understanding loneliness in social awareness streams - icwsm 2014 presentation
DESCRIPTION
An unabridged version of the presentation for ICWSM 2014, on the paper "Understanding Loneliness in Social Awareness Streams: Expressions and Responses" by Funda Kivran-Swaine, Jeremy Ting, Jed R. Brubaker, Rannie Teodoro, and Mor Naaman. Full paper at bit.ly/kivranswaine_lonelinessTRANSCRIPT
Understanding Loneliness
in Social Awareness Streamsexpressions and responses
photo by @skalgubbar
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Jeremy Ting@kingofting
Jed R. Brubaker@whatknows
Rannie Teodoro@rannieteo
Mor Naaman@informor
presenting today:Funda Kivran-Swaine
(@fundinha)the work with wonderful co-authors:
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@fundinha
understanding loneliness
Is social media making us lonely?What can we learn about the experience
of loneliness from social media?
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lonelinessis common
everybody feels lonely at some point in their lives.however, when prolonged, loneliness can lead to severe problemslike poor antibody response, depression, or even suicide ideation.
photo by Hartwig HKD / Flickr Creative Commons
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lonelinessis social pain
occurs when there is a discrepancy between the quality or quantity of people’s perceived relationships and their relationship standards.
photo by Hartwig HKD / Flickr Creative Commons
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lonelinessis idiosyncratic
experience of loneliness varies greatly between people.people’s reactions to loneliness also can differ a lot.
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photo by Hartwig HKD / Flickr Creative Commons
lonelinessis not solitude
one can be lonely in a crowd.
photo by Hartwig HKD / Flickr Creative Commons
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lonelinessWhat does
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feel like?
photo by Hartwig HKD / Flickr Creative Commons
@fundinha
understanding loneliness West Broadway, New York, 1978 © Thomas Struth Courtesy Schirmer/Mosel
Researchers have been trying to understand the experience of loneliness since 1970s.
*1978, NYU. Researchers collected ~25,000 responses to a newspaper survey that asked:
How do you usually feel when you are lonely?
* Rubenstein, C., & Shaver, P. (1980). Loneliness in two northeastern cities. The anatomy of loneliness, 319-337.9
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in 2014there is a new way to understand loneliness.
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in 2014people are increasingly saying:
...I’m lonely....in online public environments.
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People increasingly are usingsocial awareness streams (SAS) to
communicate about their emotional experiences, including loneliness.
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When people expressloneliness
on SAS, they sometimes get responses.
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We can start to address:What are the evident circumstances that surround explicit expressions of
loneliness on Twitter?
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We can start to address:What are the prevalent communication practices around
loneliness on Twitter?
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We can start to address:What types of responses do individuals expressing loneliness receive?
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We can start to address:What are the relationships between expressions of loneliness and the
responses they receive?
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the datalonely tweets
profile & interaction data of authorsresponses to lonely tweets
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the data
lonely tweet: ...<lonely phrase>......
I am so lonelyI Feel so isolated
i am feeling left outI feel so alone
...
...
lonely tweets
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understanding loneliness
I’m so lonely
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the data
lonely tweets
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I’m so lonely at...
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the data
lonely tweets
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...and I’m so lonely
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the data
lonely tweets
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I’m so lonely because...
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the data
lonely tweets
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I’m so lonely
#$@!#$
#$@!#$
the data(groups of) responses to lonely tweets
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understanding loneliness
profile & interaction data of authorsthe data
I’m so lonely
tt-24h t+24h
gender# followers# friends
photo by @skalgubbar
# tweets# interactions / # tweets
# tweets# interactions / # tweets
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understanding loneliness
1 development of the coding schemes
2 qualitative coding
3 quantitative analysis & hypotheses testing
the study
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1 development of the coding schemas
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3 categorical dimensions forexpressions of loneliness
temporal bounding
context
interaction
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temporal bounding
context
interactionenduring, transient, or ambiguous
other-directed or not
one or more of:social
physicalromanticsomatic
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understanding loneliness
temporal bounding
context
interactionenduring, transient, or ambiguous
other-directed or not
one or more of:socialphysicalromanticsomatic
Everyday, I’m so lonelyIn this horrible house, without a girlfriend
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understanding loneliness
3 categorical dimensions forresponses to expressions of
lonelinessEXPLICIT ACKNOWLEDGMENT
UN-ENGAGING
EXPLICIT SUGGESTIONS
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EXPLICIT ACKNOWLEDGMENT
UN-ENGAGINGEXPLICIT Suggestions
Everyday, I’m so lonelyIn this horrible house, without a girlfriend
AW... I’M SO SORRY TO HEAR THAT. THAT MUST SUCK
That sounds terrible.why don’t you come over to dinner to talkabout it with us?
womp womp. whining again...
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2 qualitative coding
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4454lonely tweets
903groups of responses to these
We read and qualitatively coded:
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understanding loneliness
What do people talk about when they talk aboutloneliness?
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0
20
40
60
80
100
social context physical context romantic context somatic context
offline online
What do people talk about when they talk about loneliness?
nightbed
homeroomschool
datecuddlelove
relationshipboyfriend
hungrysickhurttiredcryeat
friendwishtalktext
person
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understanding loneliness
3 quantitative analysis & hypotheses testing
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first, some descriptives
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Who talks about loneliness?
70%
30%
men women
* matches known literature on emotional disclosure.women talk about their emotional experiences more frequently than men.
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understanding loneliness
experiences of loneliness range fromephemeral and ordinary (transient) topermanent and worrisome (enduring).
Transient Enduring
* matches known literature on loneliness.most experiences of loneliness spark and die out quickly.
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findings
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A differences between enduring & transient loneliness
B factors that contribute to receiving a response
C differences in responses
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findings
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A differences between enduring & transient loneliness
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findings
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Expressions of transient loneliness are more likely to call forsocial interaction.
photo by Michael J. Moeller / Flickr Creative Commons
(42.1% vs. 30%) (χ2 = 62.1, df = 2, p < .001),44
understanding loneliness in social awareness streams @fundinha
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Expressions of transient loneliness are more likely to call forsocial interaction.initiating social action is a more common reaction to milder experiences of loneliness.
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(42.1% vs. 30%) (χ2 = 62.1, df = 2, p < .001),
understanding loneliness in social awareness streams @fundinha
photo by Michael J. Moeller / Flickr Creative Commons
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understanding loneliness
Women are more likely to expressenduring loneliness than men.
photo by Michael J. Moeller / Flickr Creative Commons46
understanding loneliness
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photo by Michael J. Moeller / Flickr Creative Commons
Women are more likely to expressenduring loneliness than men.
(16% of women vs. 11% of men) (χ2 = 19.61, df = 2, p < .001)
women communicate about emotional experiences more than men do.
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understanding loneliness
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People who express enduring loneliness are less social on Twitter.
photo by Michael J. Moeller / Flickr Creative Commons48
understanding loneliness
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understanding loneliness
People who express enduring loneliness are less social on Twitter.
photo by Michael J. Moeller / Flickr Creative Commons
0
0.078
0.155
0.233
0.31
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transientenduring
understanding loneliness
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B factors that contribute to receiving a response
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findings
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in SAS nobody is obliged toRESPOND
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percentage of lonely tweetsthat got at leastone response:
23%
overall average response-rate for these people’s tweets:
3.4%
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understanding loneliness
in SAS nobody is obliged toRESPOND
but people respond to expressions of loneliness more than they respond to other tweets
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Other-directed lonely tweetsare more likely to get responses.
photo by David / Flickr Creative Commons54
understanding loneliness
(O.R. for self-directed lonely tweets =0.63, p<.001)
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understanding loneliness
Men are more likelyto get responses.
photo by David / Flickr Creative Commons(O.R. =1.27, p<.01)55
understanding loneliness
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understanding loneliness
Expressions of enduring loneliness are less likely to get responses.
56 photo by David / Flickr Creative Commons
understanding loneliness
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Expressions of enduring loneliness are less likely to get responses.likelihood of receiving a response reduced by 37%.
57 photo by David / Flickr Creative Commons
understanding loneliness
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that’s not good.
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what kind of responses do the expressions of enduring loneliness receive?
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C differences in responses
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findings
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Expressions of enduring loneliness are less likely to get responses that dismiss loneliness.
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understanding loneliness
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Expressions of enduring loneliness are more likely to get responses acknowledging loneliness.
61 photo by David / Flickr Creative Commons
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0
20
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60
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transientenduring
62 photo by David / Flickr Creative Commons
understanding loneliness
acknowledgingun-engaging
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understanding loneliness
enduring lonelinessattracts less responses.
but more responses acknowledgingthe experience of loneliness.
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understanding loneliness
what makes us lonely in theage of connectedness?
have we forgotten how to be alone?
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understanding loneliness
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“American loneliness may, I think, be defined as being alone when one has not elected to be alone, when the state of being alone will be recognized by others as inappropriate.”Margaret Mead
@fundinha
understanding loneliness
social awareness streamsplaces where people disclose and
communicate about loneliness.
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What is next?thank you.
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