This paper structurally estimates a dynamic model of usage behavior and network effects in a social network site using data from MySpace.com. We view a social network as a stock of capital that yields a flow of utilities over time by creating social interactions between the owner and her friends. When one decides to use a social network site, it may have two distinct network effects: (1) one can manage an existing base of friends through social networking and thus prevent depreciation of capital stock (maintenance effect), and (2) one may acquire new friends through social networking, which results in creation of new capital stock (investment effect). Thus, we model social networking as a dynamic process, in which one's current action to use a social network site can influence the evolution of her social network. We found that realtime chat and messaging, features of MySpace.com, positively affect one's usage decision and hence achieve the intended goal of generating site traffic. However, different demographic groups may have idiosyncratic preferences for these features. Based on parameter estimates, we performed counterfactual simulations with the goal of providing managers with ways to enhance firm performance. / text

Information privacy is a paradoxical issue. Especially after Facebook, information privacy has become more important than before. College student Facebook users share a great deal of information on Facebook, and Facebook collects users’personal information. Users’ personal information on Facebook is linked to their identity; therefore negative consequences (privacy problems) have become possible on Facebook. This study focused on college students’ privacy concerns and awareness of privacy issues and settings. Moreover, heavy and light users’ privacy concerns were compared in this study. According to the survey results, privacy is still important to Facebook users and different privacy concerns exist among heavy and light users. Results also show that privacy on Facebook is not a simple thing. It is related to identity construction, users’ experience, and awareness of privacy implications. / text

Thesis advisor: Sara Moorman / With the increasing digitalization of society, the line between private and public has blurred. Social network sites (SNSs) like Facebook and Instagram facilitate such a process, with users utilizing the sites for public displays of private emotions or events. What was once intimate conversation between two individuals or personal experience shared only with those in one’s physical company have become public conversations and shared experiences for networks of Friends and Followers to comment on, like, share, and survey. Consequently, social media has allowed for heightened expressions of grief, a formerly private experience, online through the use of images, words, and reactions. The current study uses survey and interview data to understand who uses social media to grieve the loss of a family member (a particularly private loss), why an individual might do this, and how such posting influences the grieving process for the social media user. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.

Most research investigating impression formation during early stages of a relationship on social network sites adopts unrealistic, ecologically invalid social scenarios. This thesis used an ecologically valid social scenario to improve understanding of impression formation during the early stages of a relationship on social network sites. Three studies investigated how students get to know each other on social network sites in the weeks before starting university. A focus group study, a questionnaire study and an experiment demonstrated that incoming undergraduate students form impressions about groups of people (e.g. a group of housemates) and specific individuals (e.g. a housemate) during university transition. The studies highlighted that it is too simplistic to suggest that impression formation about a group of people is different from impression formation about a specific individual. Instead, the coherence of the social target, the nature of the affiliation with that social target, and the strategies used to get to know that social target on social network sites influence how confident students are in their impressions of each other during university transition. Explanations are proposed that, if substantiated, would require expansion of the Hamilton and Sherman’s and cues-filtered in theories of impression formation. The studies highlighted that impression formation and the influence of those three factors can partially explain the intensity of students’ worries about the academic and social aspects of their future university experience. The findings are practically applied as guidance for university and pastoral support services and further research is proposed to test the tentative explanations.

abstract: Although the social network site (SNS) Facebook achieved great success around the world, in China, it was over taken by the local website Kaixin001. Using comparative analysis and interviews, this thesis compared the architecture of the two websites and Chinese users' attitude towards them. From one side, the result indicates that they are almost the same, but not quite. Kaixin001 is a copycat which adapts to local cultures and political regulations. From the other side, the research also highlights that people associate Kaixin001 with a game platform rather than a social tool. It suggests that there are two layers of digital divide: access and utilization. Chinese users can not get equal access because of the Great Firewall. At the same time, unlike western users, they are fond of playing games, listening music and other functions, rather than creating original content or building social capital. Therefore, the SNS utilization is not equal. Because of regulations and self-surveillance, their SNS use is enjoying the apolitical does not challenge the Chinese state. At the end of the thesis, the author points out the limitations of this research. As Internet-mediated qualitative research, this study lacks extended time and samples to explore the SNSs in global context. Further research is needed to collect extended samples. Moreover, the users' dependence on social network websites may be addressed to seek more comprehensive and deeper understanding of SNS. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Communication Studies 2011

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The current research identifies the impact of sharing day-to-day information in social network sites (SNS) on the relationships we hold within and outside of them. Stemming from the literature on self-disclosure, uncertainty reduction, personal relationships, privacy and computer-mediated communication (CMC), a concurrent triangulation research strategy is adopted to identify the patterns of relationship development and interaction in SNS. Using a mixed methods approach, five studies were conducted to determine how young adults interact via SNS. Empirical findings suggest SNS users are driven by the need to reduce uncertainty and gather information about their interaction partners. An interaction between several factors was found to impact on relationships between communication partners: the frequency of information sharing; the content of the shared information; the type of relationship held between the sender and recipient; the stage of relationship development; the medium of communication, and; an expected social contract. A conceptual model of interpersonal interaction within SNS environments is proposed, identifying the links between sharing, certainty and relationship quality, and manifested communication behaviour throughout relationship development. Implications for the fields of communication science, CMC, and social and behavioural psychology are discussed.

Στον ολοένα και αυξανόμενο όγκο πληροφοριών που υπάρχει διαθέσιμος οποιαδήποτε στιγμή στο Διαδίκτυο, ο τρόπος πρόσβασης του χρήστη σε αυτόν γίνεται διαρκώς ευκολότερος. Ο κάθε χρήστης του Διαδικτύου έχει ανά πάσα στιγμή τη δυνατότητα να βρει πληροφορίες συγκεντρωμένες σε έναν χώρο πολύ πιο εύκολα από ότι θα έκανε για παράδειγμα σε μια βιβλιοθήκη. Ενδιαφέρον παρουσιάζει ο τρόπος με τον οποίο ο κάθε χρήστης φτάνει στην εύρεση της πληροφορίας και η ενδεχόμενη ύπαρξη ενός μοντέλου στο οποίο βασίζεται αυτή η συμπεριφορά. Επειδή ο χώρος του Διαδικτύου είναι αχανής και πολύπλευρος, στα πλαίσια της παρούσας διπλωματικής επιλέξαμε να επικεντρωθούμε μόνο στις Σελίδες Κοινωνικής Δικτύωσης (Social Network Sites) και πιο συγκεκριμένα στο Facebook και στο Google+. Η επιλογή των δυο αυτών σελίδων έγινε με κριτήριο την ομοιότητα και των παρεμφερών δυνατοτήτων που προσφέρουν και οι δύο. Επίσης, μας δόθηκε η δυνατότητα να μελετήσουμε τη συμπεριφορά των χρηστών σε έναν χώρο, που για τους περισσότερους ήταν άγνωστος, όπως είναι το Google+, το οποίο μόλις πριν από λίγο καιρό έγινε διαθέσιμο σε όλους τους χρήστες του Διαδικτύου. Έτσι, λοιπόν, σχεδιάσαμε ένα πείραμα στο οποίο οι συμμετέχοντες θα αναλάμβαναν να κάνουν ένα συγκεκριμένο αριθμό παρόμοιων εργασιών τόσο στο Google+ όσο και στο Facebook και χρησιμοποιώντας τον Eye Tracker της Tobii καταγράψαμε τη συμπεριφορά τους. Αξιοποιώντας τις δυνατότητες, τις οποίες μας παρέχει το Tobii Studio, το λογισμικό που συνοδεύει το μηχάνημα, επιχειρήσαμε να αναλύσουμε αυτές τις συμπεριφορές βάσει κάποιων χαρακτηριστικών, που ονομάζονται μετρικές. Επειδή, όμως, το λογισμικό περιορίζεται σε συγκεκριμένα χαρακτηριστικά που υπολογίζει, κρίθηκε αναγκαία η ανάπτυξη μιας μεθόδου με την οποία θα γινόταν η εξαγωγή περαιτέρω χρήσιμων χαρακτηριστικών , ενός είδους εργαλείου σε πολύ αρχικό στάδιο ωστόσο. Τέλος, χρησιμοποιώντας το SPSS κάναμε στατιστική ανάλυση των αποτελεσμάτων τόσο του πειράματος όσο και των συνοδευτικών σε αυτό ερωτηματολογίων για να τα επιβεβαιώσουμε και στατιστικά. / In the constantly increasing mass of information that is available anytime on the Internet, the way each user accesses it becomes easier. Each user of the Internet has at any time the opportunity to find information gathered all in one place a lot easier than he could do in a library for example. The way each user comes to finding that information and the potential existence of a model on which this behavior is based, is of great interest. Due to the fact that the Internet is vast and versatile, in this thesis we decided to focus only on social network sites and more specifically on Facebook and Google+. The choice of these two sites was made based on their resemblance and the similar opportunities they both have to offer. In addition, we were given the chance to study the behavior of users in a site, with which most people were not familiar, like Google+, which has been made available to everyone only a couple of months ago. So we designed an experiment on which the participants would undertake a certain amount of similar tasks both in Google+ and Facebook and using Tobii’s Eye Tracker we recorded their behavior. Utilizing the abilities that Tobii Studio, the software accompanying the Eye Tracker, offers us, we attempted to analyze these behaviors based on some characteristics, known as metrics. However due to the fact that the software is limited only on certain characteristics that it measures, we judged it was necessary to develop a method that would extract some more useful characteristics, like a tool, although in a very early stage. Finally, using SPSS we made a statistical analysis of both the experiment’s and the accompanying questionnaire’s results to confirm them also statistically.

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