Awareness of the Others on Facebook: Empirical Analysis of Social Presence

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons why college students use Facebook and the ways in which they feel of social presence while using Facebook. In fact, the study aimed to specify the links between motivations for using SNS and a sense of ‘being together’. The findings of this study suggest that major motivations of SNS use were social interaction, entertainment, self-presentation, and information-seeking. Specifically, results from a survey of 280 respondents revealed that college students used Facebook to seek maintenance and connection with friends, to express themselves, to get information about school activities, and to be entertained. These findings are consistent with the existing literature regarding SNS as a primary channel to maintain the existing social relationships among college students. The study also found that all motivation factors, except information-seeking factor, were positively and significantly related to social presence. The strongest correlations were between social presence and Facebook use for social interaction and entertainment needs. It seemed that users who seek social interaction and entertainment needs are more likely to feel a sense of being with others while users who seek to get information are less likely to feel a sense of social presence. These findings implied that to some extent, a sense of social presence occurs in the context of Facebook and that the experience of social presence depends on what college students seek from Facebook use. In addition, the results showed a positive relationship between Facebook use and social presence; the more college students use Facebook, the more they are likely to experience sense of social presence. Given that Facebook provides college students with a place where they can share thought and feelings among friends, it can be concluded that Facebook contributes to the sense of belonging among users. And such feeling may enhance a sense of presence with others while using Facebook. These findings suggest that uses and gratifications researchers should consider the concept of social presence as an important variable in explaining what audience members do with media.