Facebook and Social Networking

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Facebook is rapidly attracting multitudes of visitors every month instigating a shift in communication. This change consequently presents that societies are choosing to become part of the popular Facebook culture for various reasons, such as its renowned opportunities for keeping in touch with current social circles, reunifying long lost family and friends and broadening prospects of finding new companions. Facebook removes some of the barriers that may limit our regularity of communication with people, upholding the geographic differences, social class, busy lifestyles and economic factors that may usually discourage us from regular contact. (Cooke 2011, pp. ix-4)

Facebook allows users to express their personality by the creation of a profile based on their life experiences, beliefs and attributes. These can be conveyed by posting status updates, uploading photographs and creating your own personal description. (Collier,2010, pp. 61-64). To determine the factors of usage within a Facebook account a study was conducted among 1324 Australia internet users between the ages of 18- 44. The results showed that extraverted and introverted personalities are drawn to different aspects of the social networking site. Extraverted individuals tend to have more Facebook friends therefore presenting that they were more inclined to use the chat function on Facebook. However on the other hand individuals who experience neuroticism are more likely to use the Facebook wall for contact as this gives them a longer period of time to plan and express their response. The study also justifies that introverts tend to spend more time on Facebook then socially interactive individuals, instigating that Facebook consequently provides introverts with a mor...

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Collier, M 2010, Facebook & Twitter For Seniors For Dummies, Wiley Publishing, Canada.

Ellison, N, Steinfield, C, & Lampe, C 2007, 'The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:” Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites', Journal Of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol 12, no 4, pp. 1143-1168, Communication & Mass Media Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 2 February 2012.

Chung, J, Park, N, Wang, H, Faulk, J & Mclaughlin, M 2010, "Age differences in perceptions of online community participation among non – users: An extension of the Technology Acceptance Model", Computers in Human Behavior archive, Volume 26 Issue 6, November, 2010 pp. 1674 – 1684,Science Direct, viewed 4 February 2012.

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