How do we expose ourselves online? How do we choose our online friends?

Results from a new kind of online sociological survey

Dominique Cardon. Stéphane Distinguin. Daniel Kaplan

A new kind of sociological survey

What do we let others know/see about ourselves on social networking sites?

How do we relate to others depending on what they tell/show?

Hide the survey behind a game Use images rather than questions Viral diffusion Publicly available data

14,000

74% 8% 10% 8%

41% 13% 10%36%

35% 23% 23% 20%

58% 33% 3% 6%

38% 38% 20% 5%

65% 19% 6% 9%

47% 45% 5% 3%

"\" VALUES

15% 12% 12% 61%

28% 23% 11% 38%

16% 16% 37% 31%

22% 10% 16% 52%

"U"VALUES29% 19% 7% 45%

20% 48% 12% 20%

8% 32% 21% 29%

Traditional

Immodest

Exhib'

Trash / Playful

Traditional Both genders, all age groups Conservative and center Heterosexual Religious Higher social status All school levels Facebook/Copains d’avant

Exhibitionnists Male <30 years old Liberal Bisexual Nonbelievers All social classes (+ popular) Low to average education levels Myspace/Blogs

Immodest Men <25 and 41+ years old Conservative Homosexual Nonbelievers or not observant Low social status Low level of education DailyMotion/Myspace

Needsfurther

analysis

Anne-Carole 6014

34, heart surgeon, straight, non-observant christian, green

Lilian 4251Übercool photographer, 34, atheist, moderately liberal

Judith 3901School teacher, literature enthusiast. 29, lesbian, atheist, left-wing activist

Tabata 3567Graphiste de 24 ans. bisexuelle. athée et politiquement au centre

Tristan 1440C'est un assistant marketing d'une boîte d'informatique de 28 ans. est hétéro. athé et libéral.

Ravachol 1429Cuisinier dans la marine. il est hétéro. anarchiste et adore les voyages. Il a 52 ans

Martine 1356Mother at home, straight, christian, green, 47

Kevin 115723, mechanic, loves tuning, straight, does not vote, non-observant catholic

1. Economic capital + + + - - -2. Cutural capital + + + - - -3. Network capital + + + - - -

In summary

Self-exposure is a rather controlled strategy… Not random Not determined by technology itself Rather by how much we wish to extend our circle of contacts

Social networks are not the great equalizers People tend to choose "friends" whose profile is similar ro

theirs, especially in middle and upper classes Lower class profiles are only chosen by lower class

respondents Upper class profiles are in control mode rather than extension

mode

What next?

Research papers in 2009 Open access to raw data: Q2, 2009 Other countries and languages More game-surveys to come on Sociogeek.com

http://sociogeek.com Results : http://sociogeek.com/resultats