GROOMING, GOSSIP, FACEBOOK AND MYSPACE

Abstract

GROOMING, GOSSIP, FACEBOOK AND MYSPACE What can we learn about these sites from those who won't assimilate? This paper explores the rapid adoption of online social network sites (also known as social networking sites) (SNSs) by students on a US college campus. Using quantitative (n ¼ 713) and qualitative (n ¼ 51) data based on a diverse sample of college students, demographic and other characteristics of SNS users and non-users are compared. Starting with the theoretical frameworks of Robin Dunbar and Erving Goffman, this paper situates SNS activity under two rubrics: (1) social grooming; and (2) presentation of the self. This study locates these sites within the emergence of social computing and makes a concep-tual distinction between the expressive Internet, the Internet of social interactions, and the instrumental Internet, the Internet of airline tickets and weather fore-casts. This paper compares and contrasts the user and non-user populations in terms of expressive and instrumental Internet use, social ties and attitudes toward social-grooming, privacy and efficiency. Two clusters are found to influ-ence SNS adoption: attitudes towards social grooming and privacy concerns. It is especially found that non-users display an attitude towards social grooming (gossip, small-talk and generalized, non-functional people-curiosity) that ranges from incredulous to hostile. Contrary to expectations, non-users do not report a smaller number of close friends compared with users, but they do keep in touch with fewer people. Users of SNS are also heavier users of the expressive Internet, while there is no difference in use of instrumental Internet. Gender also emerges as an important predictor. These findings highlight the need to differ-entiate between the different modalities of Internet use. Social computing applications, led by social network(ing) sites (SNSs) like Facebook and Myspace, have burgeoned in the past few years; scholarly research on the social consequences of social computing has not caught up. A focus of past research has been possible inequalities rising from the Internet's capacity to provide access to information, jobs and economic mobility, education, access to government services and similar benefits (Dimaggio et al. 2004). As Internet access has become near-universal in rich nations, earlier concerns regarding a digital divide have mostly faded from public and policy discussions. Yet looking at Internet use in a fine-grained manner, disaggregating specific modal-ities of practice, does reveal persistent divisions and differences. The specific character of Internet use and socio-psychological disposition of users can also influence social outcomes, even after controlling for demographics and total Internet use (Zhao 2006; Livingstone 2007). It is not just the Internet but what you do with it –as well as who and what kind of person you are. The rise of social computing opens a new dimension of benefits (and harms) stemming from differential use. These applications have the potential to create gaps in social capital (Putnam 2000), transform the role of weak ties (Granovetter 1973) and shift the boundaries between public and private. The rapid diffusion of SNSs within a few years invites two connected ques-tions about their adoption process. Why have these applications, which initially had little corporate backing, no paid advertisements and significant negative media attention, attracted so many users so quickly? Conversely, even on college campuses, where access is rarely the bottleneck, why has a small but seemingly persistent minority chosen not to adopt these technol-ogies – and what can we learn from an analysis of these non-users? How do these applications relate to the larger context of Internet use? Finally, what are the possible social implications of use and non-use of these sites? Social network(ing) sites (SNSs): a brief overview