Qaiku | #someme | Lisbeth Klastrup: Users are Useless – Some Reflections by a Social Media Researcher

She is from the IT University of Copenhagen, Digital culture and mobile communication group

troppone commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Research in social media is still about asking the right questions, not about the perfect methodology

troppone commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Doing research in social media is not only about choosing right methods but being able to ask the right kind of questions and how to think about users.

priio commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

It's more about asking the right questions than about right methods

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

The concept of user is changing.

priio commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Users are not useless, but the concept of "users" no longer makes sense in the context of social media

troppone commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

The concept on "user" is a problem. And probably directs the questions being asked.

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

This presentation will be about the concept of user - nice - exactly what I was hoping for in the previous thread.

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

concept "of going native" in ethnography

juhak commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Lisbeth has been blogging since 2001 - thats a long time. We have an early adopter here :-D

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

you can't be a social media researcher without using social media

juhak commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

You have to use social media regularly to be able to research it.

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

It doesn't make sense to be social media researcher without using social media.

priio commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

So, every social media researcher should use social media as part of they everyday practice (to go native). And they do, don't they?

aharju commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

@aharju and still have time to do research besides ;)

priio commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Audience research: couch potato vs. active fan
Elisabeth Bird (2003)

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Social media research is biased towards active users and activity?

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

@pe3 But are the active users presenting the future?

jahapaula commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

The Danish Election online 2007 research: users used social media extremely little... Is social media just a big bubble?

priio commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

In Danish 2007 elections, not much activity was in social media or online - surprisingly little...

troppone commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

only 3% of the tracked participants participated in social media discussions about danish elections 2007

juhak commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

@jahapaula: probably that's the assumption...

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Cannot open Lisbeth's Powerpoint slides on the seminar page...

Satumaa commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

...and the most commented blogs were not even interesting...

troppone commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

People were more interested in the "high heels" post than democratic discussion.

priio commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Maybe passive users are also more challenging methodogically. They are not as visible and reachable.

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Hey you all, I created a seminar reference list in Somus Etherpad where we can list the readings: http://somus.etherpad.vtt.fi/166

aharju commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

@aharju: great idea - very usefull

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

@Satumaa: same problem for me. I will inform our multitasking (shooting video at the same time) tech person :-)

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Blogs are not dead in Denmark.

priio commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

The activity distribution of Wikipedia users has been researched lately.

I remember media catching on this. It also has political implications. Is it a small inner circle of people holding the power...

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Forrester sociotechnograpichs: Creators, Critics, Collectors, Joiners, Spectators, Inactives

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

any direct questions for lisbeth?

juhak commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Activity span: from click users to code-users.

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

There is no general "participation" on social media - but different types of participation

priio commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Lisbet calling for "research imagination", esp. near Wikipedia - code-users part of here scale

troppone commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Lisbeth Klastrup:
* Ethnographic research method: Going native - you can't research without being out there...
* Pay & give attention to the whole wide diversity of users - Danish Election 2007 online research project: >90% of users only visited sites, being passive
--> The most comments we received by the most popular politicians - e.g. four blog posts / thousands of comments; usual topics were like sleeping, being tired -> we want you to win etc.
-> seems that currently social media is not a way for a newbie, unknown politician to become popular

ConnectIrmeli commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

There is hardly any research done related to passive social media users.

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Need for studying the lurkers.

aharju commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Lurker, blurker, slurker...funny terminology :)

(blurker = blog lurker, slurker = SoMe lurker)

=> how to engage with these people?

troppone commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

@troppone i think her call is the opposite: for more research on the "click-users" and "slurkers"

juhak commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

What is actually the goal of studying the slurkers (or passive users)? What are the things that we are interested in them and their usage?

priio commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

@juhak oops, thanks... :)

troppone commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

a method of qualitatively interviewing elderly women in context and observing their use of facebook in situ

juhak commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

@priio - maybe because they're the majority of "us"?

aharju commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

I think the need to investigate passive users also depends on which research questions are researched.

But in any situation having atleast numbers about the ratio of passive/active users seems important.

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

It's interesting that you need to observe users also in real life in order to understand, how they use social media. You cannot just rely on what you see in people's profiles.

priio commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Really: no studies about passive social media users - and they are so many if not majority.

jal commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Master's Thesis research on elderly Danish women's use of Facebook -> calls them "whisperers" - they are extremely active through mail function; not sharing anything publicly

ConnectIrmeli commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

"the loud ones" (younger generation, generally speaking) think more visually and want to see images as "status updates"

troppone commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Another challenge: especially younger users may be "image communicators" instead of "text communicators".

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Another possibility for user representation bias :-D

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

There was a problem with the slides. They should work now. Sorry.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1714470/somem... http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1714470/someme/klastrup-so...

bobotus commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Great work by @aharju: #someme literacy list. We are a team!

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Well, this example of classical radio station protest shows once again the 1-9-90 -rule. ~2% of members post in this case. What would you expect?

troppone commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Wondering, what kind of democracy does belonging to a group represent? Only 2,3% of group users (in a case study) posted to the group. It is still a statement to belong to the group.

priio commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

The activity of net based groups can also change temporarily - A LOT.

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Hmm, this RIP group case is interesting - quick and also 8% post.

troppone commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

@pe3 thanks - my laptop is just having a difficult time in connecting - or keeping the connection - so please keep on updating the literature list ;)

aharju commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Facebook group studies: there are a lot of numbers and percentages available, but what about the people? Why did they post? What does it mean for them to belong to a group? How did the existence of the group and others' activity affect them?

priio commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

news coverage and wall posts had clear correlation/connection

troppone commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

OK, the answers are coming now. :)

priio commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Yeah @priio I agree that these are the interesting questions...I think we're getting to them ;)

troppone commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

@priio But how big a statement and what does it actually mean, how fast people forget clicking like of joining a group? Wasn't there this diminutive term "facebook democracy" :)

jahapaula commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

You have to look at what is happening in traditional media. Traditional median drives interest and activity.

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

"Researchers have a tendency to look at social media as an isolated area": good point, I'd say there's still a great significance within old media doing agenda setting and bringing up issues.

jahapaula commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Users may be active in a different way than we can imagine?

How about that!

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

A sidenote, in the train this morning I listened to a podcast by BBC from New Orleans. It was about the oil leak and how young people feel about it - and they said that the FB is really an important tool especially for two reasons: to show emotions (empathy for the local people among others) and to find out how to act on behalf of the nature and the local people effected by the oil.

aharju commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

That was http://twitter.com/klast

pe3 commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

Still surprised at the finding 25% of Wikipedia users are also creating content? And 9% are active creators. Could a structured & information oriented media possibly become more democratic / representative?

matildasmeds commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

About the Wikipedia survey, the astonishingly high percentage of contributors is counted from the population of "active-users", not from the "general audience". In the latter case, the percentage would probably be significantly smaller. The authors themselves wrote to their preliminary results : "Since it is impossible to quantify the universe of people using Wikipedia and how many of them are contributors it will be hard to evaluate whether the shares we found in our survey are representative."

aunant commented on posted to #someme 31.08.2010 (en)

#someme

pe3 said

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