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Social networks, gender, and friending: An analysis of MySpace member profiles

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  • Mike Thelwall

Abstract

In 2007, the social networking Web site MySpace apparently overthrew Google as the most visited Web site for U.S. Web users. If this heralds a new era of widespread online social networking, then it is important to investigate user behaviour and attributes. Although there has been some research into social networking already, basic demographic data is essential to set previous results in a wider context and to give insights to researchers, marketers and developers. In this article, the demographics of MySpace members are explored through data extracted from two samples of 15,043 and 7,627 member profiles. The median declared age of users was surprisingly high at 21, with a small majority of females. The analysis confirmed some previously reported findings and conjectures about social networking, for example, that female members tend to be more interested in friendship and males more interested in dating. In addition, there was some evidence of three different friending dynamics, oriented towards close friends, acquaintances, or strangers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, female and younger members had more friends than others, and females were more likely to maintain private profiles, but both males and females seemed to prefer female friends, with this tendency more marked in females for their closest friend. The typical MySpace user is apparently female, 21, single, with a public profile, interested in online friendship and logging on weekly to engage with a mixed list of mainly female “friends” who are predominantly acquaintances.

Suggested Citation

  • Mike Thelwall, 2008. "Social networks, gender, and friending: An analysis of MySpace member profiles," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 59(8), pages 1321-1330, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jamist:v:59:y:2008:i:8:p:1321-1330
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.20835
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    Cited by:

    1. Judd Antin & Matthew Earp, 2010. "With a little help from my friends: Self‐interested and prosocial behavior on MySpace Music," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(5), pages 952-963, May.
    2. Karolien Lenaerts & Miroslav Beblavý & Brian Fabo, 2016. "Prospects for utilisation of non-vacancy Internet data in labour market analysis—an overview," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Huseyin Cavusoglu & Tuan Q. Phan & Hasan Cavusoglu & Edoardo M. Airoldi, 2016. "Assessing the Impact of Granular Privacy Controls on Content Sharing and Disclosure on Facebook," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(4), pages 848-879, December.
    4. Forliano, Canio & De Bernardi, Paola & Yahiaoui, Dorra, 2021. "Entrepreneurial universities: A bibliometric analysis within the business and management domains," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    5. Samar Mouakket & Yuan Sun, 2020. "Investigating the Impact of Personality Traits of Social Network Sites Users on Information Disclosure in China: the Moderating Role of Gender," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 1305-1321, December.
    6. Pivec, Maja & Maček, Anita, 2019. "Employment background influence on social media usage in the field of European project management and communication," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 280-289.
    7. Guillermina Tormo-Carbó & Elies Seguí-Mas & Victor Oltra, 2014. "Web 2.0, social capital and work performance in service companies: the employees’ view," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 8(3), pages 439-452, September.
    8. Samar Mouakket & Yuan Sun, 0. "Investigating the Impact of Personality Traits of Social Network Sites Users on Information Disclosure in China: the Moderating Role of Gender," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-17.
    9. Paola Bernardi & Alberto Bertello & Canio Forliano & Ludovico Bullini Orlandi, 2022. "Beyond the “ivory tower”. Comparing academic and non-academic knowledge on social entrepreneurship," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 999-1032, September.
    10. Lovreglio, Ruggiero & Fonzone, Achille & dell’Olio, Luigi, 2016. "A mixed logit model for predicting exit choice during building evacuations," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 59-75.
    11. (Chloe) Ki, Chung-Wha & Park, Sangsoo & Kim, Youn-Kyung, 2022. "Investigating the mechanism through which consumers are “inspired by” social media influencers and “inspired to” adopt influencers’ exemplars as social defaults," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 264-277.
    12. Abosag, Ibrahim & Ramadan, Zahy B. & Baker, Tom & Jin, Zhongqi, 2020. "Customers' need for uniqueness theory versus brand congruence theory: The impact on satisfaction with social network sites," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 862-872.
    13. Hajar Sotudeh & Nahid Khoshian, 2014. "Gender, web presence and scientific productivity in nanoscience and nanotechnology," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(3), pages 717-736, June.
    14. Jacopo Arpetti & Marco Delmastro, 2021. "The privacy paradox: a challenge to decision theory?," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 48(4), pages 505-525, December.
    15. Anupriya Khan & Satish Krishnan & Jithesh Arayankalam, 2022. "The Role of ICT Laws and National Culture in Determining ICT Diffusion and Well-Being: A Cross-Country Examination," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 415-440, April.

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