Module II: Response to Article II

Article II: "MySpace and Facebook: Applying the Uses and Gratifications Theory to Exploring Friend-Networking Sites --By: John Raacke and Jennifer Bonds-Raacke


The authors of the article ""MySpace and Facebook: Applying the Uses and Gratifications Theory to Exploring Friend-Networking Sites" conduct an experiment to evaluate "(a) why people use these friend-networking sites, (b) what the characteristics are of the typical college user, and (c) what uses and gratifications are met by using these sites" (Raccke 169). The participants of the experiment are 116 college students. They were given a questionnaire packet that has two parts: Part I is for those who answered "yes" to having an account on MySpace or Facebook, and Part II is for those who answered "no" to having an account. Of those surveyed, eighty-seven percent had an account and 12.9 percent did not have an account on either social-network.
Each part is then divided into four sections. Those who answered “yes” were asked further questions such as why they have the account, how many times a day do they go on the account, etc. Results showed that ninety-six percent of users have a MySpace or Facebook account “to keep in touch with old friends.” Results also indicated that users who had an account spend an average “1.46 hours on their accounts and 1.10 hours on others’ accounts” (Raccke 171). They were also asked what are the reasons for those who do not have an account. 70.3 percent said they do not have a desire to have an account, and 60.4 percent said they probably think it is a waste of time.
Those who did not have accounts were asked similar questions. 73.3 percent do not have an account because they do not have the desire to have one. They were also asked what are the reasons for those who have an account. Results show that 93.3 percent think users have an account to keep in touch with friends and meet new people.
The authors conducted this research to show evidence for the drive of technology in today’s society. Communicating through social networks seems to be the way of keeping in touch with friends. Results of the experiment clearly show that those who do use these social networks are primarily from the younger age group rather than the older crowd.
I personally have a Facebook profile to keep in touch with my friends and family from oversees. However, I log on to Facebook once or twice a week, and spend about an hour each time I log on. I do not completely depend on this social network to communicate with people –that is why the phone is invented!
Yes our society has become dependent on technology, and yes the youth are more likely to have accounts on such social networks, but we cannot be blamed for being hooked on to these websites because they were created for us and therefore will be utilized. In addition, the creators of these websites essentially make a profit from this business. If you notice, the right side of Facebook contains advertisements, just like google. The creators of Facebook are simply making money from this business and they will clearly make it interesting and attractive for the college students.