How frequently users check their Facebook, update their status, send messages, leave comments, and how long they spend on the site are important to studies focusing on Facebook use and matters pertaining to the use of the site and the motives for using the site. Knowledge of these allows the users’ practices and behaviour to be analysed as shown by previous studies (E.g in Tosun, 2012; Strano, 2012). In all the interviews I conducted, I asked the respondents how often they log in to check their profile and news feed from their desktop and Facebook Mobile app; how long they stay logged on and what they do when they are on Facebook. The answers given vary. Checking Facebook can be as frequent as three to four times a day, once a day or once a week and staying logged on varies from a few minutes to an hour, the whole day or even never logging off. While many have said that their Facebook is just a medium of communication that they check when they need to, many admitted that it has become part of their daily ritual, thus compelling them to check their Facebook early in the morning, throughout the day and at the end of the day before going to sleep.
One respondent, Razali, whose Facebook friends exceed 2000 users (during the interview) uses the site primarily to keep in touch with family and friends in
Malaysia and those in the UK, as well as adding those he just met offline to maintain their (weak) ties. He admitted to be reliant on his Facebook and to checking Facebook as part of his daily ritual, although he cannot provide the reason(s) for his behaviour as the interview extract below shows. He also had a Facebook Mobile app installed on his iPhone which is always logged on facilitating access to himself and others anywhere and anytime, although he is not obligated to reply instantly.
MM -‐ so are you dependent on your Facebook mobile? Do you like check it regularly?
Razali -‐ yeah regularly, I can say that yes.
MM -‐ Do you wake up every morning and you just...
Razali -‐ Yes it’s like you know…I don’t know why when I arrived here (in the UK) it’s like Facebook is the only thing that can help me to wake up 100% so I can read everything and then when I read everything then I feel fresh then I can go to shower and then go to the class. I don’t know why maybe there is power (smile). There is only unknown reason why.
MM – it’s the first thing people check in the morning and the last thing people check when they go to sleep (laugh).
Razali -‐ you know the answer already. I think yes that is true. Not only me. I think most people.
Checking Facebook regularly or infrequently does not indicate their level of engagements on the site. Although many admitted to checking their profile and their news feed three to four times a day, they did not share anything on the site or ‘comment/like’ their friends’ updates during those times. Abir, one of the earliest users of Facebook among the respondents, who still considers her own long-‐term engagement to be active, talked about being on Facebook but not necessarily
commenting on her friends’ updates or sharing anything and sometimes only checking the site when she has incoming notifications on her Facebook Mobile App. Labelling a user as ‘active’ or ‘less active’ is not a straightforward matter as this depends on their own thoughts of their online activities. For one person, active use could mean regular postings and commenting but for another it could be just checking the news feed and spending time on the site lurking. How one considers their use is also very personal. Abir considers checking updates without posting anything on the site as active use of the site but in another time and situation her online presence and active posting is also considered as active. This kind of varied definition of online engagements is also reflected in the responses given during the interviews when I asked the respondents about their level of engagement and whether they consider theirs as passive (my prior understanding as lurking, checking news feed, profile hopping) or active (my prior understanding as sending messages, commenting, liking, status updates). There was no straightforward answer and many have said “moderate” rather than active or passive, and what some consider as moderate use is what others consider as active. Due to the nuances in their individualised use of Facebook they could not provide definitive answers. The respondents’ understanding of these different levels of engagement varies according to what they understood these terms to imply and their experiences online. My prior assumptions (based on my own use of the site) of what active and passive refers to are not supported. Rather than have a definite label of active or inactive user, it is more practical to see their activities as having temporal and contextual aspects. Online activities are also influenced by other aspects of life, such as phase of life (stress, emotional turmoil, relationship
problems, examinations, academic workload), critical incidents (bad experiences involving other users, death in the family), and self-‐reflexivity (learning from others’ use of Facebook, own experiences). These play a part in users’ judgements concerning their level of engagements and frequency of use.
A phase of life influence, such as academic workload/examinations put a temporary halt to their Facebook activities. Another male respondent, Mohamad, uses Facebook frequently to keep in touch with friends, to keep his friends updated with events in his life, being online and letting his friends know his presence is important for him. However, there were times when he had to be absent from Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare due to exams. Critical incidents, such as a death in the family made one respondent, Hafizah, realise that Facebook could not provide her with the emotional support she needed; face-‐to-‐face interactions are more rewarding, especially during sad times. Reflecting on her experience when she lost her father, she said
“the physical support really matters as compared to Facebook kind of support because when I lost my dad when I was in my second year doing PhD I find that those people are sending me cards, sending me books and the things that I like even though from far. One of my ex housemates, she is from Brunei, she knows that I like this particular keropok [crisp] and then she sent a few of them. It’s quite expensive actually. She said that I still remember when there is one particular (time) when she was having a problem with the boyfriend who is now the husband so we were eating keropok it’s really those moments (that) are really meaningful for her and then she said that even though I cannot do that with you I hope that keropok will soothe you. Remind you that I’m there for you even though not physically,
keropok tu kind of representative lah so as compared to like saying condolences”.
She lost her father when she was in the second year of her PhD and it was not possible to come back home at that time due to academic commitments. The emotional support she received came in the form of material goods sent by post and online (written) condolences on Facebook. According to her, the material support she received, even via something as small as crisps, provided her with much-‐needed emotional support compared to online exchanges (condolences). Due to such a realisation (also other bad experiences on Facebook), her use of the site is more instrumental than expressive52, sharing basic information that does not require heavy emotional investment and commitment by her Facebook friends. Contrary to another PhD student’s experience, Amal also finds it difficult to return home when she wanted to, due to her PhD workload; however, in her case she was able to find sufficient emotional support that she sometimes needed. Being physically distanced from her family means that she cannot get physical and immediate emotional support during stressful times and communicating via telephone is not convenient for her due to the 7 to 8 hour time difference between Malaysia and the UK, as well as to the high cost of international calls53. Facebook (among other medium of communication) became an important emotional support enabler during these times. As she said ‘it is one of those days you need your
(Facebook) category – family, extended family to help you out’. Knowing she could
get emotional support online, she was not afraid to use the site’s features (Inbox
52 The terms Instrumental and Expressive are also used by Tufecki (2008) and Miller and
Arnold (2003) to differentiate between different types of Social Networking Sites and Internet use respectively.
and Chat) to get feedback. These experiences highlight respondents’ use of the site and demonstrate how events in life shape their use temporarily or in the long run. Coming back to the examples provided above, for Mohamad the exam period put a halt to his frequent use of the site, while for Hafizah, the failure of the site to provide much needed emotional support she was missing, during a sad time, influenced her future use of the site, that has become more instrumental than before. Amal’s positive experiences led her to believe that the site could provide her with what she needs, especially when she is away from her family members: hence she is more motivated to use the site to obtain emotional support. What these examples show is that the varied use of the site is shaped by the respondents’ individual experiences.