See you on Facebook, the Effect of Social Networki

SeeyouonFacebook:theeffectofsocialnetworkingonhumaninteractionAngeloAntoci1,FabioSabatini2*,MauroSodini3December2010AbstractThispaperproposesanevolutionaryframeworktoexplorethedynamicsofsocialinteractioninanenvironmentcharacterizedbyonlinenetworkingandincreasingpressureontime.Themodelshowshowtimepressureencouragesthechoicetodevelopsocialinteractionsalsothroughonlinenetworkinginsteadofrelyingexclusivelyonfacetofaceencounters.Ourfindingssuggestthatthejointinfluenceexertedbythereductioninleisuretimeandthenewopportunitiesofparticipationofferedbyweb-mediatedcommunicationmayprogressivelyleadagrowingshareofthepopulationtoadoptnetworkingsitesasanindispensableenvironmentforthedevelopmentofinterpersonalrelationships.Keywords:internet,computer-mediatedcommunication,socialnetworking,onlinenetworks,Facebook,humaninteraction,socialcapital.JELCodes:O33,Z131UniversityofSassari,DipartimentodiEconomiaImpresaeRegolamentazione.Email:[e-mail].2Euricse(EuropeanResearchInstituteonCooperativeandSocialEnterprises).Email:[e-mail].*Correspondingauthor.Postaladdress:Euricse,viaSanGiovanni36,38122,Trento,Italy.3UniversityofPisa,DipartimentodiStatisticaeMatematicaApplicataall’Economia.Email:[e-mail].21IntroductionWhilewewerewritingthisintroduction,Facebookwasworkingonplansfortheir500millionusercelebration,whichtookplaceinJuly2010.Thismeansthat,ifthewebsiteweregrantedastripofland,itwouldbetheworld'sthirdlargestcountrybypopulation,two-thirdsbiggerthantheU.S.Today,aswearedrawingourconclusions,FacebookfounderMarkZuckerberghasjustbeennamedTimePersonoftheYear2010,“Forconnectingmorethanhalfabillionpeopleandmappingthesocialrelationsamongthem;forcreatinganewsystemofexchanginginformation;andforchanginghowweallliveourlives”4.Facebookisthetipofthesocialnetworkingiceberg.OthersiteslikeTwitter,Flickr,andMySpacepreviouslyexperiencedasimilar(evenifmorelimited)growth.Thisisnottheonlyreasonwhyeconomics,politicalscience,andsociology(inastrictlyalphabeticalorder)shoulddealwiththeadventofonlinenetworking.AccordingtoFacebook'sofficialstatistics,50%ofactiveuserslogoninanygivenday.Theaverageuserhasabout130friends,andtotalusersspendover700billionminutespermonthontheplatform.Thereareover900millionobjects(pages,groups,eventsandcommunitypages)thatpeopleinteractwith,andtheaverageuserisconnectedto80ofthem.Eachoneoftheseobjectsisconceivedasaplaceforsocialinteractionwherepeoplecansharetheirviewsandplanactualmeetings(e.g.attendingaconcert).Morethan200millionactiveusersinteractwiththeirFacebookfriendsthroughamobiledevice.PeoplethatuseFacebookontheirmobilesaretwiceasactiveonFacebookthannon-mobileusers5.Thesenumberssuggestthatsocialinteractionsareundergoingatruerevolution.Thechangeishittingpubliclifeandtheeconomyaswell.ThinkforexampleofhowMr.Obamausedsocialnetworkingsites(SNSs)toorganizehissupportersandwinthepresidentialrace,orofthemajorchangeonlinereviewsystemslikeTripadvisorbroughtaboutinvacationhabits.Withrespecttofacetofaceinteractions,socialnetworkingpresentsanumberofeasytoguessshortcomings,butitcertainlyexhibitstwomajoradvantagesaswell:itislesstimeintensiveandlessexpensivetoo.Economicdevelopmentbringsaboutincreasingpressureontime,whichinturncausesasubstitutionoftimeintensivesocialactivities-likediningwithfriends-withtimesavingprivateoneslikewatchingtelevision(Antoci,SaccoandVanin,2005,2007,Antoci,SabatiniandSodini,2010a,2010b).Internet-mediatedinteractioncanpotentiallymitigate,orevenreverse,suchaworryingtrend.SNSslikeFacebookandTwitterallowuserstostayintouchwithfriendsintheirsparetime,whilesittingatadeskduringtheworkdayorwhilewaitingforthetrain.However,socialnetworkingisasurprisinglyneglectedtopicintheliterature.Todate,thesocialsciencedebateonSNSsseemstobeconstrainedtothefieldsoflawandappliedpsychology,mostlypointingatlimited-scopeissueslikeprivacyrisksandtheeffectsofthe4LevGrossman,MarkZuckerbergPersonoftheYear2010,publishedonlineonWednesday,Dec.15,2010,Time,://:itisstillverydifficulttocarryoutreliablelongitudinalanalysesproperlytakingintoaccountendogeneityproblems.However,duringthewaitforsuitabledata,thereisanurgentneedtodefineatheoreticalframeworktoinvestigatehowthecombinedeffectofonlinenetworkingandtimepressureisgoingtochangesocialinteraction.Thispaperproposesanevolutionaryframeworktoexplorethedynamicsofsocialinteractioninanenvironmentcharacterizedbyonlinenetworkingandincreasingpressureontime.Weassumethat,ineachinstantoftimet,theshare[]1,0)(∈txofagentsembraceasocialnetworkingstrategySN,i.e.theirsocialparticipationreliesbothononlinenetworksandfacetofaceinteraction.Theremainingshareofthepopulation)(1tx−adoptsafacetofacestrategyFF:theydonotinteractonlineandthusdevelopalltheirrelationshipsthroughfacetofacee