The Social Media Ecology

Abstract

Many existing studies of social media focus on only one platform, but the reality of users' lived experiences is that most users incorporate multiple platforms into their communication practices in order to access the people and networks they desire to influence. In order to better understand how people make sharing decisions across multiple sites, we asked our participants (N=29) to categorize all modes of communication they used, with the goal of surfacing their mental models about managing sharing across platforms. Our interview data suggest that people simultaneously consider "audience" and "content" when sharing and these needs sometimes compete with one another; that they have the strong desire to both maintain boundaries between platforms as well as allowing content and audience to permeate across these boundaries; and that they strive to stabilize their own communication ecosystem yet need to respond to changes necessitated by the emergence of new tools, practices, and contacts. We unpack the implications of these tensions and suggest future design possibilities.

Social Media as Social Transition Machinery

“…Thus, instead of segmenting networks on one SNS, people often separate their networks by using different social media sites for different networks and purposes, as I have shown in this study, and as others have found [81,98]. Such separations are not necessary for every context; if a person wants to post different content for their gym friends vs. their co-workers, Facebook lists may work fine.…”

Exploring Offline Context and Consciousness in Everyday Social Media Use

“…Through an interview study Zhao et al revealed how people considered both content and audience simultaneously as they decided which platform to use. They also showed how each individual contrasted their own "communication ecosystem" [4], indicating careful consideration of platforms' advantages and disadvantages. Semaan et al conducted a qualitative study of social media use for political deliberation and found that their participants purposefully used multiple platforms to obtain diverse political information and engage in respectful and reasoned discussions with different people [5].…”

Life Transitions and Social Technologies

“…For instance, managing social lives online is a complex endeavor due to context collapse [43], decisions around disclosure [2], and potential harassment [11]. Thus, many people maintain online identities and networks across several social media sites [18,40,44]. [22].…”