3.2.3. What do students find interesting about Facebook?
A second open-ended question asked students what they found most interesting about social networking sites. There
was a great deal of variability in responses to this question. As seen in Table 5, popular topics included staying in touch or
reconnecting with friends, learning information about others, spending too much time on Facebook or the possibility of
“Facebook addiction,” the breadth of the network between people, and self-presentation. The following examples highlight
their insights:
Reconnecting with friends and the breadth of the network: “The most interesting thing about social network websites is that they
allow people to get back in touch. I receive friend requests from people Iwent to grade school, summer camp, or high school with. It
is amazing how connected it has made me with my past.”
Learning information about others: “You're able to see who your friends are friends with and what they have been doing when
not spending time with you.”
The possibility of Facebook addiction: “That people are obsessed with using these sites and check them more than their email.”
Self-presentation: “I think the most interesting thing about social network websites is the way in which people present
themselves as how they want others to perceive them.”
While Facebook use is currently ubiquitous on U.S. college campuses, some students indicated via survey response options that
they could “live without it” (46.74%) and nearly a quarter said that Facebook is something to do when they are bored (23.91%). By
contrast, some said it is one of their favorite things to do when they have time (16.30%) or they like it so much that they find it
“addicting” (9.78%). Most students reported that Facebook had a “somewhat positive” (82.61%) or a “very positive effect” (13.04%)
on their social lives; only one person said that it had a “somewhat negative effect.” In contrast, the majority of students said that
Facebook had a “somewhat negative effect” (76.09%) or a “very negative” (3.26%) effect on their academic studies while a few
thought that it had a “somewhat positive effect” (14.13%).