International Ethnographic Observation of Social Networking Sites Abstract Current research on social networking largely covers US providers. To investigate broader trends, we examine cross-cultural differences in the usage patterns of social networking services with observation and ethnographic interviews in multiple cultures. This appears to be the first systematic investigation of social networking behavior across multiple cultures. We report here on the first four locations with observation and interviews of 36 respondents, 8-10 in each of the US, France, China, and South Korea. The results show three dimensions of cultural difference for typical social networking behaviors: the users��� goals, typical pattern of self expression, and common interaction behaviors. These differences exemplify a developmental path of interest in social networking and the gradual integration of social networking behavior into more general communications behaviors. Future work in other cultures and with additional methods will evaluate the hypotheses presented here. Keywords Social networking, internet services, ethnography. ACM Classification Keywords H.5.3 Group and organization interfaces. Copyright is held by the author/owner(s). CHI 2008, April 5���10, 2008, Florence, Italy. ACM 978-1-60558-012-8/08/04. Christopher N. Chapman Microsoft Corporation 1 Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052 chris.chapman@microsoft.com Michal Lahav Sakson & Taylor Consulting 1109 N 36th St. Seattle, WA 98103 michalahav@gmail.com CHI 2008 Proceedings �� Works In Progress April 5-10, 2008 �� Florence, Italy 3123

Introduction Social networking sites are today a big business with hundreds of millions of users. With acquisition of MySpace by News Corporation, Microsoft���s investment in Facebook, Google���s development of related services, and the addition of communications and networking type features into other applications and commerce sites, it is clear that social networking experiences will remain an important area of online interaction. We define ���social networking��� (���SN���) operationally, rather than abstractly, as being the primary service(s) commonly understood as social networking in a given culture. In the US, this is MySpace and Facebook, but it varies in other cultures, either overlapping with the US (e.g., France, where MySpace is also popular) or diverging (e.g., China, where local QQ is dominant). Most research work to date on SN has focused on a few rich but narrow slices of the phenomenon. Ethnographers such as danah boyd have examined the importance of SN in identity formation and social relationships (e.g., [2][3]). Researchers have investigated concerns such as privacy [1] and philosophical issues [5]. And of course researchers have evaluated usability issues, such as navigation schemes and user interfaces for SN (e.g., [7]). There are many questions that remain mostly unanswered in current SN research. Our work investigates two of these issues: (1) to what the degree various aspects of the phenomenon may be transient, i.e., another ���bubble��� of excitement, and which aspects if any may be more permanent and (2) what the SN experience is like outside of the US, where most of the research to date has been conducted. We are engaged in multimodal research into these issues and report here on ethnographic research investigating SN usage in the first four of several international locations. We identify differences in the user goals and behavior across locations, and based on those observations we present three hypotheses about the potential future direction of SN experience. To our knowledge, the present work is the first large-scale project to investigate SN in the US, Europe, and Asia. As our work continues, we will include other regions, investigate professional usage of SN, and include additional methodologies to investigate findings suggested by the current ethnographic work. Initial Ethnographic Study To investigate trends and cultural differences in social networking, we are planning research to occur in three phases. Phase 1 uses ethnographic research and other information sources to establish a baseline of cultural knowledge and to form hypotheses about trends. Phase 2 will investigate those hypotheses using quantitative and depth interactive approaches (such as usability studies). Phase 3 will consist of validation of the results, for instance, by follow-up ethnographic studies paired with longitudinal research. We are currently in Phase 1 of the research and have collected data from three sources: literature review and market data, heuristic review of sites assisted by translators, and in-country ethnographic interviews and behavioral observations with target users. Method We identified target market users as young adults, native speakers of the local language, aged 18-34, who were active users (at least once per week) of at least one of the primary social networking sites for each CHI 2008 Proceedings �� Works In Progress April 5-10, 2008 �� Florence, Italy 3124