Researching Online Visual Displays on Social Networking Sites: Methodologies and Meanings

Abstract

Social networking sites, particularly Facebook, have been rapidly assimilated into young people’s daily social lives. Facebook has attracted much research attention in the social sciences, although the site’s widely used photo sharing functionalities have been underexplored. In this article, we argue for the use of innovative methods to access and explore young people’s digitally and visually mediated worlds from their own perspectives. We use an illustrative research example that explored students’ drinking cultures on Facebook. Nine undergraduate students engaged in interviews with an Internet-enabled laptop, sharing their Facebook pages and discussing online photos and photo-sharing practices. Screen records of Facebook activity alongside participants’ talk provided multiple modes of data, which were analysed together to show that Facebook photos were important discursive resources that had implications for students’ identities, friendships, and drinking practices. Creative qualitative approaches such as these can provide novel insights into young people’s social worlds.

Keywords:

• drinking cultures
• qualitative methods
• social networking sites
• visual methods
• young adults

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the School of Psychology, Massey University, for their writing scholarship for Anna Tonks.

Notes

1. New Zealander of European descent.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna Tonks

Anna Tonks has recently worked as a research assistant and completed her MSc in the School of Psychology at Massey University, New Zealand. Her research focuses on health psychology, drinking cultures, and young adults.

Antonia C. Lyons

Antonia Lyons is an Associate Professor in Health and Social Psychology in the School of Psychology, Massey University, Wellington. She is interested in issues of health, gender, identities, drinking practices, and social networking.

Ian Goodwin

Ian Goodwin is a senior lecturer in the School of English and Media Studies, Massey University. His research explores intersections between new media, identity politics, popular culture, space and place, consumption, activism and citizenship.