Survey: Do You Use Facebook ?

[SaucySailoress]

Hi there,

I am currently studying for a Masters degree in Online Education. I am currently preparing my dissertation for the main module, and my research is to determine whether social networking can realistically be used to facilitate groups of cruising kids studying together in informal online groups.... I have heard of families using radio for collaboration...

Whilst CF

is not a resource to be "mined"

I hope I am amongst friends here, and am simply asking if you could take 5 minutes to fill in a ten question survey for me about your Facebook use (or not). Since the results may be of interest to yourselves, I will keep you informed of the results, and hopefully stimulate some interest discussion for me to quote in my dissertation. (I will ask for permission before quoting what you say, tho!)

Kate's survey about using Facebook

I would be very grateful if you could complete this survey even if you don't use FB, so that I can get a balanced picture of whether there is a reasonable 'market' for this sort of educational resource. This survey is looking at how people use FB to establish comfort levels.

Thank you very much for your help.... and ANY comments would be appreciated on this forum too. If you put something inspiring in your quiz, please copy and paste it here as well

[Hannah on 'Rita T']

SS, I had a hard time answering because I rarely/never post to FB, I do occasionally read my daughter's and other's FB pages. So is that "using"? If I were still cruising with kids I would do anything it took to find other kid boats, including reading and posting to FB.

[Rhapsody-NS27]

I tried it several years ago but I felt there were other more important things to do so I deleted the account. I don't see any use in letting everyone know what or how I'm doing.
Big waste of time for me.

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by Hannah on 'Rita T'

SS, I had a hard time answering because I rarely/never post to FB, I do occasionally read my daughter's and other's FB pages. So is that "using"? If I were still cruising with kids I would do anything it took to find other kid boats, including reading and posting to FB.

Thanks, Hannah and Dan, I appreciate you both taking time to participate. It is especially important for me to gauge responses from reluctant FB users as well as positive ones, to see how it can be manipulated as a 'teaching tool'. Of course, I need to find some youngsters to respond as well - on the whole I suspect they'll be much more comfortable with it.

I have used FB for about 5 years now, and in that time have reconnected with relatives near and far. It is much easier for me to post a short sentence about me regularly than it is to write a proper email regularly! As a long term expat I find it fantastic for keeping up with family. Silly little things, like seeing photos of my nieces on Blackpool beach or at a birthday party, truly make the experience valuable for me.

I was gutted to read this one response though:

It is an excellent method to keep in contact with my family when I am overseas. It was the only way my brother had of notifying me of the death of my parents while I was in Afghanistan.

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by Dan_78

I tried it several years ago but I felt there were other more important things to do so I deleted the account. I don't see any use in letting everyone know what or how I'm doing.
Big waste of time for me.

Ditto.

[imagine2frolic]

I had a friend sign me up. I used it for awhile, and then found it to invasive. I don't need to know if someone sneezes.........i2f

[SaucySailoress]

Thanks, all, for some great feedback so far. I find it interesting that 100% of members who have typed an opinion here are anti-FB.... and yet only 2 of the 16 (so far) survey respondents don't use FB (both are full-time cruisers, and so far 50% of respondents are cruisers, 50% not).

ANyway, I'm not 67, but I did relate to this comment:

I am 67, and I was dragged into FB because my three grown children and four grandchildren all use FB and they do not email any more. If I wanted to see what's going on in their lives, I needed to be a FB person. Many of our cruising friends are on FB, and it's a good way to stay in touch. Except for the security concerns, actually better than email because you see photos and little daily updates.

[David_Old_Jersey]

I'm on Facebook - but don't use it, found it clunky and dated / too much of a PITA to use. But I can see why the kids go for the social interaction side - the novelty of people not yet worn off........

[zeehag]

i use it because i still have family in usa and they follow stuff there,....

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

I'm on Facebook - but don't use it, found it clunky and dated / too much of a PITA to use. But I can see why the kids go for the social interaction side - the novelty of people not yet worn off........

David,

There is something so charming about your cynical "Old Fartism".... x x x

[FSMike]

SaucyS -

There's no way to answer "other" to your question #8 without checking one of the previous choices. Don't know if that's what you intended.

[Doodles]

I use it a lot and also Twitter. Maybe you could include Twitter in the survey since a lot of people are moving to it.

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by FSMike

SaucyS -

There's no way to answer "other" to your question #8 without checking one of the previous choices. Don't know if that's what you intended.

Erm.... No. This is the first time I've used survey monkey, but the "Other, please specify" option is a standard one that you should be able to check alone. I'll look into it, but not a lot I can do at this stage anyway!

Is there an answer you were forced to give that I should remove from the stats?

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by Doodles

I use it a lot and also Twitter. Maybe you could include Twitter in the survey since a lot of people are moving to it.

Too late to change now! Twitter will form part of my research, which is about 'Social Networking', a very broad term which also encompasses Google+, forums, Skype, blogs etc... If anything it will be difficult to hone all the information down!

The reason I have honed in on FB in particular is because I think I might be able to use it to create "Communities of Practise" to enable cruising kids to work together on projects. As part of the assignment I need to create a learning design using one of these technologies.

For my last project I tried to do so through blogs... but the teenagers I experimented on just kept getting stuck on the unfamiliar technology. However, all our communication was done through FB, which has got me thinking I might be able to use the tools FB offers to host such a study group.

My next survey will be about how people communicate using audio and video calls on the internet. For example, my class has found the Google+ hangout to be highly useful for discussing upcoming projects; with high quality video conferring between students in Ireland, England, Kuwait and Japan. When FB gets this tool sorted it will make a big difference to how people communicate, I think.

[svpattyd]

I love to use FB. I keep in touch with family and friends all over the world. I first started using FB when my son accepted a chef position at McMurdo station, Antarctica. Last year, when my oldest son was hit by a drunk driver, it was the best way to keep everyone updated on his progress. As he has healed, he is awed by the support he has received from his FB friends and family members that don't live nearby. I get to c pictures of my grandkids when we are out and about on the boat.

I don't answer quizzes, I don't play games, I don't 'like' products. I don't share with everyone. I use it as a tool to keep in touch with people I care about.