Facebook Studies

2021: Volume 12, Issue 1 - Table of Contents

 

The Cultural Uses of Facebook (Dowload PDF )

Jonathan Lillie
Department of Communications, Loyola University Maryland

Introduction

Despite predictions of the demise or downfall of Facebook, as well as stats showing that young adults do not use it very often, its use among older adults the world over makes it one of the largest and most influential media companies and platforms. The platform's content ecosystem is too poisoned for human or machine moderators to cleanse, one recent article argues. Users are fleeing in droves, especially in the company's most valuable markets. Ad buyers are already shifting dollars to competitors' platforms (3D Research, 2021). The article looks at the company through a business lens, lamenting that Facebook's global social media market share dropped from 75 percent to 65 percent in 2018 and noting that it faces a litany of challenges from government regulations in China to privacy laws in Europe and fielding thousands of low paid works to scan for inappropriate posts as chronicled in the documentary, The Cleaners. But from a media studies perspective, all of these problems for the Facebook company underscore the fact that a large share of the global adult population uses Facebook. Current 2021 estimates of 2.85 billion active monthly users mark Facebook as by far the most popular social media platform or single media distribution platform of any kind (see Figure 1, Statista.com). Given its popularity and reach it is not surprising that in the last decade dozens of scholarly books and articles have been written about how people use Facebook in their daily lives.

Figure 1. Number of monthly active Facebook users worldwide as of 1st quarter 2021.

This article offers a general map and description of Facebook Studies, in an attempt to shed light on the variety of ways that people's uses of Facebook have been studied. Although I cannot hope to report all of the scholarship on the wide variety of ways that people all over the planet are using Facebook in their daily lives to access, engage with, and create their culture, this article aspires to sample at least some of variety and types of studies out there. The cultural uses, approach is a sub-discipline of the broad media studies field that developed as an extension or articulation of reception-focused research, which for better or worse is often called reception studies. The core idea behind reception studies is that there are a wide range of uses of any media technology or platform, many of which researchers are likely unaware of, and it is important to explore what these range of uses are and how they came to be.

This special issue of NMEDIAC is the first of its kind to assemble different research approaches looking at how and why people use Facebook. As an introduction and companion to the full research articles published in this special issue, I offer here a general overview of the range of research addressing Facebook users. This overview is not comprehensive, and I apologize for failing to mention many valuable studies that are published but that I did not find or could not fit in this review. As a limiting factor, I decided to only look for and discuss studies that are entirely or mostly focusing on Facebook uses. In particular, I was interested in discovering studies looking at what we could call the cultural uses of Facebook, and therefore before I get to my review of the Facebook-focused research, I first define what I mean by the cultural uses of Facebook.

The cultural uses approach

The cultural uses approach or sub-discipline of media studies developed as an extension or articulation of reception studies, which itself is related to the slightly older field of uses and gratifications. Some authors group these fields together and refer to them as audience studies. The core idea behind audience studies and its various branches is that there are a wide range of uses of any media technology or platform, many of which researchers are likely unaware of, and it is important to explore what these range of uses are and how they came to be. Furthermore, when engaged in such research you need to understand these uses within the social and cultural contents in which they are taking place. For example, such research studies often explore uses unique to a certain sub-cultural or national groups. The uses and gratifications branch of audience studies emerged largely in North American universities in the second half of the 19th century . The 1940s through 60s were dominated, particularly in the United States, by research attempting to prove theories of direct of limited effects of media consumption (e.g., does watching a lot of television make children more violent?). But these theories were not supported by experimental results. Thus, starting in the 1970s uses and gratifications research, sought to replace the perception of the audience member as a passive receiver of media content, thought to be the implication of effects studies, with one of a person who can actively interpret media content to his or her own purposes and cultural viewpoints.

Reception studies focuses less on the different gratifications media consumers get from different types of media and more on the culturally charged readings/understandings that individuals and groups can have for various media messages, typically referred to in the humanities literature as texts. Whereas use and gratifications emerged mostly in the North American empirical tradition and sought to observe the different ways individuals and groups use different types of media content, reception studies is a child of the cultural studies field emerging in the 1980s and 90s from the UK’s Birmingham School and its notable scholars like Stuart Hall. David Morley's Television, Audiences, and Cultural Studies (1992) is a prime example of the receptions-studies approach that blends critical theory to explore how class, race, and gender positions in society shape how people receive and make meaning of the media texts that make up their daily lives and worldviews. As in Morley's study of how television helped shape people's lives in England in the 1980s, reception studies research typically blends empirical observation of how, where, and why people use media with critical theory’s explanation of how ideologies are spread through media apparatuses. As reception scholar Sonia Livingston (2001) explains, cultural studies has urged critical theorist to move beyond their own close reading of the ideologies behind mainstream media messages to look at how social structures and people’s experiences shape their media meaning-making:

The key findings of audience reception analysis include the marked and often unanticipated differences between lay and academic interpretations of media texts. The point is not that audiences are wrong but that they construct their interpretations according to diverse discursive contexts which are themselves socially determined. While not without problems, reception research challenges notions of a homogeneous, passive audience and asserts that media theory cannot investigate media texts and production contexts while presuming that audiences are predictable from those texts/contexts. Audiences act on media texts to make them meaningful in particular ways, thereby playing a role in the mediation of media influence. Yet audiences, acting in private, remain elusive.

What types of studies could we thus say could be included in this somewhat broad definition of The Cultural Uses of Facebook? First of all we might reasonably decide to immediately exclude studies of Facebook as a company, or a media business, or those focusing on its technologies. I found articles on many such topics in my literature search. However it might be foolish to automatically discount everything in those areas since the decisions made by the company and the technological designs directly impact how people use these media services. Facebook constantly revises its services and users unconsciously and consciously change how and why they use the services based on these design changes. However in step with the orientation of the audience studies fields of scholarship, the typology of research offered below focuses on studies of Facebook users.

Figure 2. Routledge books dealing with Facebook.

A Partial Topology of Facebook Studies

Based on a wide-ranging literature review this section offers a partial topology of the types of research approaches to the different ways people all over the planet use Facebook. My review cannot hope to be complete, but rather aims to describe and sample the variety of approaches researchers have taken up to 2021. Figure 2 (above) shows a screenshot in late 2020 of Routledge's books that deal significantly with Facebook. To date the kind of treatment Facebook is getting in book offerings of academic presses do not stray into reception studies or really look at the diversity of uses at all. Facebook & Politics/Democracy and Facebook and Identity and Social Media Addiction are currently the three main subject areas. Those areas, as well as topics associated with advertising/marketing and education, take up the bulk of book titles.

During my literature search, I was unable to find any book addressing the cultural uses of Facebook as the main theme. Reviewing the various studies that fit at least partially fit the definition of cultural uses this typology offers five generally groupings, though certainly there are other groups that could be identified or have been left out. The five groups outlined below are:

  • Facebook's Influence on Behaviors and Attitudes
  • Facebook and Surveillance
  • Facebook for Civic/Community Engagement
  • Facebook for Cultural Maintenance and Cultural Exchange
  • Cultural/National Differences in Facebook Use
  • Facebook's Influence on Behaviors and Attitudes

    Jose Marichal's 2016 book, Facebook Democracy (Open Access): The Architecture of Disclosure and the Threat to Public Life published by Routledge seems to be one of the first attempts to take on the political implications of peoples use of Facebook to access news and engage in political discourse. The book’s sociological approach to explaining and understanding how a communication technology like Facebook directs how an individual connects with aspects of his or her society is prototypical of a number of studies found in journal articles. An example of this type of work is, Happiness, Life Satisfaction, and Comparing Oneself to Others on Facebook, by Lee Farquhar (2019). He cites a variety of Facebook-focused studies in both the behavioral and sociological literature coming out in the last decade (see for example Davidson and Farquhar, 2014; Ellison, Steinfield, Lampe, 2007; Steinfield, Ellison, Lampe, 2008; Valenzuela, Park, and Kee, 2009). Indeed, the behavioral uses of Facebook are far ranging as would be expected on a platform used by so many people all over the world. Scholarly studies have looks a diverse range of behaviors such as offering opinions about local restaurants (Bitter and Grabner-Kräuter, 2016), obtaining or discussing illegal drugs (Demant, et al., 2019), and small businesses engaging clients through social media (Bitter and Grabner-Kräuter, 2016), just to name a few topics.

    A more focused field of scholarship has developed to research how Facebook use impacts users attitude about various social issues. For example, in this Facebook Studies issue of NMEDIAC Farquhar and Davidson look at The Influence of Social Media on Attitudes toward those with COVID-19, in an example of how public opinion research approaches social media use and, in general, social media's impact on shaping people's attitudes. Though not fitting in a category of cultural uses research in the vein of reception studies, these types of studies fall under the general umbrella of social science research of Facebook, with their focus on the impacts of social media and providing examples of how people use social media to express opinions and cultivate attitudes. Similar to uses and gratifications research, Farquhar and Davidson apply cultivation theory to their survey results to conclude that, Facebook and other social media platforms impact how users view the world around them. They note that previous research has been varied, suggesting that lurking on Facebook can lead to feelings of envy Krasnova, et al. (2013) or that users with lots of Facebook friends can show high narcissism levels (Ryan and Xenos, 2011; Shwartz, 2010), while other studies have showed that a large number of Facebook friends and social networks can correlate to higher levels of life satisfaction or perceived social support (Manago, Taylor, and Greenfield, 2012). See also Malik et al. (2015) Uses and Gratifications of digital photo sharing on Facebook on more media use behavioral phenomenon.

    Facebook and Surveillance

    Much has been written lately on how Facebook collects data on its users and how states and private companies use that data. Taking a different approach in this issue of NMEDIAC, Jason Lee, looks at how individuals and groups are using Facebook in multiple way to surveille other people. Specifically, he analyzes self-proclaimed anti-pedophile groups who claim to use Facebook and other social media apps to identify and lure in potential pedophiles. Lee applies cultural theory to analyze what such surveillance tells about our digitized lives. While Lee focuses on negative aspects of groups spying on Facebook users, other researchers have noted that social media platforms can be used to monitor many different types of behaviors that users post about. See for example Pham et al.'s study (2019) which illustrates how the authors monitored the turtle trade Vietnam by following Facebook accounts, pages, and groups.

    Facebook for Cultural Maintenance and Cultural Exchange

    Several articles describe how Facebook is being used by cultural groups to maintain cultural and social ties and to help people understand other cultures better. Bray and Iswanti (2013) look at how Facebook groups can be used to foster intercultural exchange between members of different cultural groups. They note that popular social media platforms are the latest communication technology that people can use to learn more about other cultures, however this is perhaps most likely to happen in groups intentionally set up for this purpose, since other studies have suggested that Facebook users tend to select friends from their same demographic and ideological dispositions. In a similar vein, Abrahim et al. (2018) argues for the use of Facebook services, including standard accounts, Groups, and Messenger, for language acquisition. But their study also suggests that such uses are most likely to happen when users join groups and follow pages using the language they want to learn.

    Looking at how diasporic cultural groups use Facebook for cultural maintenance Mohammed (2012) observes that, Caribbean Facebook groups focus on nationalistic elements of social capital and the use of the groups as sites for bridging social distance by sharing information while engaging in nostalgia and imagined community formation. In this special 2021 issue of NMEDIAC, Mohammed looks specifically how Facebook accounts and groups associated with Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago played roles in combating Covid-19 conspiracy theories and misinformation by disseminating verified factual information.

    References

    3D Research (2021). The fall of Facebook has only begun. Medium.com. https://medium.com/@13DResearch/the-fall-of-facebook-has-only-begun-9d73a45adc8

    Abrahim, S., Mir, B. and Sato, M. (2017). Exploring Academic Use of Online Social Networking Sites (SNS) for Language Learning: Japanese Students Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Facebook. Journal of Information Technology & Software Engineering. 08.

    Bitter, S. and Grabner-Kräuter, S. (2016). Consequences of customer engagement behavior: when negative Facebook posts have positive effects. Electron Markets 26, 219-231 (2016).

    Bray, E. and Septina, I. (2013). Japan-Indonesia Intercultural Exchange in a Facebook Group. 37.

    Davidson T and Farquhar LK (2014). Correlates of Social Anxiety, Religion, and Facebook. Journal of Media and Religion, 13(4), 208-225.

    Demant, J., Bakken, S.A., Oksanen, A. and Gunnlaugsson, H. (2019), Drug dealing on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram: A qualitative analysis of novel drug markets in the Nordic countries. Drug Alcohol Rev., 38: 377-385. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.12932

    Ellison, NB, Steinfield, C. and Lampe, C. (2007.) The benefits of Facebook friends: Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143-1168.

    Elphinston, R.A. and Noller, P. (2011). Time to face it! Facebook intrusion and the implications for romantic jealousy and relationship satisfaction. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(11), 631-635.

    Farquhar, L. (2013). Performing and interpreting identity through Facebook imagery. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 19(4), 446-471.

    Kim, J. and Lee, JER. (2011). The Facebook paths to happiness: Effects of the number of Facebook friends and self-presentation on subjective well-being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(6), 359-364.

    LaRose, R., Wohn, DY, Ellison, N. and Steinfield, C. (2011). Facebook fiends: Compulsive social networking and adjustment to college. Proceedings of the international association for the development of the information society.

    Livingstone, S., Allen, J., and Reiner, R. (2001) Audiences for crime media 1946-91: A historical approach to reception studies, The Communication Review, 4:2, 165-192.

    Lou, LL, Yan, Z, Nickerson, A. and McMorris, R. (2012). An examination of the reciprocal relationship of loneliness and Facebook use among first-year college students. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 46(1), 105-117.

    Malik, A., Dhir, A., and Nieminen, M. (2015). Uses and Gratifications of digital photo sharing on Facebook. Telematics and Informatics. Volume 33, Issue 1.

    Marichal, J. (2016). Facebook Democracy (Open Access): The Architecture of Disclosure and the Threat to Public Life. London: Routledge.

    Mohammed, N. (2012). Home on FB: National Identity on Caribbean Facebook Groups. NMEDIAC: The Journal of New Media & Culture, 8(1).

    Pham Van T., Quang Luu V.,Vu Tien P.;, Leprince, Benjamin; Linh Tran K.(2019). Longitudinal monitoring of turtle trade through Facebook in Vietnam. Luca Herpetological Journal. Vol. 29 Issue 1, p48-56. 9p.

    Park, N., Kee, K. and Valenzuela, S. (2009). Being Immersed in Social Networking Environment: Facebook Groups, Uses and Gratifications, and Social Outcomes CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12:6, 729-733

    Ryan, T. and Xenos. S. (2011). Who uses Facebook? An investigation into the relationship between the Big Five, shyness, narcissism, loneliness, and Facebook usage. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(5), 1658-1664.

    Schwartz, M. (2010) The usage of Facebook as it relates to narcissism, self-esteem and loneliness. Retrieved March17, 2015 from http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/dissertations/AAI3415681/

    Ryan, T., Chester, A., Reece, J., and Xenos, S. (2014). The Uses and Abuses of Facebook: A review of Facebook addiction. Journal of behavioral addictions, 3(3), 133-148.


    Jonathan Lillie, PhD, is an associate professor of communication at Loyola University Maryland. He was a Park Doctoral Fellow in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he earned his PhD. His interests include the cultural uses of media technologies, new media narratives in popular culture, and new media discourses in history.

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