I've decided to do a mini-study for my Final Project in this class. It will be a rather informal, exploratory study to examine how young voters used Web 2.0 technology (specifically Facebook) to talk politics and get political information in the 2008 Presidential Campaigns.
To begin, I'll do a literature review about young voters and Web 2.0. Then, I will create a questionnaire using both Likert Scale questions and a few open-ended questions. I will send this survey out to my Facebook network (appx. 1,400 people) and cross my fingers for a good response. Obviously, this sample won't be accurate -- but again, this is an exploratory study. Once I receive the results, I will compare the data and look for patterns.
I have a few predictions about the results:
1) Young voters who take in political information from other sources (i.e. TV, newspapers, Online Political Websites) are likely to talk politics and get information from Facebook.
2) Young voters who do not take in political information from other sources are unlikely to use Facebook to talk politics or obtain political information.
3) Young voters are likely to talk politics with those who share their views, rather than those who oppose them.
I haven't written up the questions yet -- so all of these hypothesis and predictions are still up in the air.
We shall see :)
Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments about this idea!
Thank you.
After heated discussion last week, I feel the need to justify my large number of Facebook friends!
As I said in my last post, my number of Facebook friends is largely due to positions I held at West Chester University of Pennsylvania: Orientation Leader, Resident Assistant, V.P. of Student Government, V.P. of my sorority, etc. My job as an Orientation Leader, R.A. and V.P. of SGA (all paid positions) required me to connect and maintain relationships with new students at WCU.
For example, as a Resident Assistant, I managed a floor of first year students. This job included everything from mentoring, enforcing policy, creating programs, counseling and just hanging out. Basically, I had to befriend my residents.
Facebook helped me do my job more effectively and efficiently.
By befriending them on Facebook, I could learn about their hobbies, majors, musical tastes, or how much they partied. This information allowed me to be a better, more informed R.A. Instead of leaving notes on a door that could fly off or be thrown away, a Facebook message was sure to get to them. As confirmed by the Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe article, most college students check their accounts at least once a day.
This same theme was repeated for my other positions at WCU. I needed to be available and connected to new students, and Facebook kept that connection open and available all the time – at the new student’s convenience.
While I was there for them during college, they may be there for me someday.
There are good things and bad things about having a large number of Facebook friends. The bad include privacy issues, depending on how much information you share. In my opinion, there are more perks than drawbacks. To me, these new students are “bridging” social capital -- according to Ellision, Steinfield and Lampe (and Putnam).
“[Bridging social capital] is believed to be better-suited for linking to external assets and for information diffusion” (Pg 1152).
Basically, these “weak-tie” relationships can be beneficial in the long run, whether with a job offer or other important connection. For example, I plan on doing a mini-research project for this class, and my amount of Facebook friends will afford me a greater audience in this exploratory survey study.
So, take that all you Facebook haters :0)
