Consequences of Online Social Networking should be the sister article to our previous reading, Qualtity of Online Social Relationships. It seemed that both were similiar in nature to me since some of the same themes were touched upon. The study is to compare actual real life social networking with online social networking.
Consequences of Online Social Networking attempts to document social network activities per demographics. Listed in this article is an attempt to document the preferences of certain groups such as women vs. men or introvert vs extrovert. The articles states that there is a correlation between actual tendencies of how individuals determine and function between real life and social networking.
It is stated that people usually have less real life friends than they do on online social networks It also is stated that extroverts are usually more apt to use social networks. However, there is a difference in who extroverts will accept as "friends". It is also documented that online social networking is more prevalent among women.
Now, I do not question the findings of this study. It is obvious to me from all of the mathematical equations(that I did not understand) that a lot of time and effort went into it. I do question the validity of the study since only a sample size of university students in a section of the United States was considered. The study would hold more weight if people from all walks of life were polled. This could have been easily completed since it was an online study. I would suspect that a lot of experts may fell the same way as I do in regards to this study.
I wasn't very surprised to learn that women tend to spend more time on online social networks than men and have more friends, only because women tend to be more social and also more interested in what other people are doing. I would also have to agree with you that the validity of this study is a little outdated since Facebook is no longer a social networking site for only high school and college students. It would be beneficial to conduct a newer study with a larger and more varied sample to see if the original findings are valid for today’s Facebook members.
ReplyDeleteI think you make a very good point about Acar's sampling demographics. I too questioned the validity of his sample since he only included college students in the Northeast and because he obtained his sample through convenience sampling. Perhaps the people who agreed to fill out the questionnaires online are individuals who feel more comfortable online and engage more in social networking than the people who failed to participate in the sample. Thus, although I find Acar's study very interesting, I am not totally convinced.
ReplyDeleteAlso, even though I enjoyed reading the last section of Acar's article about the limitations of his research and his suggestions for future research, I do wish he directly pointed out in his article that his findings cannot be generalized towards the entire college population since someone who is merely reading the abstract or conclusion might make that assumption.
I was so glad that I took the time to really read this post. I am very much informed with the innovations in the said field.
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