Video-ethnography of social media apps’ connection cues in public settings

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the uses of mobile social network services (mSNS) during daily commutes on the basis of a video ethnography conducted with 35 users of the Facebook app. This method is based on the combination of context-oriented recordings made with user-worn camera glasses and mobile screen video capture. These data reveal the way smartphone usage patterns tend to be organized according to notification functions (mSNS, SMS), a specific set of technical cues that mediatize social demand and promote social connectedness. Users manage these cues through a recurrent trend composed of a three-step sequence: they often start by using applications displaying notifications; they favor those that display social demands; and, among them, they prioritize these relational solicitations in accordance with social status or types of relationships. By examining the distribution of users' attention between urban environments and smartphone applications, this video-ethnography also highlights how these "checking habits" are organized according to a set of spatial cues and some daily commute characteristics, such as visual coordination with passengers in public transport. These technical cues mediatize a growing number of social demands that encourage users to keep their eyes focused on their smartphone's screen in public spaces. We argue that these technical cues create a temporary bubble effect and social isolation at a proximal scale, which mostly operate at the beginning of smartphone usage patterns.

The Psychology of Mobile Technology and Daily Mobility

“…Such studies provide insights into our understanding of the psychological implications of using mobile technology while on-the-go. In terms of affect, usage of mobile technology is often driven by boredom, but perhaps more so while on-the-go due to the lack of available alternatives (Figeac & Chaulet, 2018). Furthermore, Reichow and Friemel (2020) argued that perceived insecurity is more likely on public transportation, and users may utilize mobile technology to create a sense of social presence that dispels insecurity.…”

Selfies in the wild: Studying selfie photography as a local practice

“…Figeac and Chaulet (2018) present a video-ethnography of social media use, where they use a setup including both camera glasses and screen recordings of the participants’ mobile phone screen. In this way, they were able to approach how participants organized their social media activities in relation to the spatial and temporal constraints of the local setting, in their case being public transportation.…”

“…These examples show how selfie photographers orient to the local setting at the same time as they are involved in selfie exchanges, and that selfie-taking is both spatially and temporally organized. Figeac and Chaulet (2018) showed how their study participants would draw upon certain technologically designed activity breaks, such as loading times, to look around, in this way monitoring the surroundings and managing their mobility. Using our ethnographic techniques it is difficult to capture the full situation, but we still get a sense of the embeddedness and situatedness of selfie photography.…”

“…In their studies they used a combination of ethnographic interviewing with video-recorded demonstrations or "re-enactments," where they focused on the participants showing (with their hands) and verbally describing what they did with their devices. Figeac and Chaulet (2018) present a video-ethnography of social media use, where they use a setup including both camera glasses and screen recordings of the participants' mobile phone screen. In this way, they were able to approach how participants organized their social media activities in relation to the spatial and temporal constraints of the local setting, in their case being public transportation.…”

What Smartphones, Ethnomethodology, and Bystander Inaccessibility Can Teach Us About Better Design?

“…Another study of using public transport found gaze shifts away from the phone to be organized in relation to the sequential progression of the activity with the device. Beginning stages of phone use were suggested to be especially sequentially engaging but the methodology used and the level of granularity of the analyzes lacked the possibility to describe the interactive practices of in their sequential contexts [22].…”