Sociology Study of Social Network Demographics and Preference Patterns

[Experiment Garden]

This is a more detailed description of the sociology study that I mentioned in my introductory forum thread.

Basically I am enrolled in an undergraduate sociology course that I am taking as part of a two year degree in web development. I'm fortunate to have an amazing sociology professor and part of the course involves giving each student the chance to complete a small scale independent sociology study.

For my study I have chosen to investigate social networks and their demographics and preference patterns. The study was originally motivated by Danah Boyd's controversial talk about how she feels that MySpace and Facebook are becoming separated along socioeconomic lines such that MySpace is becoming a digital ghetto whereas Facebook is becoming a "digital country club" of sorts:

"The Not-So-Hidden Politics of Class Online"

The focus of my study has two basic goals:

1) See if I can find solid data on the demographics of each network.
2) Use surveys to find out why most people prefer one network over the other.
3) Use surveys to find out whether most people think that such a Facebook/MySpace division is a perception, a real issue, or something that isn't even the case.

So far my data and techniques for each goal are:

1) Use site measurement websites such as Quantcast, Compete.com, etc to find demographics for MySpace and Facebook. I will average the measurements together to find an "average guess" about the demographics of each network.

2 & 3). I have created an online survey ( Social Network Survey - MySpace vs Facebook ). The survey uses a series of "agreement" questions to find out to what extent participants agree with such statements as: "I prefer X social network over Y social network because X has better features" or "I prefer X social network over Y social network because X is cool" and "I prefer X social network over Y social network because members of Y aren't like me".

By comparing the degree of agreement with these statements I can hopefully tell if people like a particular social network just because it is trendy, or because of its features, or because of its members.

The survey also includes the opinion question to find out if they think such online stratification of social networks is just a perception.

If you have any advice, suggestions, or feedback on my study please let me know. I'm always interested in extra input.

[freeztar]

I took the survey, but found the questions a bit lacking. It might be good to ask participants why they gravitated towards one or the other in the first place.

The last question threw me off. There was no good answer and the question's answers implied some bias, which invalidates any answer, imho.

What if I have little to no experience with MySpace? How can I say if it is a "digital ghetto" or not? Furthermore, the implication that race is involved is interesting. Where did you get this notion?

[Experiment Garden]

The last question threw me off. There was no good answer and the question's answers implied some bias, which invalidates any answer, imho.

What if I have little to no experience with MySpace? How can I say if it is a "digital ghetto" or not? Furthermore, the implication that race is involved is interesting. Where did you get this notion?

Hmm, I tried to provide an option to say that they don't agree at all, that they think it is a perception, or that they agree. What do you think a good answer would be?

For reference the question:

The purpose of this study is to determine if MySpace and Facebook are becoming divided along socioeconomic boundaries, in other words MySpace is becoming a digital ghetto while Facebook is becoming the social network for the rich and highly educated. Please choose the answer that best expresses your opinion on this subject.

A) I feel that this is true. MySpace is becoming a digital ghetto.

B) I understand why someone might think that MySpace is becoming a digital ghetto but I think that it is just a perception. There are just as many minorities on Facebook as there are on MySpace.

C) I don’t think that MySpace is becoming a digital ghetto and what is more I see no reason why anyone would think that.

What would be your ideal answer to the question.

I don't really know if the "notion" is correct. As I said earlier I am investigating work done by Danah Boyd suggesting that MySpace and Facebook are becoming divided along socioeconomic boundaries.

Interestingly what I've seen so far from demographics measurement websites such as Quancast would back that up. I'm interested, however, in what different people think about this issue, whether they think it is legitimate, just a perception, or completely off the wall.

Personally I think it is a perception, and I hope that my research backs that up, but so far it has hinted toward it being real.