking Websites Page 6 of 40

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2.2 Privacy and SNS

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2.3 The Effect of SNS on E-mail

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2.4 Application of SNS in Professional Environments

As I have discussed previously, CMC is rapidly developing due to the introduction of

As I mentioned in the introduction some organisations have already heeded this

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The chosen research methods to gather this information include distributing

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The finalised questionnaire was distributed to a select number of people within my

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I selected ten questionnaire participants to interview. As with the questionnaire I

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4.1 Questionnaire Results

Figure 1: Number of different social networking site accounts

Table 2: Most popular SNS

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Figure 3: Average number of logins a day

Average number of logins a day

Figure 4: Average amount of new information posted a day

Average amount of new information posted a day

Daniel Horan Analysis of Social Networking Websites Page 16 of 40

Table 5: Reasons SNS are used

Daniel Horan Analysis of Social Networking Websites Page 17 of 40

Table 7: Reasons SNS are appealing