* Mdnotes File Name: [[Brandtzæg2011]] * [[_Anotacions]] # Anotacions [[Brandtzæg2011]] "SNSs are said to represent an important mechanism for knowledge exchange and sharing (Shen and Khalifa, 2009)." ([Brandtzæg, P.B, Heim 2011:29](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/G8UALXM9?page=2)) "a new digital divide between actives and non-actives (Brandtzæg, 2010)." ([Brandtzæg, P.B, Heim 2011:29](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/G8UALXM9?page=2)) "In this paper, user types in SNSs are conceptualised by 1 their participation objective 2 level of participation" ([Brandtzæg, P.B, Heim 2011:31](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/G8UALXM9?page=4)) "The most influential theory in research on technology use and adoption that applies to a typology is Rogers' diffusion of innovations model (Rogers, 1962, 2003). This model explains the process by which innovations are adopted and offers the following categorisation of users, based on their rates of adoption of innovations over time: 1 innovators (around 2.5%) 2 early adopters (13.5%) 3 early majority (34%) 4 late majority (34%) 5 laggards (16%)." ([Brandtzæg, P.B, Heim 2011:31](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/G8UALXM9?page=4)) "Johnsson-Smaragdi (2001) identified four main user types among children in nine European countries: 1 low media users 2 traditional media users 3 specialists 4 screen entertainment fans." ([Brandtzæg, P.B, Heim 2011:31](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/G8UALXM9?page=4)) "One informal, but influential, study by Nielsen (2006) suggested a 90-9-1 rule, which refers to the unbalanced nature of participation in social media with UGC. An example of this rule is Wikipedia, where more than 99% of users do not contribute and only consume. Wikipedia has 68,000 active contributors, who make up 0.2% of the 32 million unique visitors to the site in the USA alone. A rough explanation of the 90-9-1 rule is as follows: 1 Lurkers (90%) read or observe, but do not contribute. Kollock and Smith (1996) described lurkers as free-riders, that is, non-contributing, resource-taking members. This is also referred to as the free-rider problem. 2 Intermittent contributors (9%) contribute from time to time, but other priorities dominate these contributors' time. 3 Heavy contributors (1%) are active users who account for most of the contributions and system activity." ([Brandtzæg, P.B, Heim 2011:32](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/G8UALXM9?page=5)) "Type 1: sporadics (19%) The 'sporadics' are so named because they visit the community only from time to time, but not a frequent basis. These users have a low level of participation and tend more toward an informational mode since they, for the most part, check their status and see if somebody has contacted them (see Table 2). Sporadic users give few reasons for visiting the SNS. They are spread equally over the four SNSs and age groups. There is no large gender difference (see Table 3). A typical sporadic user is exemplified in the qualitative material, using the open-ended questions. One typical user is August, a 16 year old. He has 17 people in his profile but has been in contact with only one other person during the past week. August joined the community to keep in touch with friends. He is not interested in contributing UGC. He puts it this way: "It is just not my thing to submit a bunch of videos, etc., on the net"." ([Brandtzæg, P.B, Heim 2011:41](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/G8UALXM9?page=14)) "Type 2: lurkers (27%) Lurkers make up the largest user category. They are named 'lurkers' since they are quite low in participation and participate in activities that are more related to recreation. These users are somewhat involved in several activities, but only passively or to a small degree. In addition to "see if somebody has tried to contact me", lurkers score high on "kill some time" (0.89) (see Table 2). In addition, lurkers are less likely to be contributors of UGC. lurkers are spread quite equally over all four communities (from 21% on Nettby.no to 31% on HamarUngdom.no) and consist of more females (58%) than males (42%). A typical 'lurker' identified in the qualitative analysis is June, a 16 year old from a small town. She has been a member of HamarUngdom.no for about three years but is starting to lose interest. She thinks that technology is important for entertainment but less so for keeping in touch with others. She has not socialised with anybody on the SNS this week. She has about 20 people in her profile. According to June, "It is always funny to watch a good video before the day starts". Further, she is not a contributor, but more of a 'free-rider', who consumes others' UGC." ([Brandtzæg, P.B, Heim 2011:41](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/G8UALXM9?page=14)) "Type 3: socialisers (25%) These SNS users are the next biggest user type and are labelled 'socialisers' since their behavior is characterised by recreational in terms of 'small talk' with others, but the users' participation level is high. They score high on 'write letters and or messages', 'contact others', and 'look for a new friend' (see Table 2). This pattern is typical of teenage girls (median age: 15 years; 69% of the sample), mainly on Biip.no (32%) and practically absent among the Underskog.no members (3%). A typical 'socialiser' in the qualitative data is Mary, a 14 year old who lives in a medium-sized town. She is an eager member of Biip.no and has been a member for almost a year. The internet is very important to her. She uses the community to keep in touch with friends, and she likes to make connections with new people. In the last week, she has been in touch with five people. She has about 30 contacts in her profile. Her response to the question, "What is your most important reason for using the SNS?" is, "It's interesting. I have something to do in my spare time (...). I have contact with friends, write in friends' guest books, comment on people's pictures, send SMS, and submit pictures of myself and things"." ([Brandtzæg, P.B, Heim 2011:41](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/G8UALXM9?page=14)) "Type 4: debaters (11%) Debaters are as high as socialisers in terms of participation level, characterised by being highly involved in discussions, reading, and writing contributions in general (see Table 2). In addition, this participation mode is related to a more informal practice as suggested in Figure 2. The debating pattern is unequally distributed among the communities: very frequent on Underskog.no and practically absent on Biip.no. The users are somewhat older than the medians of other user types, and there is practically no gender difference. A typical 'debater' is odd, a 42 year old who lives in Oslo. He has been a member of Underskog.no for more than a year. He is university educated and likes to discuss and express himself in writing. He depends on the internet for carrying out practical tasks and uses it mainly for instrumental reasons. He considers video contribution too time-consuming. He also regards his SNS as being more textand picture-related than video-focused. He uses the SNS to keep updated on cultural events and new publications, as well as for social contacts, explaining this as follows: "I get informed about events, publications, and Net experiences; at the same time I am making bonds and having discussions with other people"." ([Brandtzæg, P.B, Heim 2011:42](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/G8UALXM9?page=15)) "Type 5: actives (18%) 'Actives' are so labelled because these users are engaged in almost all kinds of participation activities within the community, which includes being a member to "publish and share pictures" (see Table 2). The majority in this group are young females, as shown in Table 3. This user type is distributed unequally among the SNSs, being most common on Nettby.no and HamarUngdom.no. A typical Active user is Lena, a 16 year old who lives in the countryside. She has been a member of the HamarUngdom.no community for more than three years and is still very active. During the week before she answered the questionnaire, she was in contact with 20 people, almost everybody in her profile. When she is logged on, she engages in many activities, usually related to events and publishing music or videos. She uses the SNS mainly for social contact and communicates primarily with friends in her profile. She contributes videos and summarises her activity in this way: "I wish I had my own video camera. So far, I am just uploading and sharing videos that others have made". Her willingness to be even more involved in UGC participation is high." ([Brandtzæg, P.B, Heim 2011:42](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/G8UALXM9?page=15)) "Migration of user types? Different modes and levels of participation might reflect different levels of skills and advancements in how users use SNSs. We might suggest that, over time, people develop more advanced communication skills or user type patterns in SNSs, as most people start out as sporadics when they are introduced to SNS, and in time progress to a higher level of usage, either as socialisers, debaters, or actives. For instance, the debater group is typically characterised by older users compared to the users among sporadics and socialisers. Future research should try to confirm such a migration and investigate how and in which directions these patterns develop over time." ([Brandtzæg, P.B, Heim 2011:47](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/G8UALXM9?page=20))