Relationships and social rules: Teens’ social network and otherICTselection practices

Abstract

The issue of how teens choose social networks and information communication technologies (ICT's) for personal communication is complex. This study focused on describing how U.S. teens from a highly technological suburban high school select ICT's for personal communication purposes. Two research questions guided the study: (a) What factors influence high school seniors’ selection of online social networks and other ICT's for everyday communication? (b) How can social network theory (SNT) help to explain how teens select online social networks and other ICT's for everyday communication purposes? Using focus groups, a purposive sample of 45 teens were asked to discuss (a) their preferred methods for communicating with friends and family and why, (b) the reasons why they chose to engage (or not to engage) in online social networking, (c) how they selected ICT's for social networking and other communication purposes, and (d) how they decided whom to accept as online “friends.” Findings indicated that many factors influenced participants’ ICT selection practices including six major categories of selection factors: relationship factors, information/communication factors, social factors, systems factors, self‐protection factors, and recipient factors. SNT was also helpful in explaining how “friendship” was a major determining factor in their communication media and platform choices.

“This Is Our Library, and It’s a Pretty Cool Place”: A User-Centered Study of Public Library YA Spaces

“…Overall, the excitement and pride that the teens who participated in this study expressed when discussing their public libraries indicates that even in a world in which teens are often viewed as "digital natives" (Prensky 2001), there is still a place for the physical public library in their lives. For most U.S. teens the major motivating factor for spending so much time using cell phones, online social networks, and other digital technologies is for communication and social interaction with peers and family (Agosto, Abbas, and Naughton 2012). This study has shown that with thoughtful design, YA public library spaces can be places where teens can engage in this type of communication and interaction both online and in person, and it shows us that as teens' information practices and social behaviors evolve, public libraries must adapt to fit their changing behaviors.…”

Generation Like

“…found that teens spend a considerable amount of time interacting and socializing in online spaces, and use social media as a main channel to share their everyday life, learn something new and useful, and establish and reinforce social empowerment [5,7]. Teens also shift to new social platforms quickly to meet their fast changing priorities, and personal and social needs [1,5]. The second method utilizes quantitative analysis of real usage data.…”

The information behaviours of disadvantaged and disengaged adolescents

“…Ofcom (2014a; report that young people (age 16-24) are increasingly cross-media multiscreening and multitasking on a day-to-day basis from a variety of locations; and spend approximately 24.2 hours per week online, with general browsing and sending/receiving emails the most regularly undertaken activites, followed by looking at social networking sites/apps, online purchases, using instant messaging services, and online banking and bill payment, followed by finding information for work/job/studies, looking at news websites or apps, and finding information for leisure time (see Ofcom 2014b for the full list encompassing less frequent activities). Agosto et al (2012) report that adolescent (age18) choice of personal communication media (social media and other ICT) is based on social context, closeness of relationships with receivers, and number of receivers.…”