Suhtlusportaalide kasutajaeelistuste muutumine Orkuti ja Facebooki näitel
Date
2010
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Description
Changes in the User Preferences. The Case of Social Networking Sites Orkut and
Facebook.
This bachelor’s thesis focused on analyzing individuals’ reasons for becoming users
of social networking sites (SNS-s) and motives that influenced them to give up the
active use of the SNS Orkut in favour of Facebook. Research data was gathered by
interviewing 12 young Estonians aged 20-22. The information gained from these
interviews enabled to draw quite solid conclusions applying to the given research
sample.
Firstly, it became clear that similarly to previous research, mainly friends who
already had created themselves profiles on a SNS and with whom the interviewees
wished to communicate and thereby preserve social connections, were the most
important sources of motivation for becoming users of a SNS. This can also be
explained by the fact that through various activities on SNS-s users get an opportunity
to satisfy their need to belong while gaining social acceptance. Estimably, the time
spent browsing social networks online can be measured in hours per week which,
considering modern conditions and the characteristics of SNS-s, is quite anticipated.
The time dedicated to activities on SNS-s varies among respondents for the reason
that these online environments provide a number of activities to engage in and not
everyone’s user practices are alike. However, most of the activities of young people
who participated in this study are connected with Facebook’s News Feed.
Two main aspects were observed while analyzing interviewees’ reasons for
giving up the active use of Orkut in favour of Facebook. One of these focused on the
respondents’ motives for creating user accounts in Facebook and the other looked at
reasons why they retained this membership. The main influences that drove the
interviewees towards becoming Facebook users, again, came from friends who had
already registered user accounts in the SNS. Contacts from abroad play an important
role here for they were the significant others with whom many respondents wished to
preserve connections but had no alternatives to Facebook for fulfilling that wish.
There were many reasons why interviewees started to prefer Facebook to
Orkut, among which the highest importance lies on the fact that they simply outgrew
the latter. Facebook turned out to be more credible and reliable as a SNS, reflecting
life outside the online environment more accurately and providing users with new and
diverse information quickly thanks to its user interface. In addition, there were no
motives for continuing the active use of Orkut because Facebook met users’
expectations on a higher level and, at the same time, all of the important connections
were there.
The author proposed that one area of future research on processes connected
with SNS-s should be about internet marketing. Considering the fact that Facebook
offers excellent conditions for advertising products or services and promoting events
and causes and noting that by the completion of the thesis about a sixth of Estonians
had user profiles on Facebook, its potential as a marketing environment should be
looked into in depth and the knowledge gained used for the good of society, e.g. to
attract more citizens to participate in public discussions. Also, since Facebook is the
environment with the largest amount of Estonians and Estonian organisations ever
recorded as users of a SNS, further research is needed to map and understand the
online practices of these newly emerged Facebook users.
Keywords
bakalaureusetööd, infoühiskond, internet, sotsiaalsed suhted, võrgusuhtlus, sotsiaalsed võrgustikud, Eesti