the impact of social network sites(5)

4.1 Functional Affordances

Functional Affordances (FA) “are a type of relationship between a technical object and a specified user (or user group) that identifies what the user may be able to do with the object, given the user s capabilities and goals” (Markus & Silver, 2008, p. 622). Following are the functional affordances of the research model split into Social FA and Content FA.

Social FA consists of the social capabilities of the IT artefact. Social connectivity in an SNS provides the users with the ability to link with other individuals in a system through both commonly held information and social contacts. Profile Management enables users of an SNS to manage their unique profiles and the organization of their personal information. On average a profile will consist of descriptors such as age, location, interests, friend lists, and a personal information section; it will also include the ability to display a profile photo, modify the profile display, and add multimedia content and modules/applications. Social Interactivity refers to the potential for users to communicate with social connections within an SNS. Users can communicate within the network via comments, posts, electronic mail, instant messaging, and rating of other communications. These communications range from open to private within the network and can be synchronous or asynchronous.

Content FA consists of the capabilities of the IT artefact for the creation, distribution, and retrieval of content. Content Sharing & Discovery refers to the potential for information dissemination along the social links in a social network. Content can range in modality from text, video, audio, links, photos etc. Sharing can be done through social interactivity with known connections or open comments to the entire community. Users may discover content in the social network from these social cascades. Content Creation enables users to create user-generated content (UGC). Content Aggregation and Modification is the ability for users to syndicate and aggregate content (audio, visual etc.) for personal needs.

4.2 Consumption Tasks

The consumption of cultural goods involves seven basic tasks: searching, exploring, sampling, discovery, learning, interacting, and sharing. Searching is defined as the process of gathering

information and identifying purchase options (Lumpkin & Dess 2004; Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982). Search is goal-directed and is extrinsically motivated (Novak et al., 2003). Exploring is a form of overt search with an experiential nature, it is search as a form of play and constitutes ongoing search (Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982). Exploring is instrinsacly motivated and is a part of search (Novak et al., 2003) Sampling includes many different activities (Bounie et al., 2005) and is used as a direct source of information and experience which decreases product uncertainty (Heiman et al., 2001; Bounie et al., 2005). Discovery is a reduction of uncertainty about the world through access to

previously unknown information (Goodchild, 2000). Interacting refers to “descriptive aspects of social events in which persons participate” (Specht, 1986, p. 222). An interaction can be defined as “an

action (or reaction) which passes from one human being to another” (Riva & Galimberti, 1998, p. 15). Sharing is defined as the exchange of information between individuals or groups (Cha et al., 2007). Learning involves information acquisition and interpretation (Huber, 1991) and includes a feedback loop which exerts a strong impact on future discovery where satisfaction serves to reinforce future behavioural responses (Huber, 1991, Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982).

5 Planned Activities

Our project will use a multi-method approach comprising qualitative fieldwork followed by survey-based quantitative data gathering (c.f. Pinsonneault & Kraemer, 1993; Gable, 1994). The function of the qualitative data is to provide measurable constructs for the quantitative data collection, and will be gathered through 15-20 interviews to be conducted with university students born after 1982. These users are characterised as Millennials and are highly relevant to the study of social media in that that social networks are central to their lives, and group mentality and social interaction impact on their