Dissertation – Social Networking Sites (2012)
Social Networking web sites such as Facebook are extremely popular, however, we have very little understanding as to why people use these sites and what they get out of the whole experience. The purpose of this research project is to analyse patterns of use in social network sites to fully understand their attraction by looking at what motivates users to use such websites.
Briefly social networking sites allow for users to interact with friends, comment on walls, send private messages, upload photos, build friendship networks etc. in a virtual environment. It is not fully understood what motivates users to use such a site, what benefits one achieves from the usage of a social network site etc. These are only two of many questions that need be answered.
This research project combines qualitative (opinion, message, content) etc. and quantitative (numbers, statistics) methods to retrieve results through a survey. The results were analysed using Microsoft Excel and then compared and evaluated. There were many findings from the study. It was noted that maintaining friendships was one of the main reasons given as to the use of Facebook. Males were more likely to provide misleading information which related back to honesty/privacy. The majority of users used photo updates to keep track of friends and activities.
- 12,000 words – 52 pages in length
- Good use of literature
- Well written throughout
- Good in depth analysis
- Includes questionnaire
- Ideal for IT and computing students
1. Introduction
Background
Project aims
Structure
2. Literature Review
Definition
Profiles
History
Bridging online and offline social networks
Social network site usage
Privacy and Safety
Benefits of using social network sites
3. Methodology
The implemented methodology
Survey sample
Location and time
Collection of results
Success criteria
4. Study/Survey
Purpose
Hypothesis
Method
Sample
Procedure
Questionnaire/Survey
General section
What do you use Facebook for?
Friends
Privacy and security
Motivation
First draft of survey
Results
Findings from results obtained
5. Evaluation
Results discussion
Results summary
Limitations
Future work
Self-reflection
6. Conclusion
Summary
References
Appendix