MySpace Users Research Articles

A Large-Scale Study of MySpace: Observations and Implications for Online Social Networks

We study the characteristics of large online social networks through an extensive analysis of over 1.9 million MySpace profiles in an effort to understand who is using these networks and how they are being used. We study MySpace through a comparative study over three different, but related, facets: (i) the sociability of users in MySpace based on relationship, messaging, and group participation; (ii) the demographic characteristics of MySpace users in terms of age, gender, and location, and a study of how these factors correlate with their privacy preferences; and (iii) the text artifacts of MySpace users, which can be used to construct language models that distinguish MySpace users not just by who they say they are but also by the language model they employ. We find a number of surprising results and conjecture several potential research directions based on our observations

Grief-Stricken in a Crowd: The Language of Bereavement and Distress in Social Media

People turn to social media to express their emotions surrounding major life events. Death of a loved one is one scenario in which people share their feelings in the semi-public space of social networking sites. In this paper, we present the results of a two-part investigation of grief and distress in the context of messages posted to the profiles of deceased MySpace users. We present coding system for identifying emotion distressed content, followed by a detailed analysis of language use that lays a foundation for natural language processing (NLP) tasks, such as automatic detection of bereavement-related distress. Our findings suggest that in addition to words bearing positive or negative sentiment, linguistic style can be an indicator of messages that demonstrate distress in the space of post-mortem social media content. These results contribute to research in computational linguistics by identifying linguistic features that can be used for automatic classification as well as to research on death and bereavement by enumerating attributes of distressed self-expression in a post-mortem context.

Understanding social network sites: lessons from MySpace

MySpace.com is an online social network site (SNS) where users build a ‘profile page’ to communicate with millions of other users all over the globe. MySpace users customise their profile page with words, photographs, pictures, music, biographical information and other visual/textual icons. There are a number of unique practices that are inherent to these new online social spaces that extend from the need to maintain a personal profile. For example, many users will regularly update their profiles with new visual or textual information in order to encourage future communication (a practice that will be identified as ‘profile changing’). MySpace witnessed a high number of people joining the site in 2005 but more recently there has been similar movement away from the site and towards other online spaces. This article takes an historical look at the use of MySpace in order to explore some wider issues in online communication practices. Through an empirical analysis of 100 open-access MySpace profiles, the author examines the use of SNSs in relation to issues of self, community and wastefulness. This work also addresses the ongoing need to blur the boundaries of how we understand the relationship between human experience and technology, particularly in relation to visual/textual, online/offline, reality/representation and social/psychological.

Large-scale analysis of self-disclosure patterns among online social networks users: a Russian context

Online social network services (SNS) provide an unprecedented rich source of information about millions of users worldwide. However, most existing studies of this emerging phenomenon are limited to relatively small data samples, with an emphasis on mostly “western” online communities (such as Facebook and MySpace users in Western countries). To understand the cultural characteristics of users of online social networks, this paper explores the behavioral patterns of more than 16 million users of a popular social network in the Russian segment of the Internet, namely, My.Mail.Ru (also known as “My World” or “Moj Mir” in Russian). Our main goal is to study the self-disclosure patterns of the site users as a function of their age and gender. We compare the findings of our analysis to the previous studies on Western users of SNS and discuss the culturally distinctive aspects. Our study highlights some important cultural differences in usage patterns among Russian users, which call for further studies in SNS in various cultural contexts.

Boundary Conditions for the Application of Three Theories of Computer-Mediated Communication to MySpace

This study examined how generally theories of taste performance, identity warranting, and social capital formation could be applied to behavior on MySpace. New MySpace members (N = 365) was tracked for 7 weeks to determine how frequently boundary conditions for these theories were satisfied. Most new members rarely visited their profiles, did little to personalize them, and did not list friends or receive comments from others during the 7-week study period. Therefore theories of taste performance, identity warranting, and social capital formation apply only to a minority of MySpace users. These findings limit the application of theories, but also point to new areas for research on social network sites and to a revised view of the interpersonal character of MySpace.

Bias in Online Recruitment and Retention of Racial and Ethnic Minority Men Who Have Sex With Men

BackgroundThe Internet has become an increasingly popular venue for men who have sex with men (MSM) to meet potential sex partners. Given this rapid increase in online sex-seeking among MSM, Internet-based interventions represent an important HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) prevention strategy. Unfortunately, black and Hispanic MSM, who are disproportionately impacted by the HIV epidemic in the United States, have been underrepresented in online research studies. ObjectiveOur objective was to examine and quantify factors associated with underrecruitment and underretention of MSM of color in an online HIV behavioral risk research study of MSM recruited from an online social networking site.MethodsInternet-using MSM were recruited through banner advertisements on MySpace.com targeted at men who reported in their MySpace profile their age as at least 18 and their sexual orientation as gay, bisexual, or unsure. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds stratified by race and ethnicity of the MySpace user clicking through the banner advertisement. To characterize survey retention, Kaplan-Meier survival curves and multivariable Cox proportional hazards models identified factors associated with survey dropout.ResultsOver 30,000 MySpace users clicked on the study banner advertisements (click-through rate of 0.37%, or 30,599 clicks from 8,257,271 impressions). Black (0.36% or 6474 clicks from 1,785,088 impressions) and Hispanic (0.35% or 8873 clicks from 2,510,434 impressions) MySpace users had a lower click-through rate compared with white (0.48% or 6995 clicks from 1,464,262 impressions) MySpace users. However, black men had increased odds of click-through for advertisements displaying a black model versus a white model (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.83, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.72 - 1.95), and Hispanic participants had increased odds of click-through when shown an advertisement displaying an Asian model versus a white model (adjusted OR = 1.70, 95% CI 1.62 - 1.79). Of the 9005 men who consented to participate, 6258 (69%) completed the entire survey. Among participants reporting only male sex partners, black non-Hispanic and Hispanic participants were significantly more likely to drop out of the survey relative to white non-Hispanic participants (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.6, 95% CI 1.4 - 1.8 and HR = 1.3, 95% CI 1.1 - 1.4, respectively). Men with a college-level of education were more likely to complete the survey than those with a high-school level of education (HR = 0.8, 95% CI 0.7 - 0.9), while men who self-identified as heterosexual were more likely to drop out of the survey compared with men who self-identified as gay (HR = 2.1, 95% CI 1.1 - 3.7). ConclusionsThis analysis identified several factors associated with recruitment and retention of MSM in an online survey. Differential click-through rates and increased survey dropout by MSM of color indicate that methods to recruit and retain black and Hispanic MSM in Internet-based research studies are paramount. Although targeting banner advertisements to MSM of color by changing the racial/ethnic composition of the advertisements may increase click-through, decreasing attrition of these study participants once they are engaged in the survey remains a challenge.

MySpace is your space? Examining self-presentation of MySpace users

The study examined the role of self-presentation on MySpace pages through the information users post on their sites. MySpace users were more comfortable with posting the broad pieces of information, like gender, race, zodiac sign, and hometown. They were not as willing to present personal information like income, whether they smoke or drank or groups they belonged to. Age and motivations for creating a page were major predictors of how much information people revealed about themselves.

A Place for Friends?

This paper presents part of a two-year research carried on the social networking site MySpace.com to examine the perception of MySpace as a “place for friends.” A qualitative methodology using observation and interviews was used to examine the perceptions of 29 Italian and American music-related MySpace users. What emerges from the findings is a widespread users’ perception of MySpace as a friendly environment, where information must and can be disclosed. A grounded study on this perception of friendliness is used to present an analysis of the elements that constitute this perception. The element of surveillance that has been widely accounted for in literature is present in this perception, though what emerges to be potentially dangerous for privacy is one’s own deliberate disclosure of information, which might be related to the perception of finding oneself in a harmless environment. Based on the findings of this exploratory study, the paper highlights directions for future research to understand the dangers and perception of privacy disclosure online, and, in particular, on social networking sites.

Ethics and information systems — Guest editors’ introduction

The technological evolution characterised by convergence into Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and divergence of applications has led to the birth of the Information Society. Where once scientists in white coats toiled in backroom laboratories to satisfy the needs of organisations, today children are ICT experts, consumers are major customers of applications and ICT is a widespread community notion. The Information Society has ushered out the Computer Science mantra and has ushered in the Information Provision perspective. New media such as wikis, podcasts, blogs and mobile downloads support all forms of communication relationships: many-to-many, oneto-many, many-to-one and one-to-one. ICT has changed the meaning of information through adding value to or subtracting value from traditional forms of presentation and access (Rogerson 2007). Perceptions of such transformations vary greatly particularly between creators and consumers of these new forms of information. The evolution continues. In the beginning the scientists and technologists were elitist, but then professionals in organisations embraced ICT as an instrument for increased productivity. Knowledgeable citizens then enthusiastically consumed ICT but became sceptical as ICT system failures became commonplace. These citizens finally became realistic in their expectations of what ICT might deliver. The final evolutionary stage is where everyone, or nearly everyone, will use acceptable and increasingly invisible ICT. All systems will need to be fit-for-purpose characterised as accessible, trustworthy or reliable, useful and usable (Rogerson 2008). Today’s Information Society is in this final stage of evolution— it is a stage that will continue for the foreseeable future. In this society we cannot simply live with ICT, we need to live, work and learn beyond ICT. The papers in this special issue focus on these challenges. Preliminary versions were presented at the Tenth ETHICOMP International Conference on the Social and Ethical Impacts of Information and Communication Technology held in September 2008 at the University of Pavia at Mantua, Italy. The Information Society must be built on a foundation in which integrity and rigour for good science will promote quality ICT and good ethics will promote good professional practice. These appear to be reasonable causal links but there can be and exceptions. These exceptions will impact dramatically on society in ways which we might be able to predict and in other ways whose impact, particularly in the long term, is simply unknown. Indicative of this is the paper Analysis of MySpace User Profiles (Massari 2009) in which the author explains that social network sites, such as MySpace have increased the opportunity of individuals to sustain relationships with others who share common interests. The author has found that the majority of MySpace users have many personal details in their profiles, have large numbers of friends who regularly make comments. It is unclear what the ramifications of such online networks will be for individuals or society at large. It is unclear whether the impacts will be positive, negative or neutral. It is unclear whether the impact will be greater for the more vulnerable or gullible members of society. A second ICT application is discussed in The Ethics of Video Games: Mayhem, Death and the Training of the Next Generation (Gotterbarn 2009). The author suggests that many games have been designed such that players are encouraged and trained to follow M. C. Calzarossa (*) : I. De Lotto University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy e-mail: mcc@unipv.it

Blogging as a Social Tool: A Psychosocial Examination of the Effects of Blogging

New MySpace users (N = 58) were surveyed on joining the site and again in 2 months to examine psychosocial differences between bloggers and nonbloggers over time. Bloggers' social integration, reliable alliance, and friendship satisfaction all significantly increased compared to nonbloggers, suggesting that blogging has beneficial effects on well-being, specifically in terms of perceived social support.

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence, Self-Esteem, and Self-Image on Romantic Communication over MySpace

A study based on a survey of 240 individual MySpace users found that low self-esteem encourages young adults to engage in romantic communication (such as having intimate communication with the opposite sex and looking for romantic partners) while higher emotional intelligence discourages such activity. The results also suggested that those who have higher self-image, such as thinking themselves attractive and happy with their appearance, tend to engage in romantic communication. Limitations of the study and suggestion for future study are discussed.

Whose space is MySpace? A content analysis of MySpace profiles

This study examines the content of MySpace pages to reveal the types of personal information users disclose on their pages and the types of communication users engage in via through their MySpace account. The researchers performed a traditional content analysis on MySpace user profiles to learn about user characteristics and about the types of content posted on profiles pages. Findings showed a clear pattern of use of the site for creating and developing personal identities and relationships online. Findings show a high degree of control by users over private information, with very few users posting personal information such as telephone numbers and addresses. The results of this research contribute to an understanding of the use of MySpace as a social networking site, a communication tool, and a means of self-disclosure and identity formation.

Social networks, gender, and friending: An analysis of MySpace member profiles

AbstractIn 2007, the social networking Web site MySpace apparently overthrew Google as the most visited Web site for U.S. Web users. If this heralds a new era of widespread online social networking, then it is important to investigate user behaviour and attributes. Although there has been some research into social networking already, basic demographic data is essential to set previous results in a wider context and to give insights to researchers, marketers and developers. In this article, the demographics of MySpace members are explored through data extracted from two samples of 15,043 and 7,627 member profiles. The median declared age of users was surprisingly high at 21, with a small majority of females. The analysis confirmed some previously reported findings and conjectures about social networking, for example, that female members tend to be more interested in friendship and males more interested in dating. In addition, there was some evidence of three different friending dynamics, oriented towards close friends, acquaintances, or strangers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, female and younger members had more friends than others, and females were more likely to maintain private profiles, but both males and females seemed to prefer female friends, with this tendency more marked in females for their closest friend. The typical MySpace user is apparently female, 21, single, with a public profile, interested in online friendship and logging on weekly to engage with a mixed list of mainly female “friends” who are predominantly acquaintances.

Distress, Coping, and Blogging: Comparing New Myspace Users by Their Intention to Blog

New Myspace.com users (N = 134, mean age 24.5 years) completed a questionnaire about their intent to blog and several psychosocial variables. Intending bloggers scored higher on psychological distress, self-blame, and venting and scored lower on social integration and satisfaction with number of online and face-to-face friends. Intending bloggers may view this activity as a potential mechanism for coping with distress in situations in which they feel inadequately linked with social supports.