Use of social network sites for question and answer behavior

Abstract

In this thesis, we look at the behavior of posting questions as status updates on popular social network sites like Twitter and Facebook. This question asking behavior is similar to the use of search engines, question and answer sites, and information exchange offline, and can provide useful information for information seeking patterns elsewhere. We performed a large-scale survey asking about this behavior and used the techniques of affinity diagramming to code types and topics of questions, and grounded theory to code motivations for asking and answering questions. We conducted a field study in which participants posted status updates that asked a question that we varied across several dimensions, including several variations on phrasing. We also conducted a lab study where participants with information needs both posted questions on their Facebook profiles and searched online - we report on their preferences. Lastly, we looked at what kinds of friends - acquaintances or close friends - were answering questions, and who among them was the most useful, helpful, and trustworthy. From our collected data, we report on implications for design of both social systems and search engines.