In other media coverage, Newsweek Magazine recommended Freedom as one of “31 Ways To Get Smarter In 2012, and ” Mashable included Freedom and Anti-Social prominently in the article 6 Apps That Block Online Distractions So You Can Get Work Done.

I was also extremely pleased to see Margaret Atwood tweet about Freedom.  All in all, a wonderful way to start the new year!

The knee-jerk reaction the announcement of these tools is to contrast them against “traditional” models of social software, such as the profile-centric ego network embodied by Facebook.  “+,” much like Twitter and post-2007 Facebook, thrive on activity streams within a set of bounded networks; these tools move beyond a profile-centric notion of sociality and into content-rich activity streams.  “+” treats these streams holistically – they could be comprised of links (e.g. Circles) or real time conversation (e.g. Hangouts).  In a way, this next-generation “social networking” is somewhat of a return to roots, leveraging technologies and modes of interaction that are well-worn and comfortable rather than new and challenging.

The natural question for Google’s “+” is: Will it succeed?  To consider this question, we must define success.  One definition of success is displacing Facebook; I do not believe this is Google’s goal.  Google’s long-term viability depends on social in the sense that search must be made social; to do this, Google must — through one way or another — discover our social networks and employ this information in relevance judgments.  Google’s definition of success, I believe, is the creation of a technology that enables the enumeration and active maintenance of each user’s weighted social network going forward.

The maintenance of a network going forward implies long-term vibrancy – for “+” to be central to Google’s social reinvention, we must keep a copy of our up-to-date social networks in “+.”  The logic here is simple: Google must be able to adapt to network dynamics to stay socially relevant.  If you move to a new town or job and fail to update your “+” then the relevance of social search will suffer.

Over the years, I’ve thought and written about a few successful models for social networks.  Sites such as Last.fm or Flickr depend on social objects around which we construct shared experience.  LinkedIn succeeds because of latent value in networks; you probably don’t check LinkedIn a ton – but when you are in need LinkedIN may contain very powerful ties.  Curation has emerged as a powerful model – think Tumblr other sites where highly selective sharing is the norm.  Finally, the traditional model of social is that of the ego network, in which a site overlays your social networks with a technical infrastructure.  Facebook or Myspace are canonical ego nets, and Google’s “+” fits squarely in this mold with promises to “bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software.”

As Google and countless other companies have discovered, the development of an ego-centric social network site is challenging.  Getting past the standard UX/UI challenges, we must be motivated to use the software – and I have argued a key factor for success is that the site addresses a situationally relevant information need.  Facebook was so successful because it captured a population in the midst of life change; the software was immensely useful for addressing the information needs of students.  Perhaps my greatest worry about “+” is I can’t figure out how the software is situationally relevant.

At this stage, it seems that “+” attempts to differentiate based on privacy.  That is, Google feels that monolithic models of sharing are “awkward” or “broken” – and the definition of sharing groups solves the problem.  I have worked in privacy long enough to know two things.  First, privacy is not a market differentiator for privacy-inelastic populations.  Second, privacy is not a feature – it is a process.  My work with Woody Hartzog on boundary regulation shows that privacy is just one of many motives for disclosure regulation.  danah boyd and Alice Marwick’s latest draft on teen privacy practices highlights the practice of finding privacy in public.  While I appreciate Google’s nod to the problems of boundary regulation, I am skeptical of the feature’s actual value.

Of course, there are plenty of other ways to drive interest to a social site.  Designing something intrinsically cool is one.  Designing something intrinsically valuable is another.  Making a process less expensive — in terms of capital or labor — also works.  I look at the Hangout product and I see something that I had to pay for from Skype or Adobe.  But what I don’t see is a clear informational advantage to motivate use of the service, and that worries me.

With the launch of “+,” Google has demonstrated facility and creative thinking.  Google has also clearly been chastened by Buzz, which was nothing less than a dangerous, brute-force attack on our social graphs.  Google’s social search strategy requires our networks, and it requires networks that we maintain over time.  To construct a vibrant social place, Google must move beyond cool design or cost displacement, it must create a product that is valuable, that truly betters our lives.  That is Google’s challenge, and I will be interested to see how “+” rises to the challenge.

Over the past few years, a number of influential studies have explored the relationship between Facebook use and social outcomes – with no work being more prominent or influential than the body of work constructed by Ellison, Lampe, and Steinfield.  Over a number of studies, the MSU team has robustly identified both main and interaction effects in the relationship between Facebook use and social capital.  One of the most prominent findings from this work concerns the relationship between Facebook use and bridging social capital – the idea that Facebook effectively brings you closer to your extended group of weak ties.

Building on this work, Christian decided to explore this relationship in more depth – by focusing on the relationship between Facebook interface element use and bridging social capital.  Since we know that Facebook use is associated with bridging social capital, we wanted to understand what types of uses are associated with bridging social capital.  Christian devised and implemented a survey that measured intensity of use of Facebook wall posts, status updates, direct messages, and chatting, and explored the relationship between these types of uses and social capital.  We found that wall posting, in particular, was associated with bridging social capital – which conditionally supported our hypothesis that “third party visible” communication (a unique affordance of SNS) is critical to the production of social capital.

You can read more about the precise details of the study, including the methodology and measurement techniques, by downloading the pre-print or viewing the slideshare of Christian’s talk.  A key take away from this research is the importance of publicly visible communication – for all of the criticism Facebook has taken over the way it handles the News Feed, the ability to broadcast to a bounded public proves inherently useful.  A secondary take away is the fact our gender control was significant, which indicates that males, who may feel more comfortable disclosing information publicly due to different attitudes about privacy, gain more from public disclosures than females.  NB: All limitations apply – self report, study done at one college, etc.  We welcome your comments and feedback!

A big thanks goes out to both Jane Brown and Paul Jones, who mentored this work as thesis advisors.  The work was supported by a grant from UNC’s Office of Undergraduate Research, and Christian’s travel was made possible by the UNC JOMC Knight Chair.  Thank you!  Finally, I’m happy to add Christian’s paper to a growing list of my students that have been published.  In January, work on social networks and privacy by my undergraduate student Jamila Thompson was published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.  Earlier, Brett Bumgarner’s excellent work on motivations for Facebook use was published in First Monday.  I’m very proud of all these students!

Download PDF (Large file)

Abstract

This study explores the supportive and informational uses of social network sites that facilitate adaptation to transition. Adaptation to transition is a complex process contingent upon the management of stress associated with transition and general integration into the transitional environment. This study focuses on the transition to college, a major life event requiring integration into new settings, the negotiation of informational challenges, and the mastery of new roles and identities.

Social network sites represent a connective infrastructure within personal networks. Because social network sites are inherently connective, they afford a location for provision and receipt of social support during transition, and a site for the acquisition of information necessary for integration into the transitional environment. Drawing on data collected directly from a social network site that describes the networked activity of a freshman class over the course of their first semester at college, from a sample survey of freshmen with 1,198 respondents, and from 15 semi-structured interviews, this research has two primary components.

In the first component of analysis, I explore the structure and dynamics of socio-technical networks during transition. Using exponential random graph modeling, I identify the role and magnitude of preference, socio-demographic, and configuration factors in structuring socio-technical networks during transition. I then use an econometric framework to demonstrate that certain types of information sharing and profile change are associated with socio-technical network growth.

In the second component of analysis, I explore uses of social network sites that facilitate adaptation to transition. Using multiple regression and structural equation modeling, I demonstrate that supportive and social-informational uses of social network sites in transition exert a direct and mediated positive effect on overall adaptation. I then draw on interviews to explore supportive and informational uses of the social network site during transition, finding that social network sites are useful in pre-transition preparation, for social adaptation, and for academic support throughout the transition. Upon evaluation, I demonstrate that a social network site is a useful place to turn for the social and informational support that facilitates adaptation to transition.

Nielsen, the media research firm, calculated that one in every 4 1/2 minutes online is spent on blogs and social networking sites.

So, Fred Stutzman, a software developer, created an application to combat all of this time wasting. It’s called Anti-Social.

The idea came to him after he fell into the Wikipedia trap: “You’re doing some writing, you’re doing some research, and you want to look something up and you find yourself at Wikipedia,” Stutzman says. “And, as it always happens, one page on Wikipedia turns into to two to five to 10, and then you spend an hour learning about things but not necessarily getting work done. So by having a simple barrier to keeping yourself offline, it’s very effective in terms of productivity.”

You can listen to the story, “Stop Me Before I Facebook Again,” here.

In the wake of the story, I’ve received a number of requests for a Windows version of Anti-Social.  First of all – yes, a Windows version is coming.  It is a little tricky to produce, but one is in development.  Second, now that I’ve completed my dissertation, I hope to find the time to push the beta of Anti-Social for Windows soon.

• Dr. Gary Marchionini, SILS, UNC-Chapel Hill
• Dr. Deborah Barreau, SILS, UNC-Chapel Hill
• Dr. danah boyd, Microsoft Research
• Dr. Sri Kalyanaraman, JOMC, UNC-Chapel Hill
• Paul Jones, JOMC and SILS, UNC-Chapel Hill

It was a great honor to work with my committee, and I appreciate their guidance in my work.  There are still a few edits remaining on my dissertation, and I will post it when I submit the final copy to the graduate school.  In the meantime, I’ve posted the slides from my talk as a Slideshare.

CHI 2011 workshop: “Privacy for a Networked World”: Bridging Theory and Design

http://networkedprivacy.wordpress.com/

As our lives are more commonly mediated by information technology, an interactional perspective to how people find and construct privacy in socio-technical interactions has proven effective as a starting point for theoretical and empirical studies of privacy in everyday life in which online interactions have a significant role.

Yet, there remain important open questions regarding how to translate results based on this perspective into design practice. Addressing these questions requires a greater sensitivity to when interactional privacy is applicable, a better understanding of suitable research methods, and more effective means for communicating results to the researcher and practitioner communities. The goal of this workshop is to bring privacy theory and design together.

We seek participants from various domains for a multidisciplinary workshop to share their knowledge and views of both the theory and design of interactional privacy.

Position papers are invited on the following topics:

1. Theoretical and empirical study of interactional privacy.
2. Ways of designing for interactional privacy.

Submitted position papers will be peer-reviewed by a workshop committee. The organizers will disseminate the results at the CHI conference and plan to submit a proposal for a special issue in a relevant journal in response to an open Call for Papers.

Interested parties should submit a position paper of 2-4 pages, in the CHI Extended Abstracts format, to the EasyChair submission central at http://tinyurl.com/networkedprivacy by Jan 14, 2011. At least one author of each accepted paper must register for the workshop and for one or more days of the CHI 2011 conference.

IMPORTANT DATES

• Submission deadline – Jan 14, 2011
• Notification of acceptance – Feb 11,2011
• Workshop at CHI2011 – May 7, 2011

ORGANIZERS

Airi Lampinen, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT, Finland
Fred Stutzman, School of Information and Library Science, UNC-Chapel Hill, USA
Markus Bylund, Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Sweden

If you have any questions or would like to learn about this workshop, please contact the organizers at networkedprivacy[at]gmail.com.

I’m happy to invite you to my dissertation defense, December 8 at 10AM, in Manning 014. This is a small room so seating might be limited. Full information is available on the SILS website.

I hope to post my dissertation in a few weeks. I will share it here when it is ready for public viewing.

Last weekend’s Financial Times magazine also contained mention of Freedom.  The author Katie Roiphe describes an experiment spending a week offline.  Roiphe writes:

A man I meet at a party tells me about a software program called “freedom”. It asks you how long you would like to be offline (i.e. free) and you tell it, and then it disables your computer so you can’t get on to the internet for that time – or, in its words: “Freedom locks you away from the internet.” If you should suddenly need to go on the internet, you can restart your computer and disable the program, but it offers that extra bit of resistance; it is the superego, the self-control that you don’t quite have, or in its own slightly Orwellian terms, “Freedom enforces freedom”.

I’ll refer you to the article to see how the week offline goes.

Title:
Socio-Technical Support Networks During Life Transition

Abstract:
Modern life is characterized by transition.  Completing education, moving between jobs and residential relocation are examples of the transitions that challenge us, enable personal growth, and facilitate the construction of our life stories.  Successful adaptation to transition is a function of social-informational processes.  During a transition, individuals are challenged to make sense of their transitional environment, while developing socially supportive resources that aid in transition.  Large-scale adoption of social media, and resultant tightly-coupled mediated sociality has the potential to facilitate life transition; through social media, individuals are able to answer situationally relevant information needs, while drawing on extended support networks.  Using observational data collected during one such transition – the transition to college – this project explores social network site information practices during life transition.  In particular, I explore the dynamics of network configuration during the early stages of transition, identifying factors relevant to the assemblage and growth of socio-technical support networks.  I then explore the outcomes of social network site use during transition, identifying information behaviors associated with adaptation to transition.

I believe the talk will be at 3PM.  I’m looking forward to visiting the Department of Informatics, as well as meeting with faculty and students.  I’ll update the post with location information as we get closer to the date.