Jan Heim

Why People Use Social Networking Sites

One of the recent popular social media platforms is the social networking site (SNS). Thus far, few previous studies have empirically investigated peoples motivations for SNS usage, especially not outside the U.S. This study combines a large-scale quantitative and qualitative research design, by asking 1,200 SNS users an open question regarding their reasons for using SNSs. An important conclusion drawn from a preliminary content analysis is that people often report many motivational reasons for using SNSs . The most important reason is to get in contact with new people (31%). The second most valued was to keep in touch with their friends (21%), whereas the third was general socializing (14%). A total of 11 different reasons and several sub-reasons were identified; that all give insight into the personal incentives that drive people to use SNSs and thus contribute to our understanding of how to develop successful social networking online.

A typology of social networking sites users

Social networking sites (SNSs) are said to be new important means of participating, communicating, and gaining social capital. Thus, increasingly fragmented user population and user behaviours in SNSs make it important to achieve more knowledge about SNS users and their participation inequality. This article proposes a user typology for SNSs, which identifies and describes the variety of ways in which people use SNSs. An analysis of the survey data from 5,233 respondents in four major Norwegian SNSs showed five distinct user types: 1) sporadics; 2) lurkers; 3) socialisers; 4) debaters; 5) actives. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis validates the typology. The SNS user typology contributes to a more nuanced and precise measure of how future research should identify and predict SNS use and better understand participation inequality in SNSs. The identification of various user types indicates a 50-30-20 rule for participation in small and locally bounded online communities compared to the existing 90-9-1 rule. Finally, the results could help the design of SNSs in tailoring them to user type.

Co-creation and user-generated content-elderly people's user requirements

There is an increasing demand on citizens to participate in social network websites and to create and share their own user-generated content (UGC), such as photographs, videos, and blogs. So far, little is known about how elderly people respond to these new trends and master the techniques required. This paper reports on three studies that investigated elderly peoples user requirements related to consumption, sharing and co-creation of UGC in new media. The first study, conducted in Norway, identifies patterns of Internet usage, age differences, and participation in online communities and the consumption, sharing and co-creation of UGC on a macro level. The second study, conducted in Belgium, investigated the social requirements of elderly people on a group level. The third study, also conducted in Belgium, investigated user and context requirements on an individual level. The results of the first study show that the elderly rarely participate in online communities and share audio-visual UGC. However, they embrace some aspects of the new media and more often express themselves politically. The results of the second study show that the elderly are very motivated to contribute with UGC, given the right circumstances. The results of the third study show that it is important for elderly people that they be able to use the new technologies easily and identifies their worries about using them.

Children's usage of media technologies and psychosocial factors

Media use has changed considerably during the past five years and earlier research has produced contradictory results on how media use links to childrens psychosocial factors. This study charts the access to and use of several media technologies among 825 Norwegian schoolchildren between 10 and 12 years of age. The questionnaire contained items concerning childrens self-concept, parental monitoring and social competence. It found that children engage with different kind of media activities and some of these are significantly related to psychosocial factors, however, these correlations were in general quite small. Entertainment usage was associated with low scholastic competence. Both utility usage and heavy advanced usage of new media were related to self-perceptions of athletic competence. Low social acceptance was linked to Gameboy usage and advanced usage of media. Finally, there was a relationship between experienced parental monitoring and utility usage of media technology. The possible implications for these empirical relations are discussed.

Enjoyment: lessons from Karasek

What makes some experiences enjoyable, and other experiences not? How can we understand enjoyment in human factors design; what components should we consider when we are designing for enjoyment? This chapter explores a theoretical model for understanding the components and nature of enjoyment, and how HCI (Human Computer Interaction) professionals can use the model to predict and evaluate enjoyment. The model is a modified version of Robert Karasek’s well-known demand-control-support model used in work and organisational psychology (Karsek and Theorell in Healthy work: stress, productivity, and the reconstruction of working life. Basic Books, New York, 1990).

Bridging and bonding in social network sites – investigating family-based capital

This study explores the relationship between three distinct dimensions of social capital (bridging, peer-bonding and family-bonding capital) in social network sites (SNSs). We ask what kinds of social relations are sought by SNS users and whether the usage of new SNSs contributes to family bonding. A representative sample of the Norwegian internet population shows that 25% use SNSs to communicate with family members once a week or more often, but peer bonding is significantly more frequent (53%). Further, male users are significantly less interested in future family contacts in SNSs than females. Both online bridging and family bonding differ significantly between age groups. Answers to an open-ended question demonstrate a wish to strengthen relationships with friends and acquaintances in SNSs. Contact with family is not reported as a main motivation for using SNSs (1%), while other social relations account for 74% of the motivations. However, the results of the study indicate that the majority of the respondents experience SNSs as a part of their daily communication routines, both to bridge new online contacts and to strengthen bonds with their existing offline ties.

Media User Types among Young Children and Social Displacement

Abstract There is a lack of research on the role that new media play in the life of young children under the age of 13 years. Hence, the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between distinct media user types and social displacement among children under the age of 13. A sample of 1,117 Norwegian schoolchildren from the age of 7 to 12 years responded to a questionnaire about their computer game-playing habits and their use of computers, the Internet, mobile phones and television. The results indicate four specific user types reflecting children’s various uses of new media: a) Advanced Users, b) Offline Gamers, c) Instrumental Users, and d) Low Users. Some indications of displacement were found between TV, reading and drawing and between new media usage and participation in organized sports activities. At the same time, clear indications support the “more is more” hypothesis, which predicts that active media users will be active children.

Medium preference and medium effects in person-person communication

How does users media preference vary with communication situation, and does media preference in a certain situation, and does media preference in a certain situation predict actual performance? Preference study shows that users choice of communication medium seems to follow a common pattern, relatively independent of the communication task at hand - Video being most preferred, text chat the least. Parallel effect studies of person-person communication show, however, that actual task outcome varies with the type of task performed.

User profiles for adapting speech support in the opera web browser to disabled users

In this paper we describe results from our work on adapting speech support in the Opera web browser to disabled users, through using available gross categories of equipment feature (screen presentation and program control) to categorize user and usage characteristics in user profiles. Allocation of users to equipment is based on characteristics of user and equipment, rather than on diagnostic categories. We have combined a number of approaches to investigate how users with different kinds of disabilities may benefit from speech support in the Opera web browser, and how the speech support may be adapted to enhance their utility of this support. After an introduction, we present the method used, the user profiles, and how different types of voice support may be adapted to different (combinations of) profiles. The latter includes both general requirements and suggestions for presentation formats and commands (voice or keyboard) for the profiles. The main conclusions from the work are that the voice support in the version of the Opera web browser that was used in the study is most suitable for people who have reading and writing disorders and that further development of voice support should focus on better adaptation for persons with motor disabilities. Most blind and visually impaired people in Norway already have access to specialized support, and do not need the voice support in Opera.

Children’s Electronic Gaming Content Preferences and Psychosocial Factors

Abstract The gaming industry has dramatically increased the range of choices for different game genres and content. Despite this, research on psychosocial factors in children and electronic gaming has primarily focused on time spent on games rather than on content preferences. The present study goes beyond the traditional focus on electronic game frequency by investigating whether children’s personal gaming content preferences are associated with psychosocial factors (self-concept, social competence and parental monitoring). This is accomplished by surveying 825 schoolchildren between ten and twelve years of age (5th, 6th and 7th grade) in Norway. A preference for violent games was moderately associated with low social acceptance among peers. Preference for pedagogical games was associated with high scholastic and athletic competence as well as perceived levels of parental monitoring. A preference for fantasy gaming was positively related to scholastic competence. Finally, preference for competitive games was strongly associated with experienced athletic competence.