Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

5-2012

School/College

School of Communication (SOC)

Degree Name

MA in Communication

First Advisor

Professor Eui Bun Lee

Abstract

The creation of social networking sites since 2004 has changed how we interact with other people. The central social networking site of all sites, Facebook, was established in 2004. In the beginning of its development, Facebook was only offer to college students; however Facebook experienced an innovative shift which repositioned the company to attract social networking users of an old and young age group. Recent studies imply that adolescents are the focal audience of social networks and their active participation on the networking sites have increased the popularity of social media sites. Because of booming websites such as Facebook, Oovoo, and Twitter, millions of users have increased their interaction with the Internet. Many adolescent users of social networking sites have found gratification in using social networks and this satisfaction has resulted in a motion of new behaviors. Young users are able to be themselves and be entertained with a sense of privacy 1 2 from others on these sites and they feel that they have more control of the site and how they function on it. With these reasons, social networking sites are very successful. This research accumulated very interesting findings regarding the uses and gratification of social networking sites among adolescents. In this study the highlights of the findings are that 69 percent of adolescent have a Facebook account and 39 percent of adolescent users have an Oovoo account. It is apparent that adolescents visit with many other social networking sites and 44 percent of survey participants expressed that they actively use social networking sites every day. Additionally among these participants, 70 percent of the respondents interact with social networking sites at home; while interacting at home, 48 percent of the adolescents stated that they use a mobile device to interact, while 44 percent stated that they use a computer desktop. Appealing behaviors were discovered within this study. For example, as the adolescent's age increase, the social networking site interaction increases. Overall, adolescents frequently declared that their reason for using social networking sites is to socialize with their friends and for entertainment. Future research should further explore Facebook use and its relation to academic performance. The effects of Facebook use on privacy, risky behaviors, and cyberbullying should be examined also.

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