[Air-L] Facebook abstainers and refuseniks

Sun Oct 7 11:30:14 PDT 2012

I have an early study on this topic: Tufekci, Zeynep (2008). Grooming,
Gossip, Facebook and Myspace. What can we learn about these sites from
those who won't assimilate? *Information, Communication and Society. *Volume
11, pages 544-564. Full text can be found here:
http://userpages.umbc.edu/~zeynep/papers/ZeynepSocialGroomingandFacebook.pdf

My key finding was that the main concern wasn't just privacy but also
orientation towards social grooming. Non-Facebook users in my sample
(college students with tech access) were comfortable doing online banking,
for example, but did not get the point of "social grooming" in general, and
especially online. Here's the abstract:

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=713) and qualitative (n = 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
conceptual distinction between the expressive Internet, the Internet of
social interactions,
and the instrumental Internet, the Internet of airline tickets and weather
forecasts. 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
inﬂuence 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
differentiate between the different modalities of Internet use.

Best,
-z

On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 10:36 AM, Peter Timusk <ptimusk at sympatico.ca> wrote:

> The Canadian Internet Use survey tends to show that those with larger
> online
> security concerns are non-users of the Internet.
>
> My sketchy ideas are that privacy is more likely invaded by friends than
> government or corporate interests on facebook. Friends may not have the
> same
> ethical use standards we might practice.
>
> There was a law professor at the university of Ottawa a few years back who
> also commented on facebook and privacy and did not have a facebook account.
>
> Peter a heavy daily facebook user.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
> [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of William Dutton
> Sent: October-07-12 6:37 AM
> To: McLaughlin, Lisa M. Dr.
> Cc: <air-l at listserv.aoir.org> Aoir
> Subject: Re: [Air-L] Facebook abstainers and refuseniks
>
> An issue tied to not using FB or social media in general is that experience
> with the Internet shapes beliefs and attitudes about the technology, such
> as
> trust. It is what I have called an 'experience technology', and social
> media, sort of an experience 2.0 technology. Those most concerned over the
> Internet and social media are non-users.  See: Dutton, W. H., and Shepherd,
> A. (2006), 'Trust in the Internet as an Experience Technology',
> Information,
> Communication and Society, 9(4): 433-51. That said, I am sympathetic, as I
> attempted to avoid having a TV in my home for years, but received many TVs
> as gifts.
>
> On 7 Oct 2012, at 04:05, McLaughlin, Lisa M. Dr. wrote:
>
> > This is just an idea, but it may be interesting to look into the
> > reaction, often hostile, that greets those of us who don't use
> > Facebook. I teach a course that highlights new ICT/social media and I
> > often am asked how I can teach such a course without ever having had a
> Facebook page (or tweeted!).
> > My rote, however simplistic, response usually is that I don't have a
> > Facebook page because I *do* teach a course that focuses on social
> > media, and my tendency to be a cautious consumer now is on full display.
> >
> > Still, one thing that intrigues me is that the majority of individuals
> > with whom I have such conversations seem to range from their being
> > annoyed to angry upon learning that I don't have a Facebook page. I
> > recently recovered from a serious illness, and one reaction that
> > surprised me was that I often was pressed to get a Facebook page so
> > that I could share "my progress" with "friends" and "family."
> >
> > In fact, my feeling is that I wished to protect my privacy (and
> > continue to feel this way), and I had to beg my siblings to not post
> > "updates" on "my progress" on their own Facebook pages.
> >
> > I have begun to think about the refusal to have a Facebook page as
> > something interpreted as a form of rebellion (however slight compared
> > to Tiananmen
> > Square) or transgression with the result that many folks feel that
> > they must discipline and punish. My question: Why is this happening?
> > Worded differently, this may be a good research question.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Lisa
> >
> > --
> > Lisa McLaughlin, Ph.D.
> > Associate Professor, Mass Communication & Program in Women's, Gender,
> > and Sexuality Studies Co-editor, Feminist Media Studies Miami
> > University-Ohio
> >
> > Contact:
> > Mass Communication
> > Williams Hall
> > Miami University-Ohio
> > Oxford, Ohio 45056
> > USA
> > Tele: 513-529-3547
> > Fax: 513-529-1835
> > Email: mclauglm at muohio.edu
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 10/6/12 5:26 AM, "Nicholas John" <nicholas.john at mail.huji.ac.il>
> wrote:
> >
> >> Hello Researchers of the Internet
> >> I wonder if anyone knows of any studies of people who *don't* use
> >> Facebook as a matter of choice?
> >> I'm doing a study of my own and want to make sure I've got the
> >> background literature covered.
> >> Thanks in advance,
> >> Nicholas
> >> _______________
> >> Dr. Nicholas John
> >> sociothink.com
> >> share.sociothink.com
> >> @nicholasajohn
> >> Latest article: Sharing and Web 2.0: The emergence of a
> >> keyword<http://nms.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/07/03/1461444812450
> >> 684>,
> >> New Media & Society
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the
> >> Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change
> >> options or unsubscribe at:
> >> http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
> >>
> >> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> >> http://www.aoir.org/
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the
> > Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change
> > options or unsubscribe at:
> > http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
> >
> > Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> > http://www.aoir.org/
>
> William H. Dutton
> Professor of Internet Studies
> Oxford Internet Institute
> University of Oxford
> 1 St Giles', Oxford OX1 3JS
> UNITED KINGDOM
>
> Tel +44 (0)1865 287 210
> Fax +44 (0)1865 287 211
> Cell +44 (0)7768 823906
> Web: http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/dutton/about/
> You can access my papers on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at:
> http://ssrn.com/author=478025
> Forthcoming: The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies:
> http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199589074.do
>
> _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of
> Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or
> unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
>
> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> http://www.aoir.org/
>
> _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
> http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
>
> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> http://www.aoir.org/
>

-- 
Zeynep Tufekci, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina
Fellow, Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society

zeynep at unc.edu or @techsoc
http://www.technosociology.org