Project-Related Frequently Asked Question's
Have questions about the project? See if you can find some answers below. If you have questions about Facebook, see this page instead.
Questions
- What is Facebook?
- Where can I find a dataset for Facebook?
- Why are you studying / making guides for / talking about Facebook?
- MySpace? Friendster? LinkedIn?
- Do you have a Facebook Group about studying Facebook on Facebook?
- Is this marketing or commercial research?
- How can I get involved?
What is Facebook?
The Facebook website identifies itself as "a social utility that connects you with the people around you."
Seem like an insufficient explanation? I agree. There's a lot of contention as to what exactly Facebook is and what it should be. For those unfamiliar with the system, understanding how it works and why it works is crucial to comprehending its importance in every-day student (and more) life.
Being the believer in heterogeneous engineering that I am, I've opened up a wiki page so we as a collaborative internet scholar community can ask the right questions and give the right definition to Facebook.
The Wiki also contains a list of the current features of Facebook as well as a bit of a history on old ones. The difference between this wiki and the Facebook What's New section is that we'll have considerably more earnest descriptions of the features as well as some of their common uses.
Where can I find a dataset for Facebook?
There isn't a single easily available dataset for Facebook. The company has blocked web-robots (crawlers; automated data-collection programs) since sometime in 2005. Facebook doesn't release data to general researchers (or even important ones for that matter!). Your best shot is to think about other methods you could gather information: observation, client-side scripting, surveys, interviews, and more. Remember to keep in mind the limitations of what you can say with a given sample and/or data-collection technique.
Why are you studying / making guides for / talking about Facebook?
Facebook is a a powerful and extensive example of a new wave of technology and society and exemplifies many important aspects of the internet-era. Social networking services (SNS) have, are, and will continue to change the way people think, behave, and interact and the normalization of such occurrences merits further specialized study. To the college student, and increasingly the high school and older generations, Facebook is a fundamental aspect of life - not ultimately defining, but among an array of communication, information, and identity constructing technologies like email, cell phones, and instant messengers that have become part of the norms of life. Unearthing the web in and behind Facebook sheds light on many aspects of both individuals and society. Learning to do so ought to be an open process.
MySpace? Friendster? Linkedin? Comparison?
There are many important Social Networking Services (SNS) on the web. This website is not out to promote Facebook over others, it just focuses on it. There's already a rich world worth discovering in Facebook, the scope of this site delves into this material for the sake of depth over breadth.
Do you have a Facebook Group?
There was one but it's not worth finding, as this project is no longer active.
Is this marketing or commercial research?
Not in the least. Our research agenda isn't oriented towards finding ways to get money out of Facebook or its users. Our research findings might inform marketers, policy makers, and educators, but is not designed specifically for these purposes. At this time the group is not interested in contracting for any corporate body.