Simple assignment

1. Group Assignment BEL 7084 Article Review: Computers in Human Behavior
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
1.0 Introduction ……………………………………………… 2
2.0 Objective ………………………………………………. 3
3.0 Strengths ………………………………………………. 3
4.0 Weakness ………………………………………………. 4-5
5.0 Recommendations …………………………………………..5
6.0 Conclusion ……………………..…………………………..6

2. Group Assignment BEL 7084 Article Review: Computers in Human Behavior
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The study on ‘Age Differences In Online Networking – A Study Of User Profiles and
Social Capital Divide Among Teenagers And Older Users In MySpace’ explores
differences and similarities found in users of social networking sites by examining the
content of their profile pages and age.
The writers divide their study on two extreme age groups: the older generation
ranging from 60 and above and youths between 13 and 19 years of age. A locally
produced web crawler program was used to search and process information on the
World Wide Web, was utilized as a tool to extract large sets of data from MySpace’s
user profile pages. Various analytical techniques were employed to quantify the
differences that exist between MySpace friends of older people and teenagers. The
focus on content analysis on the other hand was applied to have an in depth
knowledge and understanding of age-related disparities concerning the presentation of
oneself on their profile pages.
In recent years, as technology has expanded, people have started getting connected to
one another through sites like MySpace, Facebook, Friendster and LinkedIn. The
main purpose for social networking sites as commonly understood is to build groups,
friends and community and to share interests, either directly or indirectly. These sites
have become very popular and continue to attract large groups of people. Though
recent surveys show that Facebook has topped the list of networking sites,
MySpace.com has the broadest appeal across age ranges and that is the main reason
that the authors have chosen MySpace to primarily concentrate upon.
The emergence of large online social networks such as MySpace and Facebook has
presented the opportunity to investigate the communication and interaction between
people in these sites and how these people behave or portray themselves which all
subject to age-related differences in social network structure.
Though youngsters catch up on Social Networking Sites (SNS) trends, there is a
growing trend for older users to also register with MySpace, Facebook, and Friendster
as well. However, there were differences in how older people use the SNSs compared
to teenagers. Studies from the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
(JCMC) also indicated findings that there is a clear difference in the network structure
and behavior between teenagers and older people.
Therefore the authors’ aims to address the issue by investigating in detail the
differences and similarities of older people and teenagers that participate in
MySpace.com. Their study had detailed out the identified age-related differences via
type and number of MySpace friends of general users. The analysis also covers the
facilities and media used by both groups of people. In addition the authors have
analyzed any age-related differences in the way people represent themselves on
MySpace. The findings arrived after compiling a number of profiles collected from
MySpace with the help of self made web crawlers. The outcomes of the findings show
that the youngsters had a larger group of friends and focuses on their age group or
interest group. Where else, the older users had friends ranging to a more diverse age
group.
2.0 OBJECTIVE
2

3. Group Assignment BEL 7084 Article Review: Computers in Human Behavior
The main objective of this research is to investigate in how to build and maintain
social capital in an offline and online environment by comparing the age differences
and similarities with the use of Social Network Sites (SNS) between the two age
groups on MySpace.
3.0 STRENGTH
It is obvious that a lot of effort has been put into preparing this article. For starters;
even though the topic chosen may seem very common they are not many articles or
“research” to speak carried out to fully understand of differences of usage by the two
distinct groups of people.
The writers involved in preparing this article also made a smart move by choosing to
base their research on a very popular social networking site. If they were to make the
mistake of choosing a less popular site, chances are that the pool of data collected
may not have been enough to provide a more “global” perspective. When doing
researches on such a big group- social networking sites- regardless of country or
continent it is crucial to collect the proper amount of data feeders that will be able to
represent a very “global” group.
When preparing such articles it is easy to go astray of the topic of this enormity. The
beauty of this article is that the writers were very clear of the reasons that have
navigated the course of the researches. They remained true to the objective of their
research when carrying out their extensive experiments identifying certain patterns of
users of different age groups.
The beauty of this article is that the findings and/or the data collected via the
statistical driven charts can be used and reused by Information Technology
professionals when developing a brand new social networking site. The facts and
figures collected found in the form of inferences made or statistics that plot the bar
graphs found in the article can be used by the Business Analyst when gathering user
requirements (the first stage of software development).
The data churned out via the extensive research can also be used when current social
networks sites are enhanced further to maintain site hits as well as cater to their
growing user base. Rather than having to collect the needed data personally from the
two user groups, web developers can at least manipulate the data provided via this
article to structure a new framework for the current sites.
Besides helping lessen the work of Business Analysts in the Information Technology
arena. The findings also help to decipher the logics and thought flow of teenagers as
well as the people of the older group. By keeping records of the users (their age and
gender) using the different types of multimedia widgets provided by these social
network sites, provides psychologists, counsellors, parents, and guardians of the
respective age groups a snap shot of the users psyche.
4.0 WEAKNESS
3

4. Group Assignment BEL 7084 Article Review: Computers in Human Behavior
First of all, we would like to appreciate the attempt made to study how people from
different age group react and behave when it comes to Social Network Sites (SNS).
We would like highlight certain weaknesses in this study as we worry it may lead to a
baseless conclusion. The analysis was done based on information collected from
profiles that users define themselves during their online engagements. Our concern is
that, information these profiles contain may be untrue where we have seen many
people uploading fake information about themselves online. Concluding on such data
may be baseless or irrelevant to knowledge recipients.
How this untrue information affects the knowledge seekers? Understanding a typical
misinterpretation will answer the question. An elderly online participant may set his
profile that resembles to a teenager’s to attract other young online participants. When
data collating process was conducted, a profile of such a person may also be taken
into account not knowing that this profile reflects a different age category. As such,
the reading from such profile will reflect a mature mental state instead of a teenagers’.
In such situation, the whole content of the study concludes wrong information
therefore passes on the wrong knowledge to the recipients.
Apart from that, we also find that the article, even though rich but a less interesting
reading material. The method of quoting references here and there ensures the content
of the write-up are bona fide, too many references will defeat the ultimate purpose
too; to spread the knowledge of the research. Example, the writer quoted from three
different references about how older people prefers personal and supportive
interaction online (see Page 3. Wright 2000, Pfeil and Zaphiris 2007, and Kanayama
2003)
The article also talks about irrelevant subject for their research paper. Example, on
page 3, Louis 2004 and Verhaagen 2005, the references are about females tend to
participate more in chat rooms than males. Another example, on page 3, Kim and Yun
2007, the reference is about cultural differences in SNS.
The writers for this article also tend to criticize other previous articles and research
paper for not researching about the differences of age groups in SNS. Example, on
page 2, the writers tend to criticize the research done by Ellison et al. 2006 on how
undergraduate students in Michigan State University use Facebook. Here the writers
appear as if they are more superior to others for researching about the age group in
SNS between older people and teenagers.
But we feel that the writers had chosen a “wrong” age group, that is 60 years and
above. They should have chosen older people in the age group of 40 to 50 years for
their research, because not many older people at the age of above 60 use MySpace.
The comparison between a large numbers of teenagers with a small number of older
people age above 60, is imbalance. Therefore we feel that this article is lacking on
information on the older people side.
We would like to express our concern when it comes to deciding based on the survey
made on only one SNS site, MySpace. We feel that more research should have been
conducted to capture the whole SNSs usage pattern to safely fall on a conclusion.
4

5. Group Assignment BEL 7084 Article Review: Computers in Human Behavior
Despite all these weaknesses in the study conducted, we would like to also put forth a
drawback in habits among SNS users. A lot of them tend to involve in such sites
during the time they should be involved in work. This is not a weakness of the SNSs
but the flaw that they may bring to productivity in a work environment. We see such
unethical behavior everyday among us and foresee a plague in the future.
Nevertheless, it is truly dependant on the users to limit or to know how to manage
SNSs usage to progress.
5.0 RECOMMENDATION
In the future, researchers can create journals on social networking sites (SNS) just like
this one but they can study on the social capital divide between teenagers (age 13 to
19 years old) and older people (age 40 to 50 years old). We are curious to see how
professionals at the age of 40 to 50 years old use social networking sites (SNS) for
their personal and working matters, or for other reasons.
We also recommend writers to collect secondary data rather than just relying on one
source of data that is users’ profile on Myspace. The secondary data could be from a
multi-choice question survey from ‘real’ people. This is because we can’t fully rely
100% that the data from users’ profile on Myspace is true. Some people like to use
social networking sites (SNS) for fun and give fake about their personal data. And
other social networking sites (SNS) for serious matters. Example, because Myspace
has so many ‘fun’ options on their personal profile page, like you can choose from so
many options for your sexual orientation and preference, some people find it amusing
and they start to lie and create a ‘new’ profile on themselves, just for fun. In other
words, especially teenagers probably use Facebook or Friendster for their serious
network of friends and My Space for fun purposes. Therefore we propose that in
future journals, researchers should research on a few social networking sites (SNS) for
their studies and does not only rely on one social networking site (SNS) for their
input.
We also would like to recommend that in every social network sites there should be
short guideline or simple demo with regards to the use of available media in SNS. As
we concern the usage of media among older age less as compare to young age group
because it could be lack of proper guide. Some older age groups find it difficult due to
complicated features or maybe not user friendly. Therefore, we also propose to give
short guidelines and as results, researches can get accurate information for future
journals in the usage of media among two age groups in SNS.
6.0 CONCLUSION
In a nutshell, online social network sites (SNS) play different roles among all ages.
Online interactions do not necessarily remove people from their offline world but may
5

6. Group Assignment BEL 7084 Article Review: Computers in Human Behavior
indeed be used to support relationships and keep people in contact, even when life
changes move them away from each other. Social networking sites (SNS) help
maintain relations as people move from one offline community to another. It may
facilitate the same when students graduate from college, with alumni keeping their
school email address and using various available SNSs to stay in touch with the
college community. Such connections could have strong payoffs in terms of jobs,
internships, and other opportunities. In addition to helping to build and maintain
social capital in online environment, the use of technology could support a variety of
populations, including professional researchers, neighbourhood and community
members, employees of companies, or others who benefit from maintained ties.
However, as mentioned we also need to consider the negative aspects from SNSs
activity such as misuse the sites just for fun purposes which could give a bad
impression towards the new SNSs users in future. In other words, inaccurate
information obtained by researcher’s results of fake information from user profiles
will give a wrong interpretation and might affect the new users in future from various
ways. Therefore, researches always must ensure that all their findings are reliable and
accurate to avoid from any fake information.
6