Informationsverarbeitung II Martin Geisler

[1] “Facebook,” The New York Times Website, 05.10.2011 <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/

news/business/companies/facebook_inc/index.html>.

Different Types of Users

In my opinion every Facebook users can be allocated to one of the three categories with only a few exceptions.  Those categories are:

• Self promoters
• Networkers
• communicators

Self-promoters

A self-promoter’s main concern is how they are perceived by an evaluated and carefully selected group of people. Their number of friends is considered to be moderate, ranging approximately between 400 to 600 people. Self-promoters maintain at least some sort of personal relationship with the people they add as a friend, meaning that at least one face to face interaction between the two individuals must have occurred prior to the friend request.

The user then adds the person as a friend on Facebook, enabling him/her to get access to the user’s profile. The Facebook profile, where the invited person has now access to, was constructed to make people perceive the profile owner in a way that he/she considers desirable by displaying his/her ideal self.

To establish the image of their ideal self, these profile owners use pictures that portray them in a very favorable way, post links of webpages that they feel somehow connected with, and comment on their own pictures to draw extra attention to them. Furthermore, self-promoters among all other Facebook users seem to be the most emotionally attached to their profile. They are also highly sensitive when it comes to comments. For self-promoters, it seems that every comment that is made on their profile has equal effect on them as any face to face interaction could.

Networkers

Networkers amid all Facebook users have the most people added as friends and are, what many Facebook users refer to as “friend-collectors”. Similar to self-promoters, this type of user is also concerned about how he or she is perceived by others. However, it is not his or her primary goal. Rather this type of user desires to meet the expectations of others, so the profile is set up in a way to attract a certain group of people, most often being employers.

Especially this group, they are very well aware of the fact that employers check the Facebook profile of potential employees, and use their profile as a job application tool.  This group’s major concern is to be known by as many people as possible to expand their level of popularity. They believe that it is more likely for them to get a good job if many people know about their existence and their attitudes. This type of user is usually a member of a variety of different groups and networks on Facebook who are all related to a specific business area. Although during the interviews there was a tendency that mostly career motivated people corresponded with the networkers’ profile, a networker does not necessarily have to be a job-seeker. In general, networkers tend to seek the approval of a desired group of people. More importantly, they want to be connected with people who share the same interests or beliefs whether they have some sort of history with them or not. Followers of rock bands or TV-series can also serve as a good example for networkers.

Communicators

Communicators tend to have a very close relationship to most of their Facebook friends. These types of users’ Facebook friends are usually the same people they are friends with in real life as Thao mentions in her interview: “Facebook for me is a social network where you can keep in touch with your friends and your family.”

Their primary goal is to stay connected with people they are close to whether it is a friend or a family member who lives far away. Communicators have the fewest friends on Facebook among the 3 types identified but usually maintain a close relationship to every single one of their Facebook friends. This type’s favorite application seems to be the instant messaging tool enabling them to chat via Facebook at all times. Communicators tend to spend the most time on Facebook having a simple conversation with another individual which can be a very time consuming thing. They do not pay a lot of attention as to how they are perceived by their friends as the people they are communicating with are already familiar with their profile, interests, personality, etc. due to intensive real life interaction with them. In a lot of cases, communicators tend to be less outgoing, making more important to them the maintenance of good relationships with their existing friend base rather than the making of new friendships. 

Facebooks complete integration

Facebook has become more than just a simple social networking website. Its popularity has grown immensely since its inception in 2004. The extent of its importance has become so significant that Facebook has been able to integrate itself into its users’ lives. Accordingly, there are many reasons why this is true, Facebook as a portal to create your own personal identity, and Facebook catering to different types of users. However, to me it it is clear that Facebook is truly existent on a scale that is much more than just a benign website that people visit once in a while. People are addicted to it. They just can’t get enough. However, this addiction also comes with the observable fact that most users are quick to deny their emotional and physical (i.e. use of it) involvement with Facebook.