Abstract

Using data from a popular online social network site, this paper explores the relationship between profile structure (namely, which fields are completed) and number of friends, giving designers insight into the importance of the profile and how it works to encourage connections and articulated relationships between users. We describe a theoretical framework that draws on aspects of signaling theory, common ground theory, and transaction costs theory to generate an understanding of why certain profile fields may be more predictive of friendship articulation on the site. Using a dataset consisting of 30,773 Facebook profiles, we determine which profile elements are most likely to predict friendship links and discuss the theoretical and design implications of our findings.

Keywords

FriendshipFace (sociological concept)Articulation (sociology)Database transactionComputer scienceCommon groundField (mathematics)Data scienceTransaction dataHuman–computer interactionInternet privacySociologySocial psychologyPsychologyMathematicsSocial sciencePolitical science

Affiliated Institutions

Related Publications

Publication Info

Year
2007
Type
article
Pages
435-444
Citations
624
Access
Closed

External Links

View on DOI.org

Social Impact

Altmetric
PlumX Metrics

Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

Citation Metrics

624
OpenAlex

Cite This

Cliff Lampe, Nicole B. Ellison, Charles Steinfield (2007). A familiar face(book). , 435-444. https://doi.org/10.1145/1240624.1240695

Identifiers

DOI
10.1145/1240624.1240695