So the challenge is to interview a person or group of people I admire. About something that interests me. With passion. And with entertainment value in mind. Hmm.
Where to start?
Initially I was going to focus on pub quizzes. I wouldn’t say I was passionate about them (could have something to do with the fact that in the last few I’ve been to my team hasn’t faired too well) but I’m intrigued by their increase in popularity in recent years, how they’ve made a come back at the same time that social interaction is shifting more and more online, how with mobile phones and mobile internet the playing field might not be as level as it once was. The quiz master would certainly lend himself to the entertainment criteria, and I’d heard a rumour that Jon Buck in Fuel had worked out some formula or game plan to increase the odds of winning (before you go and ask him, it materialises this isn’t quite the case, although what with it being Jon Buck and all, it seemed pretty tenable at the time).
But tracking down quizmasters proved quite difficult, and on reflection my pub quiz tact seemed a bit of a round about way of approaching an interest in changing social networks. As the final weekend before the deadline approached, I realised I was running out of time. Not least with a wedding to go to on the Saturday and no doubt a hangover to deal with on the Sunday.
I gave myself a train journey home to come up with a solution, but got a little side tracked thinking about all the people I was going to see that I hadn’t been in touch with for a while. Good friends. People who I trust and admire. Coming together for one of the most celebrated kinds of social interactions, a wedding - a social gathering where passion and love are pretty much a given. And, knowing my friends, an event that wouldn’t be short of entertaining shenanigans.
And, suddenly it all fell into place. The way that my social circle interacts has changed significantly recently. A month ago very few of us had signed up to Facebook, and then, within a matter of weeks, the vast majority had a profile. I knew that I was going to be getting a ribbing on the fact that I haven’t signed up yet and consequently, within the blink of an eye, am a little out of the loop. But I realised I could now turn this impending conversation into an interview of sorts, and explore Facebook’s appeal amongst an audience that was never the intended target. Children of the 70s, long out of university.
The importance of preparation
I decided that there were a couple of areas I wanted to focus on.
My friends’ understanding of what is meant by social networking
- Which of my friends are using Facebook
- How they are using it
- How it’s affecting the way we interact with each other
- How Facebook sits along other online sites.
So I set about compiling a list of possible questions:
What’s the first thing that springs to mind when I say ‘social networking’?
- Are you a member of a social networking site?
- Which?
- Why?
- How much time do you spend on the site/when?
- How does this compare with the amount you see or call your friends?
- Is there are difference between ‘friends’ you communicate with online and those you communicate with offline (see/call/text)?
- What’s better about online friendships?
- Do you think online social networking is just a phase? Why/not?
- To put your online habits in to context have you done any of the following:
> Set up a blog?
> Read a blog?
> Bought something on ebay?
> Sold something on ebay?
> Used your phone to identify a piece of music?
> Listened to a podcast?
> Made your own podcast?
> Set up daily message alerts?
> Used netvibes?
> Visited flickr?
> Used del.ic.ious?
In reality
In the end I didn’t read from the list of questions. I just kept them at the back of my mind, alongside my objectives. I hadn’t anticipated that fact that my friends’ Facebook experiences were such that we could have talked for hours and several interesting thoughts materialised that wouldn’t have done so had I stuck rigidly to it. (Plus I’d had a glass or two of champagne by the time I put the dictaphone on and probably wouldn’t have been able to read off the list any way. I struggled to see the red on button for goodness sake!)
How it happened
Pulling a dictophone out at a wedding reception, brings a whole new meaning to intrusive research. Luckily most around me thought it hilarious, but I put it away sooner than I’d have liked to, because it didn’t feel like proper wedding etiquette (and the groom would have killed me, he thinks I work too hard as it is). I talked to four different people in the period between arriving at the reception and sitting down for dinner, that time when people are milling round seemed the most appropriate opportunity for something like this. Also I figured there’d be a fine balance between my interviewees having enough liquid refreshment to soothe away any shyness and slurring their words. I had intended on just interviewing one person for ten minutes or so, but photo calls, harpists really getting into their set’, rampaging sausages and the wedding breakfast kinda made that hard (listen to sound files to find out more…). In retrospect I gained from getting several different insights. And talking about social networking with just one person would have been some what ironic.
The four people I spoke to were Ben (a teacher), James (in media and technology), Kate (works for a cosmetic company) and Becs (until recently a London-based managing consultant but recently moved to Singapore). I did not identify these particular four in advance, there are twenty or so of us in my social group and these four just happened to present themselves to me first, to ensure no bias in interview selection.
My challenge to you: For comedy value, try to guess which interview I did first on the basis of the answers that were given, and the amount I giggle. The comment on the cyberchase blog about content production moving into the hands of amateurs seems rather fitting.
The interviews (unedited I'm afraid, but thus perhaps more amusing..)
Learnings
- My friends’ understanding of what is meant by ‘social networking’
Although James said that he’d read recently in online research that 70% of people understood what is meant by ‘social networking’ Kate and Becky asked me to clarify whether I meant the phase in the online sense or the everyday sense, which makes me think it’s perhaps not as ingrained as the former as much as we think it is (I’m sure this would be different if I asked some one younger mind). Amongst all the interviewees there was a general suspicion of the phase ‘social networking’. It seems to hold quite negative connotations of social status; people trying to use others to get to where they want to be. This is quite interesting when the definition of social networking is based around the idea of collaboration and is supposed to be less about the individual than the group http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking.
- Which of my friends are using Facebook
Out of the 20 or so of us, five of us are not on Facebook. Of the four I interviewed, two only got in on the act quite recently. This was mainly because Becky has moved abroad – i.e. circumstances. Yet now that they are on Facebook, they have found it rather addictive. I was interested to hear Kate’s story about the junior doctor who does it between patients, and the lawyer who’s on for three hours a day. It rather puts paid to my excuse of not having enough time. Interestingly, the two most sociable people within our group have not signed up yet. May be they’re just too busy getting on with real life. I would have asked them to talk to me a little bit about why they hadn’t followed the crowd, but they had other things on their mind, what with being best man and chief usher and all.
- How they are using it and how it’s affecting the way we interact with each other
No one saw it as an alternative to seeing friends. Rather something that allowed you to keep in touch with the friends you see regularly anyway, to keep in touch real time (roughly twenty minutes a day). For them it’s seen as different – better - than email, as it is less intrusive. You’re not sure if someone can talk if you email them at work – on Facebook, if they’ve signed in, you know they are up for corresponding. In my mind it’s an example of how people are looking to redress their work/life balance, the infiltration of your external social life into work environments. How you can be social when you can’t be social is Ben’s way of looking at it. A supplement to real-life conversations.
Although the above is primarily why everyone (except Becky) set up a profile, it was the talk of the opportunity for voyeurism that made the boys’ eyes light up. The sneaky look at ex-girlfriends, or people you’d forgotten about that you didn’t have to get in touch with. What was interesting here is that they see Facebook in a very different way to how they see Friends Reunited, despite, as far as I can see, the cross over here in purpose. Whilst all four had been on FR, to them FR was a bit of a novelty, something that was very much driven by the content provider rather than the individual user, and it is the fact that they feel in control on Facebook that makes it so appealing.
- How Facebook sits along other popular social networking sites
Out of the list of different online activities/sites that I asked about, very few had been used by my interviewees. I’m not sure if the versatility of Facebook has something to do with this (e.g. if you can share stuff and upload photos on Facebook, there’s no real reason why you should know about Flickr?). I found this quite reassuring – blogging and ebaying is talked about so often, it sometimes feels as if you’re the only one not doing it. I might not have a Facebook profile but I have a blog, I’ve bought and sold on ebay, I’ve identified music with a mobile phone and I know all about de.lic.ious (but may be not enough to get the full points in the right place).
What did amaze me though, as a non-booker, was the number of people who after hearing what I was doing, came and told me a Facebook story. Every one has one it seems, and everyone tells it enthusiastically. This may be what Facebook has over a number of other sites. People have a real affinity for it, and whereas at the start of the day I was pretty sure the passion side of things was going to come more from the event than the interview topic, I was wrong. Which in a way is a little sad. Because when you're sitting at a computer screen, you are alone. At the centre of the world, but alone.
So what’s the future?
Is Facebook going to be superseded by the next big thing? Almost certainly in my mind. Isn’t that why everyone is so excited about Web 2.0? The fact that you don’t know what’s going to happen next? May be I’ll just wait for that next big thing before I create another profile. Or may be I’ll bow to the pressure and be on Facebook by the end of the week. Just one of the 100,000 or so new users a day….
Here’s what some others think:
http://markevanstech.com/2007/06/16/how-long-can-facebook-stay-cool/
Facebook backlash
And how social networking means social divide:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6236628.stm
N.B.
I haven’t been able to edit my files at Dan’s computer. It says that the format isn’t compatible. This means I’ve only got my original files for you. Stick with it through all the screeching at the start, it makes sense after a couple of minutes!
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