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Participants accessed Facebook and Twitter using a range of different networked computing devices. Discussions about access revealed the importance of both technological factors and contextual influences in shaping participants’ use. Two key factors emerged (1) the context of use (such as the home versus ‘on the go’ or ‘mobile’) and (2) device (such as personal computer versus mobile phone). These factors were also interrelated; computers and laptops were typically used at home and mobile devices when on the move. Combined, these

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Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice calls over the Internet. BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is a proprietary Internet-based instant messenger and video telephony application included on

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influences impacted on the duration of time spent on sites and the appropriation of sites with regard to their functionality. In effect, use was shaped by context and mediated by device/applications. Facebook was accessed through a range of networked computing devices including desktop computers, personal laptops, tablets, and mobile phones, (mobile phone access was typically enabled via mobile applications). With regard to Facebook, laptops and mobile phones were the most common. Research into Internet use in the UK by Grant and Hutton (2011) identifies the home as the most common location of Internet access whilst also documenting the rise of mobile access and Internet use in the UK. Although Twitter was accessed via laptops and computers, it was overwhelmingly accessed via a mobile phone using a Twitter application.

It was common for participants to alternate between different devices to access sites, depending on context, where they were located and what devices were at hand. However participants usually had a preferred mode of access, which reflected the nature of their routines. Understanding different modes of access is important because the mode of access can lend itself to different types of uses and different routines. For example, participants’ reported having notably different routines on Facebook according to device and context. Access via Internet-enabled laptops and computers tended to encourage fewer sessions throughout the day but sessions that were longer in duration. Alternatively, some participants reported being logged onto the site continuously while at the computer doing other things. When participants reported using laptops, they described spending more time on the site browsing links and content as opposed to when they accessed the site via their mobiles. Jai, a 28-year-old male NHS worker, preferred using a desktop or laptop to access Facebook over using a mobile phone citing the limited functionality of the phone. Jai explains:

Jai: There’s loads you can’t do on the phone - I’m just not as good on the phone version as I am on the main site. I do less on the phone, the phone is not as good - you can’t use the chat thing and it’s harder to navigate links and content

Interviewer: Do you use the site differently depending on the device.

Jai: Yes, because of the functionality, I only go on the phone to check in and check my notifications really (Interview 17, 2012).

Sky, a female, 35-year-old student, also preferred using a laptop as opposed to using a smart phone application to access the site.

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Sky: The laptop – because you can see more and again, you can play games, which you can’t do as much on your phone, it has limitations (Interview 16, 2012)

Mobile use of Facebook was typically characterised by shorter sessions, which would be intermittent throughout the day. This is enabled by the transportable nature of mobile phones, which are accessible (‘on person’) for large parts of the day. Mobile access of Facebook lends itself to use in short bursts, ‘on the move’ and ‘between activities’. Furthermore, in contrast to computer-based access and use, the restricted functionality of sites when accessed through mobile applications and mobile devices lends itself to a set of core activities, such as updating a status and browsing the news feed.

Twitter was overwhelmingly accessed via a mobile phone using a mobile ‘application’ (or an ‘app’ for short). As Laurie, a 25–year-old recruitment officer from Liverpool explains:

I hardly ever log onto Twitter when I’m at home, it’s something I associate with my phone, when I’m waiting round or on the bus and I’ve got nothing to do, I go on Twitter. I think I’ve probably only logged in via the computer 4 or 5 times overall, the rest of the time it’s on my phone. I use it to fill in times when I’ve literally got nothing to do, nothing to think about, if I was on the laptop I wouldn’t go straight to Twitter, I’d do something else (Interview 11, 2012).

Similar to Facebook, mobile Twitter use typically took the form bursts, continuously throughout the day. Participants drew comparisons between Twitter and ‘texting’ because of the connection to the mobile phone and the limited, typically written, mode of communication such as the sending and receiving of short messages or ‘tweets’. As argued in Chapter 6, Twitter was built on the short messaging service (SMS) model, so the comparisons were not unexpected. Participants would be inclined to use Twitter for short periods of time, repeatedly throughout the day, at opportune moments. Very few participants reported devices other than mobile phones as central to their Twitter routines. This emphasis on mobile access can be seen in Twitter’s promotion of mobile use. If the site is accessed from a laptop, when signing out, people are encouraged to go mobile (see Figure 38).

Figure 38: Screenshot of the log out image for non-mobile users of Twitter

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