Virtualization of Social Space in Information Society: A Case Study of The Use of Facebook.

• Main Authors: Jo-Han Lin, 林若涵
• Other Authors: Chan-An Shih
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/5bunbd

碩士 === 華梵大學 === 建築學系碩士班 === 102 === In this decade, Facebook has become the most popular social network sites in the world. Many academic researches accordingly have been conducted to explore the behavior of Facebook users. To offer more substantial evidence, this study uses life education, character education and psychological and sociological theory to investigate the behavior and motivation of junior high school students who press the “Like”button and receive “Likes”on Facebook in Taiwan. Two approaches are applied in this study: Firstly, apply questionnaires to investigate the habits of Taipei Municipal Xi-hu Junior High School students who use Facebook, and then randomly select each five students from seventh, eighth, and ninth grade to conduct in-depth interviews to understand the behavior and thinking of pressing the“Like”button and receiving“Likes”on Facebook. The result shows that using Facebook has become one of the daily habits for junior high school students. The educators therefore could incorporate the habits, the motives and the behavior of pressing “Like” button in varied situations into teaching materials. This study used psychological and sociological theory to analyze students’ thoughts of pressing the“Like”button and receiving“Likes”on Facebook. In terms of Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation, junior high school students would tend to satisfy their affection, belongings and control needs by pressing the “Like”button and receiving“Likes”on Facebook. In terms of Maslow’s need hierarchy theory, junior high school students would satisfy their needs for love and belongings, needs for esteem, and needs for self-actualization by pressing the“Like”button and receiving “Likes” on Facebook. In terms of symbolic interactionalism, “Like”represents a positive symbol with praises, compliments and acknowledgement. While receiving a negative message, the meaning of“Like”can be transferred to careness, keeping one’s company, and support. However, some students think that the “Like”button has already lost its positive meanings and become a cheap symbol because of overusing. In terms of social exchange theory, “Like”is a shapeless, virtual payment. Pressing “Like” button is like a social relational cost, and receiving“Like”is like receiving a reward for this relationship. In addition to press the “Like”button to express opinions, Facebook shortens the distance between people. In this virtualization space, Facebook breaks the restriction of time and space, and achieves the goal of transferring information and communication. Since Facebook has already been a part of students’ life, school teachers can help their students building correct values in virtualiztion space and affect their behaviors in physical space by education.