Week 10 Article 2: Knowledge of addiction and Facebook

November 10, 2014 DMCrim Social Media empirical research, facebook addiction, SNS addiction, social media research, Social Networking Sites

I decided to stick with one theme for my weekly articles for this week, with the topic being Facebook addiction. For my second article I chose Social Media Addiction, Resistance, and Influence of Awareness: Measurement of Psychology Students’ Resistance to Facebook Addiction. This article was written by Dr. Tutku Akter and appeared in the May, 2014 issue of the Mediterranean Journal of Social Science. (See below for citation). After reading my first article, I thought being aware and knowledgeable about SNS addiction could possibly help individuals avoid addictive behaviors. The article wasn’t about this directly, this was just my assumption – so, when I saw this title I thought it would be interesting and maybe answer my thoughts about the previous article – we shall see!

Purpose / Goal: The purpose of this study was to measure the resistance of psychology students to Facebook addiction. That author looks specifically at psychology students to understand whether knowing or learning about negative influences of SNS and addictive behaviors would affect addiction to Facebook or its usage. The author points out, numerous times, that these students are potential psychologist and counselors in the making.

Method: For this study, the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) was posted on the Facebook wall of the psychology students (N=233), and they were asked to fill the scale. The BFA was comprised of 18 items on a 5-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (very rarely) to 5 (very often). Example: ‘‘I think about Facebook even when I am not online’’.

Results: A total of 119 undergraduate psychology students of The American University voluntarily participated in the study. Statistics from this article (p. 460):

69% percent of psychology students reported they very rarely spent time thinking about Facebook or planning use of Facebook

55% use Facebook to forget about their private problems

69% very rarely use Facebook to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness, and depression

73% of psychology students very rarely have got warning from others about reducing use of

8% of respondents decided to use Facebook less frequently and could not manage to do so

11% of them noted that they become irritable in case of being prohibited from using Facebook

7% reported that they feel bad very often when they cannot log on to Facebook for sometime

Conclusion: The author notes based on the results that although not being addictive, there is a significant correlation between six main characteristic of addiction: salience, mood modification, withdrawal, tolerance, conflict and relapse. Results indicated that having prior knowledge about negative influences of using SNS, specifically Facebook, can be assumed as a deterrent factor for being addictive but not “necessarily mean that addiction features cannot be detected”.
So What?! This article did a decent job answering my previous question, however, I think I will look for more articles related to this to further clarify. This article is definitely useful to those studying Facebook addiction and I would be interested in reading results from a replication of this study. Overall, I think the awareness of addiction to SNS can help us prevent this behavior.

Reference:

Akter, T. (2014). Social Media Addiction, Resistance, and Influence of Awareness: Measurement ofPsychology Students’ Resistance to Facebook Addiction. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 5(8), 456.

Week 10 – Article 1: Facebook Addiction

November 10, 2014December 17, 2014 DMCrim Social Media Addiction, empirical research review, facebook, facebook addiction, Internet Addiction, SNS, social media, Social Networking Sites

This week in my Social Internet course, we are having a different type of class meeting. We were all given the task of finding two articles (not related to our research interests) but related to social media from 2014 and then tasked with writing a summary for our blog.

For my first article I chose The interplay of intrinsic need satisfaction and Facebook specific motives in explaining addictive behavior on Facebook by Philip Masur, Lenoard Reinecke, Marc Ziegele and Oliver Ouiring. This article is from the October, 2014 issue of Computers in Human Behavior (citation provided bellow).

Purpose / Goal: The goal of this paper was to gain a better understanding of addictive behavior on Social Networking Sites (SNS), specifically Facebook. The authors also wanted to develop a “psychometrically sound scale” to measure addictive behavior on SNS. Previous research in this area found addictive behavior to be related to seeking specific gratification through SNS platforms and also other researchers have investigated the relationship between offline well-being and obsessive behaviors. Based on the previous research, the current study aims to extend previous studies by looking at both offline need satisfaction and gratifications sought in the online context to better understand addictive behaviors on Facebook.

Method: In order to accomplish their goal, the authors conducted an online survey in Germany during July, 2012. This survey was given to a Socio- Scientific Panel ( a panel of German Internet users who volunteer to take online-surveys) which resulted in 806 participants, due to missing data or lacking a Facebook account the remaining 581 participants were used for the data analysis. The survey was comprised of the SNS ( Internet Addiction Scale ), Motives of Facebook Use and Intrinsic need satisfaction in daily life. Examples of these surveys include:

SNS Addiction – the authors modified the Internet Addiction Scale to measure SNS addiction. The changed the question to be specific to only Facebook not all SNS – Ex: “ I often spent more time on Facebook then I intended”
Motive of Fcebook – Based on prior research, the authors created a scale measuring motives for Facebook use: escapism, self-presentation, entertainment, information seeking, socializing, and meeting new people. Ex: “ I use Facebook to meet new people”.
Intrinsic Need Satisfaction and daily life – was measured by using an adapted for of a 12-item scale developed by La Guardia, Ryan, Couchman, and Deci (2000). This scale consisted of three subscales measuring the need for autonomy, competence and relatedness. Ex: “In my daily life, I feel free to be who I am”.

Results: The first goal of creating a reliable SNS addiction measurement resulted in the authors creating of a new 18-item scale to measure the level of addictive behaviors on SNSs. The scale was based on the well validated Internet Addiction Scale. Although the authors made their new scale specific to Facebook only, it is likely this scale would work with any SNSs. The second purpose was to examine the relationship between intrinsic need satisfaction in daily life and specific motives of using SNS to explain SNS addiction. Concurrent with prior research, the authors found motive was a strong predictor of SNS addiction. Also, motives and self presentation promote SNS addictive behaviors. Similarly, escaping from ones daily life strongly predicts SNS addiction. These results indicate there are both benefits and risks associated with SNS use. Facebook serves as a way to “escape daily stress, demands and frustration” which can help an individual’s well-being however these same gratifications can lead to excessive and addictive behaviors on SNS

So what?! I think this article is useful to EVEYRONE not just researchers in this field. Anyone with a Facebook should be interested in these results! Understanding the authors conclusion is imperative to Facebook users due to the fine line between using Facebook and addictive SNS behaviors presented in the article. The authors find individuals use Facebook to escape daily stress but this can lead to SNS addictive behaviors. This article can help Facebook users draw a line between using Facebook to “escape” and using it to the point where it becomes excessive and addictive. On a personal level, I know I used Facebook to distract myself or to “cool down” after working on school work for a long time, which in terms of the article could be defined as “escaping” and therefore, I am glad I read this article and now know this could lead to more problematic SNS use.

I hope you all find this article as interesting as I did! Thoughts?

Reference for article above:

Masur, P. K., Reinecke, L., Ziegele, M., & Quiring, O. (2014). The interplay of intrinsic need satisfaction and Facebook specific motives in explaining addictive behavior on Facebook. Computers in Human Behavior, 39, 376-386.

GrubHub

November 2, 2014November 20, 2014 DMCrim Social Media Apps, delivery food, food, grubhub, new apps, social media, takeout, tv add

I am enjoying this cold, November, Sunday watching TV at home and this commercial pops up between Law and Order: Special Victim scenes.

(From: Youtube)

I have yet to hear of this app or see the commercial – So I googled it right after the commercial ended. I came across this wiki which gave be a good understanding of what the app was. I then looked at the GrubHub website which looks like this:

(From: GrubHub)

So to my understanding, it is both an app and an a website. I already have dinner cooking for tonight (spicy Italian turkey sausage and raviolis) , but I am going to download the app and use it to order food in the future!

(Image from: New Critics)

Curious if this is actually a “new” app or if I am just behind on knowing about it?

1st post for snapchat research series

October 31, 2014December 17, 2014 DMCrim Social Media facebook, poke, research project, snapchat, snapchat history, stats

(Image from: play.google.com)

For my research project for my Social Internet course, I am doing a project on Snapchat. As I work on my project and research on the topic I am going to post a few blog posts about my findings. The first is going to cover what is snapchat, the history of snpachat, snapchat stats and the difference between snapchat and Facebook.

What is snapchat?

Snapchat is an application available on both apple and android phones. The app allows you to take and send pictures and videos to individuals on your friends list. For your pictures, you can decide the amount of time recipients can view your picture. The time range is 1-10 seconds. On your picture you can also add text or draw on the image with the paint tool It is now possible to edit your “snap” with different filters, add a time stamp, the temperature and your speed. Also, the app allows you to have conversation with your friends on the app.

History of Snpachat: This video gives a brief description – check it out!

Snapchat Stats: From NYTimes & Media Bistro

60 Million photos or messages are sent each day.
Most users age range between 13 – 25 years old.
30 million monthly users and a total of 60 million users
70% of users are female

Snapchat V. Facebook:

Prior to starting my research, I didn’t know snapchat was a possible competitor of Facebook. For starters, Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook and the richest twenty-something in history, attempted to buy out snpachat for $3 billion!! Facebook tried to compete with snapchat with its own creation called “Poke”, this however had no success. In my opinion, these two things are very different but an article I read points out how snapchat rivals Facebook.

I remember every class in high school or lecture in undergrad stressed “once you put something online it’s there forever”. As a result, I have begun posting less and less of my life on Facebook. The younger generation has learned this lesson as well and thus Facebook average user is closer to 40 years old now compared to snapchats who users average around 18.

Here are the 3 biggest ways snapchat rivals Facebook based on an article by Forbes:

Snapchat is more “Intimate and exclusive” – instead of adding your second grade teacher and pre-school crush on facebook, snapchat only users your network of actual phone contacts as possible “friends” on the app.
Snapchat is consider “young and cool” – a lot of grandparents are now on Facebook, which I personally think is great, but teens not so much. The younger generations are all about the apps, not PC’s.
The app allows users to not worry about “self-censtorship”

(Image from: Image from: www.independent.co.uk )

Next I will post about the recent ads added to Snapchat!

Social Media and Sports – two of my favorite things!

October 4, 2014December 17, 2014 DMCrim Social Media College football, Jameis Winston, Peyton Manning, social media, Sports, twitter

(Picture from: realmediahead.tumblr.com)

I grew up watching college game day EVERY Saturday with my dad! My favorite part of the morning was seeing what mascot Lee Corso would choose. I then attended a college football dominated university, The University of Alabama. Three out of my four years at UA our football team won the national championship. Roll Tide! To stay in the loop, I added ESPN, College Game Day, SEC sports, etc to my ‘following’ list on twitter. If I couldn’t watch a game or wanted to know the standings on Sunday night I could always count on these twitter accounts to let me know!

A few Saturdays ago (college football day), there was a lot of attention surrounding Florida State University’s quarterback, Jamis Winston. Winston was the 2013 Heisman trophy winner. (Side Notes: My sister now attends FSU, so I now added twitter’s related to FSU to my ‘following’ list on my personal twitter) The attention to Winston was the result of him standing on top of a table at the FSU student union and shouting an extremely vulgar statement (look it up if you are interested). This saying was apparently from a popular internet meme making its rounds around college campuses.

Deadspin reported the incident, citing several Tweets as witnesses to the event. I then saw on twitter that FSU would be suspending Winston for the first half of the game. This garnished a LOT of media attention because the game was against one of the school’s rivals, Clemson. As the week went on, FSU announced because of further investigation Winston would actually be suspended for the entire game. While watching the game on Saturday, one of the commentators mentioned that the further investigation was because people’s tweets were matching up to what Winston claimed he said.

Then, I saw a tweet on Sunday after the game saying something along the lines of: “Peyton Manning should be glad social media wasn’t around when he was in college”. I immediately wanted to know what this was about, mainly because Peyton Manning is my FAVORITE NFL player. I found this article which answer my question perfectly.

This made me wonder: is it fair that Winston had more severe consequences partially because of social media? Personally, I think he deserved to be suspended for the whole game from the start! What do you think? Should social media have an effect on decision making for college athletes?

If you’re wondering what the result of the game was: FSU 23 CLEMSON 17 in OT. It was an amazing game to watch ant my sister was there experience her first FSU game in the stadium!

My life through pictures – Instagram Etiquette

September 23, 2014September 23, 2014 DMCrim Social Media Class Presentation, Dos and Don'ts, Instagram, Instagram Etiquete, Instagram timeline

What is Instagram?

Although widely used, Instagram is not as popular as Facebook and Twitter (Pew Internet Research, 2014). Therefore, I want to start off with a brief history and explanation of the app for those of you not familiar with the site / app. Here are a few quick facts (Facts from Instagram Press Page):

Instagram emerged October 6, 2010
By December 2010, Instagram had 1 million users.
August 2011, 150 millionth photo is uploaded.
April 9, 2012 Instagram joins Facebook. Facebook bought Instagram for 1 billion, in cash and stocks. ( Kevein Systrom, CEO Instagram, explains why in this blog post)
August 2012, Instagram launches Photo Maps.
Instagram launches Photos of You – May, 2013
June 20, 2013 – Instagram launches Videos (The app Vine came out January 24 2013, just 5 months before instaram’s video launch… interesting) Side Notes: Data shows that Instagram video is has more activity than its competitor, Vine
Instagram Direct – December 12, 2013

And today, almost exactly 4 years after the Instagram launch, the app (and website) currently has 200 Million monthly activities, 20 billion shared photos, 1.6 Billion likes daily and 60 million average photo uploads per day.

By going over the brief history, you may have a guess as to what Instagram is. In short, Instagram is a photo app (now owned by Facebook), used to upload photos which can be edited using a variety of different filters and can then be liked by other users or commented on. The app also allows you to upload videos, tag your picture with a location, tag people in the photo, message other users privately and share your photo on other social networking sites.

Example of filters on Instagram (created by me)

Who is using Instagram?

90% of users are under 35 years old which makes this an attractive platform for appear, entertainment, and media brands focused on this age bracket, according to a report by Business Insider. Additionally, possibly because Instagram is a “photo-heavy platform, it is used more by woman (68%). Data also found Instagram to be more popular with urban users (17%) than suburban and rural areas (11%)(Business Insider, 2014).

My Opinion on Instagram:

In my opinion, Instagram is sort of like the photo aspect of Facebook, while twitter draws from the status aspect of Facebook. Similar to Facebook, Instagram allows you to upload a photograph tag your location and others in the photo. Recently (2013), Instagram added the “photos of you” portion of the app which is just like the “photos of you” section on Facebook. However — when uploading a photo on instagram, it is the only thing that appears on other users “feed” — the photo is not compressed into one album but rather each photo appears as its own individual post unlike the Albums used on Facebook. This is a key difference in photo sharing on Instagram V. Facebook.

Instagram Help Center provides official Dos and Don’ts, which I have listed below:

Do’s:

Do share photos and videos that you’ve taken.
Do share photos and videos that are safe for people of all ages.
Do treat others as you would like to be treated.
Do have meaningful & genuine interactions.
Do have fun!

Don’t:

Don’t share photos or videos that aren’t yours.
Don’t share photos or videos that show nudity or mature content.
Don’t share photos or videos of illegal content.
Don’t spam.
Don’t be rude.
Don’t promote or glorify self-harm.

The list I came up with for the Dos and Dont’s of Instagram, based on PCMagaz and Huffington Post:

Don’t steal other users’ pictures!
Keep private pictures, private!
Quality over Quantity – do not post 14 images in a row within 5 minutes
Don’t over like.
Selfies can be okay, but try not to have too man. Practice “selfie control” Take interesting photos!
Be social! Comment on post you find interesting and tag (@username) a friend you think would appreciate the post.
Use hashtags but DO NOT over use hashtags
- Examples: #tbt #mcm #flashbackfriday #lategram #latepost
- Hashtags used to categorize pictures
- Avoid: #followme

Huffington Post summarize Instagram in this quote: “Document life, show off your quirky moments and tell a vibrant filter-filled story”

(This blog post is a follow up from my presentation tonight in my Social Internet course.)