The Uses and Gratifications of Facebook

By: Jessica Stoltz

Introduction

To date, Facebook has over 500 million users, making it the most popular social networking site.  Of those 500 million users, nearly half of them log on to their accounts every day.  From this statistic I became curious and wanted to understand what drives a person to look at their Facebook multiple times a day and what are they doing when they log on.  I have had a Facebook account for five years and will check my profile anywhere from two to six times a day.  I know that I log on to get updated on all of my friends’ activities.  I check my news feed to read their statuses and look at recently posted pictures.  I will occasionally post a message on a friend’s wall or update my status,  but mostly I pay more attention to what’s going on with everyone else.  I wanted to know if other people use their accounts the same way I do, or are people more social and really use their Facebooks as a communication outlet.  I wanted to understand the motivation behind their Facebook use and what Facebook has completely changed the way we communicate with our friends and family and has also become a place where we can express ourselves and share our likes and dislikes.  After finding several articles that pertained to this topic and comparing their information with the answers I got from the surveys and interviews I conducted; I was able to get a better understanding of the uses and gratifications people get when using their Facebook accounts.  

Literature Review

I used six scholarly sources that discussed the different people use their Facebook accounts and how Facebook has impacted their personal relationships and the way they communicate with each other. These first two articles examines how social networking sites, like Facebook is used to maintain and create new relationships.  (Coyle, 2008) describes the results from a survey and focus group study on college students’ and social networking sites.  The point of this study was to analyze the use of social networking sites and if this style of communication is changing the way we communicate with each other.  From the focus group they were able to conclude that people use social networking sites to maintain relationships, and reconnect with people that they are no longer in contact with.  One interesting result found from this study was the fact that social networking communication does not take away from face to face communication, but acts as another source to reach out to people.  They found that “social networking is simply another form of communication that is evolving over time with the aid of technology,” (Coyle, 2008), and that it is not changing the way we communicate with each other. (Ellison, 2007) examines the use of Facebook and its effect on social capital.  (Ellison, 2007) describes social capital as “the resources accumulated through the relationships among people,” (p.1145).  Results from the survey conclude that the relationships created and maintained through Facebook, had a positive effect on a person’s social capital.  They measured three forms of social capital: bridging, bonding, and maintaining.  Through social networking sites, like Facebook, each user is able to build a connection with an acquaintance, bond with their distant family and friends, and maintain their important relationships. 

These next two articles look at the motivations around Facebook usage.  (Ross, 2008) examines how a person’s personality affects the way they use their Facebook profile.  They use a five-factor model of five different personality types including neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience, to see how each differs in the way people communicate online. The results of this study did suggest that a person’s personality does have an impact with how they chose to use their profiles, for example, “photos, on the other hand, may inadvertently convey information about emotional states or geographical location, which may seem threatening to an individual’s well being and may make them too threatening for individuals high in neuroticism,” (Ross, 2008).  The other journal article by (Sheldon, 2008) discusses the different motives behind student Facebook use, using the uses and gratifications. theory.   They found that the number one reason that instigates people’s Facebook use is to maintain their interpersonal relationships and that Facebook also gives the same kind of gratification that other media gives; it’s a way to pass the time, and also a ritualistic behavior. “Students who most often log into their Facebook account are the ones who go there to maintain existing relationships, pass time when bored, be entertained or appear cool,”(Sheldon, 2008). The article also analyzed how different genders impact use Facebook. 

These next two articles look at how Facebook is used as a medium to express or create your identity.  (Zhao, 2008) examined the idea that people will reconstruct their identities on Facebook.  Results from this study suggest that people do take advantage of the tools that Facebook offers, (like the Wall feature) to construct an online persona.  According to their findings people seem to stay true to their own identity but are willing to “stretch the truth”. (Pempek, 2009) describes the information kept by 92 participant journals and a survey that was conducted to see how long people go on their Facebook profiles and why they use Facebook.  The results suggested that the two main reasons young adults log on to their Facebook accounts is to communicate with their peers as well as build their personal identity.  Information from their journals suggested that these young adults express their likes/ dislikes and religious and political beliefs through their profile. 

Method

The two methods I used to gather information on my research question was creating a survey and conducting interviews.  On April 14^th, I created a survey consisting of seven questions that asked about the different ways they use their Facebook account and the communication gratifications they get from using this social networking site.  I decided to have three friends, who I know are avid Facebook users, to take the survey and give me feedback on the questions and to make sure the questions make sense and weren’t too simple.  They provided me with a few suggestions that I used on my survey.  I tried to create questions that would let the individual give a detailed response rather than a simple “yes or no” answer.  On April 26^th, I chose 60 friends from my Facebook profile who I knew were the most likely to complete and return the survey.  I created 6 chain emails (that included the addresses of ten different participants) and attached was the survey and a due date for April 29th.  Out of 60 sent surveys I got 53 back.  For my second research method, I chose to use the interviewing method so that I could get more in depth information than what I originally got from the survey responses.   For the interviewing phase of my project, I asked 30 people who completed my survey if they would be willing to participate in the interview part of my study.  From the group that responded back, I chose four people who I knew were easily accessible and who are local to me.  I schedule a meeting time with each participant and each of them agreed to meet at the College of San Mateo library.  The interviews consisted of about ten questions, some derived from the surveys, to get a more detailed response of the deeper reasons behind their individual cell phone use.  With the participants’ permission, I recorded their responses on my laptop.  All of the interviews were completed by May 5^th.  From the responses I gathered from my surveys and interviews I was able to create my final coding scheme.

Findings and Discussion

During the survey portion of my research, I asked several questions pertaining to the individual’s Facebook use and how it impacts their communication with other people.  I gathered some very interesting results that seemed to be consistent with some of my literature research.  One of the first questions of my survey asked what the initial reason they created a Facebook account was.  90% percent of the returned surveys had answers that stated that the reason they created a Facebook was for communication purposes.  Many of the 53 individuals are in there early 20s and created a Facebook when they began college as a resource to meet their new peers.  According to a study conducted at Louisiana State, not only were people keeping in touch with their old friends but were creating new relationships through Facebook, (Sheldon, 2008).  When asked if they preferred to use Facebook to socialize rather than face to face contact, 80% said they still feel that face to face communication is the most effective to sustain a relationship.  According to results from a survey another survey given to college students, “Our findings also indicate that social networking sites are used for trivial communications (i.e., unimportant message content) with friends, both close and non close, and that they are used to maintain friendships, but as a noncentral form of socializing. Social networking may be convenient for retaining contact when time and distance are issues, but it does not replace voice calls and face-to face communication,” (Coyle, 2008).  Results from my survey suggested that people do receive communication gratification from Facebook; it allows for people to communicate with several people at once making it more convenient for the user.  However, Facebook does not and should not take the place of face to face communication.  Five of the individuals who completed the survey went further to explain that with face to face communication you hear a person’s tone and can read a person’s body language which can really effect a conversation.  I also found through these results that Facebook is used for entertainment purposes, as the game feature is very popular. 

I received a lot of useful information from my surveys and I took the opportunity to further inquire on how people use their Facebook through my interviews.  When asked about the different features they use of Facebook, each interviewee responded that they often use their Facebook profile (updating their Facebook statuses, uploading pictures, list movies and music they enjoy.), as well as check their newsfeed to keep up with their “friends” activities. One of the features when using Facebook is the ‘about me’ section where people have the opportunity to share with political and religious affiliation and other interests.   With other social networking sites people take the opportunity to exaggerate their lives, and do not reveal their true identity.  According to a study that investigated identity building on Facebook, “we find that the identities produced in this nonymous environment differ from those constructed in the anonymous online environments previously reported. Facebook users predominantly claim their identities implicitly rather than explicitly; they ‘show rather than tell’ and stress group and consumer identities,” (Zhao, 2008).  During the four interviews I asked them if they felt that people accurately portray themselves on Facebook, each one of them agreed.  One of the interviewees, Tony, said that he did take advantage of the ‘about me’ section of his profile to list he favorite books and movies.  He also made a valid point that sided with Zhao’s findings that “Facebook is about showing off your pictures; they show where you’ve been who you are hanging out with, what you look like…” all of which can express who you are as a person. 

In one study that analyzed people’s Facebook use and their personalities, they found that, “individuals high on the trait of extraversion were found to belong to significantly more Facebook groups…Those high on the trait of Neuroticism reported that the Wall was their favorite Facebook component, whereas those low on Neuroticism preferred photos,”(Ross, 2009).  To see if personality did play a role in a person’s Facebook use I asked each individual to describe themselves.  One of the interviewees, Katie, expressed that she felt confident in social settings and had over 400 Facebook friends.  I asked her if she felt that her personality plays a role in how she uses her Facebook, she said that “I never really thought of this before, I do feel that I am as social on Facebook as I am in real life… I post comments on several people’s walls and like to create different photo albums of parties with my friends…”  On the opposite side of the spectrum, another interviewee, Steven, admitted that he was a more introverted person and did not feel comfortable expressing himself in public.  He did say that having a Facebook makes it easier communicate because the communication is delayed; meaning it is not instant communication like face to face. 

From the results of the surveys and the information gathered through the interviews Facebook is indeed used as a communication medium.  It is not used to replace face to face communication but enhance it.  In my interviews, it was expressed that Facebook brings people closer together, especially when it is a long distance relationship.  Personality does play a major role in how people choose to use their Facebook accounts and acts as a gratification for those who are less confident to communicate in person.  Not only does Facebook build interpersonal relationships but it saves on the time and effort it takes to organize a meeting time with a friend or relative.  From my research I have found that my results align with the results found in my scholarly sources. 

Limitations and Future Research

Overall everything went rather smoothly with this project with the exception of a few challenges. One of my biggest challenges was trying to come up with survey and interview questions that would allow for the participants to give detailed responses rather than “yes or no” answers.  I received a lot of input on my research questions from my friends who took the survey first before I administered it on Facebook.  Some of their feedback suggested that a few of my questions were going off track from my research question and they gave some ideas on how to alter them.   When it came time to submitting my surveys to the 60 profiles I had previously selected, I had issues figuring out how to send a chain email to such a large amount of people.  As a result I had to send out six different emails that included ten people on each chain.  I was really surprised how quickly people responded to my survey, within two days I had received nearly 40 completed surveys.  I did struggle when it came to finding people who would be willing to set aside some time to participate in an interview.  I wanted to conduct four interviews and I asked 30 of the people who participated in the survey, if they would be willing to participate in an interview.  I only got responses from 8 people. This was a problem because I had a couple people in mind for the interviews who I knew would have given me interesting feedback to my questions, but neither of them wanted to participate.  I also wanted to pick two people who were heavy Facebook users and two that were light users.  With the low response rate I ended up interviewing three heavy users and one lighter user.  I think having more feedback from another lighter Facebook user would have given me different feedback.  During the interviews, some questions were a little repetitive.  I really wanted to understand the reasoning behind the way they use their Facebook accounts so I tried rephrasing some of the questions to see if that would help make their answers more thorough.  I developed some of these questions from my surveys and I feel I could have altered them better to get more information from the interviews.  By the end of my interviews I was able to alter my coding scheme and take away a couple definitions like “business/marketing” that were no longer relevant to my project.  Unfortunately, I was not able to schedule another meeting time to follow up with the interviews; that was my poor time management.  If I were to continue to work on this research question in the future, I would really like to try conducting a focus group.  I feel that I could get some interesting data from listening to the participants play off of each others’ responses and I feel that the conversations would take a deeper look at how people use their accounts and what they get out of using Facebook.  I would also use the interview method again but plan my time out better so that it would allow me to make follow up interviews.