Introduction

            The internet itself began as an academic research project funded by the military to promote the distributed exchange of information across large expanses.  These primarily academic, or otherwise professional, beginnings quickly led to an exchange of personal information and interpersonal interactions via the network that was created, and for a long time primarily driven, by academics and professionalism.  Throughout the course of the expansion, refinement, and development of the internet, we have seen this dichotomy of professional and personal uses of the internet struggle against each other.  It is the interplay between these two intrinsic characteristics of the internet, and the effect they have on society today, that I will be examining in this study.

            Following the creation of the Internet, the formation of social networking websites and their accompanying online communities created a distinctly personal space online that countered the Internet’s academic, or professional, roots.  It seems that now, however, these “personal” spaces are being utilized more and more frequently by companies and organizations for professional means such as marketing, advertising, and public relations.  It appears that social networking sites, which initially set themselves apart from the professional nature of the Internet in favor of more personal uses of it, are now returning back to these professional roots.  The questions at hand that will be addressed in this study are: Are social networking sites being used for more personal or professional means?  What effect does this have on these websites’ users? And finally, does this affect the users’ real-world relationships with these organizations? 

Although the use of personal social networking websites for professional means is a recent development that has yet to be researched in depth, it has at its core two distinct issues that have been addressed and studied in various scholarly works from several fields.  The first is the study of the use of personal space for professional means.  In one such study, Endersby (2002) examined the use of bumper stickers to communicate political party and interest group messages.  He found that car owners willingly applied bumper stickers to their automobiles to express the goals and ideals of a particular political party or interest group in order to identify with that particular group.  Another study examined how individuals used displays in their own front yards to participate in politics.  In their study, Makse and Sokhey (2010) found that yard signs in support of particular political parties, campaigns or positions, were not simply pieces of an organization’s or political party’s marketing campaign, but were in fact genuine participatory acts of the individuals themselves.  These studies examined two personal spaces, namely individuals’ vehicles and their homes or front yards, that are utilized to communicate professional, and in these instances specifically political, messages, though it is important to note that these studies found that both of these uses of personal space for professional means, were voluntary, and done to create a sense of identity and belonging.

 The other central issue at work in my study that has been researched from many different angles, is the study of the uses and effects of social networking sites.  One such studied looked at why students used Facebook and the type of content they posted.  In this study, Peluchette and Karl (2008) found that gender played a large role in the type of content individuals felt comfortable posting, but that both genders used social networking sites to develop an individual identity as well as gain access to a collaborative group identity and a sense of belonging.  Social networking sites have also been examined as a tool for developing social capital.  In their study, Ellison, Lampe, and Steinfield (2008), found that social networking sites lower the barriers that could lower self-esteem and quality of life, which facilitates the dispersion of social capital.  Social networking sites have also been examined in terms of civic engagement, such as in the study by Raynes-Goldie and Walker (2008) where they found that teenagers were more likely to be politically and socially active through social networking sites; in terms of privacy, such as in the study by Rosenblum (2007) where he found that most information that users think is private on social networking sites, is often public; and in terms of the emotional and cognitive effects of social networking sites on their users, such as in studies like that of Calvert, Pempek and Yermolayeva (2009) who examined how often young adults used Facebook, how important it was to their daily routines, and the large role it played in developing their individual identity and their relationships with their peers as they emerged into adulthood.  All of these studies show that social networking sites have generated a lot of research from various vantage points (especially from the psychological standpoint), and many different fields of study, and this list continues to grow to this day.

As we can see from the studies above, both the professional use of personal space and social networking sites are commonly researched topics in various fields.  The study of the professional use of personal space has been taken up by academics in the fields of communication studies, sociology, and psychology mostly to determine how and why people take part in these acts.  The same can be said for the study of social networking sites, where researchers from these same fields have examined why people use these sites, what they get out of them, and how they affect them individually and as groups.  Although these are both well researched areas individually, there has been little to no exploration of the recent phenomenon of social networking sites as personal spaces that are being utilized for professional means.  In order to bridge the gap between these two areas of interest, I will fuse these two ideas and examine the use of personal social networking sites for professional means and the effect this has on these sites’ users in an attempt to address and raise awareness about this novel issue and shed light on an area that has yet to be researched in much detail.

In order to research this phenomenon, we would ideally examine if and how some of the largest organizations, companies, and corporations use their individual members’ and employees’ social networking sites to their advantage, and survey these individuals to understand the effects these uses have.  Because this would require an examination of members and employees from several large organizations and companies, and the use of various social networking sites, it is beyond the scope of this research, but this same idea can be scaled down appropriately to measure the same phenomenon in a more manageable, but still representative, size sample.

To study how organizations, companies, and corporations uses social networking sites and the effect this has on these organizations’ users on a manageable scale, I will tailor my research to the University of California Los Angeles campus.  Rather than companies and corporations, I will look at student organizations on campus, and I will examine how they use Facebook, one of, if not the, most popular online social networking sites available today.  By surveying these student organizations’ members I will look at three main areas: How the student organizations use Facebook, how the students are affected by this use, and if this affects the students’ relationships with their organization.  From my own involvement in student organizations and Facebook use, I hypothesize that:

1.) Student organizations will use Facebook Pages for more professional and administrative business such as marketing and gathering a following or fan-base rather than using these sites to strengthen the relationships between members.

2.) Students will feel hostility toward their organization for having them use their own individual sites as a platform for the marketing or professional business of their organization, and that students will feel the need to sensor their personal information because it is linked to the larger, professional organization.

3.) Students will like their organizations less because their personal websites are used for the professional advancement of their organization. 

In order to collect data that address this hypothesis directly, I will survey UCLA students in various student organizations and ask simple questions that determine if their organization has a Facebook, how it is used, if they like the way it is used, if they feel limited personally by these uses, and how they feel about their organization as a result.  This data will allow me to evaluate my hypothesis, and make larger claims about Facebook and social networking sites, and even speculate about the Internet as a whole.     

By surveying students involved in various student organizations at the University of California Los Angeles in this way, I will be able to determine: 1.) How student organizations are using Facebook.  (By this I mean, whether or not they are using Facebook for personal means – meaning strengthening ties between their members - or professional means – meaning administrative business and marketing). 2.) How this affects the organizations’ users, (whether or not they like these uses and if they feel personally restricted by them).  3.) If this affects the relationship the members have with their organization (whether or not they like their organization less because of these uses of Facebook).  With this information, I will be able to assess the validity of my hypothesis, and be able to generalize to the particular issue I am interested in studying: If social networking sites, or specifically Facebook, (which is directly involved in the study and one of the most prominent social networking sites available today) is used for more personal or professional means and the consequences this may have.  By determining how Facebook, a distinctly personal space on the internet (and one of the most popular social networking, and more generally one of the most popular, websites, of our time) is being used today, I will also be able to give some insight as to whether the internet is being used more generally for personal or professional means – an issue that has been in question since its development.