Title: Reaction of people in the presence of others

Introduction: Social networking sites have become very popular in the 21 st century. Almost
every person uses them not only for recreation but also for different purposes. It is noticed that
people are using social networking sites in public places. In this perspective, one interesting fact
has noticed that people react when other people get near them. Their reaction varies upon their
age, sex, personality, profession and so forth. Sometimes they become angry, startled, disturbed
or act completely different. An article conducted by Danah Boyd from University of California-
Berkeley and University of Southern California titled as ‘Social Networking sites: Public
Private or What?’ This article basically portrays that-

 Teenagers are more likely to use social networks in front of others

 Adults(30+) tend to hesitate in public place
 Conservative educators have a negative perception in this regard
 Profiles, friend lists and comments are key features in social networking
 Users are mostly sensitive to these issues in social networking.

This research is conducted to conclude that people using social networking sites react in the
presence of others.

Methodology: Here we used experimental research method.

The study was carried out in Dhaka city mostly in the central area. The sample size was 50
which was chosen randomly in the population aged from 18-37, male-female and different
professions. The entire experiment was conducted upon them to test the hypothesis.

In this experiment there are dependent and independent variable. We conducted the study to
determine the reaction of people in the presence of others. Here, the dependent variable is the
behavior of the people using social networking and independent variable is the presence of other
people. The behavior of the internet users do not affect until there is a factor. On the other hand
the examiner (act as a factor) becomes the independent variable. Since the presence of the
examiner affects the behavior of the internet user.

Situation Variable
Presence of an outside factor Independent variable
Behavior of test subjects without presence of Dependent variable
outside factors

The whole procedure was done mostly in university area and some other areas. At first random
number of people using social networks were selected in some public places like computer lab,
cyber cafe or a central hall. The examiners will sit beside the test subjects but they will not tell
them anything or do anything. They will just notice the subjects’ reaction. The test subjects will

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either ignore the examiners or they will react in different ways. However the examiner will
collect the data from test subjects. In the end of the experiment examiner will gather all the data
to test the hypothesis.

Results: In this experiment our sample size is 50 which were chosen randomly. This sample was
chosen from the population of Dhaka city in different locations like university campus, cyber
cafe, bus etc. First of all we have noticed that when and where people tend to use social
networking sites most. Then we go to those places and started our experiment, most of our test
subjects were aged from 18-37 and most of them were students, service holders or other
professions.

Among the total sample size of 50, 26 were male and 24 were female. We segmented the total
age of the sample into five discretionary categories. Age ranges were 18-21, 22-25, 26-29, 30-33
and 34-37. Among the age ranges 7 male (26.93%) and 10 female (41.67%) in the range of 18-
21, 7 male (26.93%) and 3 female (12.5%) in 22-25, 4 male (15.38%) and 5 female (20.83%) in
26-29, 4 male (15.38%) and 4 female (8.33%) in 30-33, 4 male (15.38%) and 2 female (8.88%)
in 34-37.

Table 1- Age and sex distribution of subjects examined (n=50)

Age Range Males In Sample % of Sample Females in Sample % of Sample

18-21 7 26.93 10 41.67
22-25 7 26.93 3 12.5
26-29 4 15.38 5 20.83
30-33 4 15.38 4 16.67
34-37 4 15.38 2 8.33
Total 26 100 24 100

After collecting and analyzing the data different outcomes have found in the basis of age and
sex. In the first category (18-21), total size of 17 participants it was found that 3 male subjects
reacted and 4 did not react, on the other hand 4 female reacted and rest 6 did not do anything.
This class subjects reacted in such a way that they feel annoyed or disgusted in the presence of
others. The other subjects who did not react were quite dominant and neglecting.
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In the second group age of 22-25, total size was 10 including 7 male and 3 female. Amongst
them 6 male reacted and 1 male did not react, on the other hand 3 female reacted. No female
found at this stage that did not react. People were more conservative than the previous group.
They feel shy and sometimes they use in such a way that no one could see him/her. It was also
noticed that they close social sites instantly as soon as someone approaches.

The third group ranging from 26-29 had total size of 9 consisting 4 male and 5 female. As per the
experiment 2 male reacted and the rest 2 did not react, on the other hand 4 female reacted and 1
female did not react. This group of people were found restricted and prefer to use social sites
privately.

The fourth group considering the age ranges from 30-33. It had total size of 8 consisting 4 male
and 4 female. After conducting the experiment on them it was found that 3 male reacted and 1
did not react on the other hand 3 female reacted and the rest 1 did not react. These people are
matured and their general understanding level is quite higher than the others. Generally at this
stage people develop their rationality so they tend to be more sensitive and try to maintain
confidentiality regarding their personal life.

The last group ranging from age of 34-37 had a total frequency of 6 including 3 male and 3
female. Among the male subjects, 2 reacted and 1 did not react on the other hand only 1 female
reacted and the rest 2 did not react. Basically people at this stage develop themselves at a broader
sense. They share almost same characteristics as the pervious group.

Table 2- Response of test subjects according to age and sex

Age range Response 'YES' Response "NO" Total

Male "YES" Female "YES" Male "NO" Female "NO"
18-21 3 4 4 6 17
22-25 6 3 1 0 10
26-29 2 4 2 1 9
30-33 3 3 1 1 8
34-37 2 1 2 1 6
Total 16 15 10 9 50

Findings: There are some important and interesting facts found after conducting this experiment.
The first group (18-21) male subjects reacted less than the female subjects. In terms of
negligence female subjects are at higher position. So it can be concluded that people at this stage
develop personality and less responsive to outside factors. Male and female hold different

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perceptions reacting at these conditions. Basically teen agers represent this group and teenagers
spend a lot of time in social networking sites.

The second group of subjects (22-25) male subjects reacted significantly higher than female
subjects. It is noticed that in this group no female were found neglecting the presence of an
outside factor. So we can illustrate that reaction of both male and female are quite higher at this
age.

In the third group (26-29) female response is surprisingly higher than male subjects. In the
neglecting group male are holding higher position than female. We can say that at this age
female are more conservative than male as sometimes they enter into a new sphere of life.

In the fourth group (30-33) male and female responses are same and negligence rate is same.
Generally people at this stage are more conservative and like to retain their personal life apart
from the others.

In the last level (34-37) there are different responses between male and female. Male are more
responsive and female are less. On the contrary, male neglect less than female. It is obvious that
people at this age group become materialistic and likely to use social networking for the purpose
of professional works and so forth. People at this stage are often busy with their works so they
are less likely to use social networking and if they use it they do not like to share with the others.

Response of Male & Female on age basis

7

5 Male
Female
4 Male
Female
3

0
18-21 22-25 26-29 30-33 34-37

The overview of the experiment illustrates that most of the people whatever they are male or
female react using social networking sites in front of others. Age sometimes acts a focal point of
measuring the reaction of people as younger people are less responsive than older people. Sex is

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also another important point as reaction varies in terms of male and female. Male members are
comparatively lower responsive than female. It is obvious that females are shyer and like to keep
their personal matters hidden from others.

Overall response according to sex

18
16
14
12 Male
10 Female
8
6
4
2
0
Response Response

So, we can conclude that people using social networking sites react in the presence of others.

Limitation: Unlike other researches this research also has some limitations-

 Shortage of time
 Difficult to collect primary information
 Insufficient sample size
 Sample cannot represent the whole population
 Lack of proper information ( e.g. actual age of subjects cannot be known so approximate
age is given)
 Narrow base line of research ( conducted only in the basis of sex and age, there are other
bases like professions, personality etc)
 Difficult to understand the reaction of test subjects.

Conclusion: After conducting the research we have found some facts regarding to people’s
reaction using social networking sites in the presence of others. Key factors in this research were
age, sex and different expressions of different individuals.

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  Teenagers are mostly avoid other people while using social networking sites
 They get more time and spend more time in social networks
 Immediate after the teenager stage people are more responsive
 They grow mature and become serious in their personal matters
 After the matured stage people become conservative and like to keep their personal
matters apart from outsiders
 People get into new stage of life so they become conservative
 At later stage of life people enter into professional life so they confine their life in
narrower context
 Understanding level increases and learn new things from life other than social networking
sites
 In the professional life people become busy and get less time to spend in social
networking
 Matured people prefer to spend less time in social networks rather than personal life
 People get socialized at the early stage of life so they do not find interest in them
anymore
 Sex is an important factor in determining the reaction
 Female are more sensitive than male from the very beginning
 There could be some exceptions in the possible outcome of the experiment

Although the proposed hypothesis has been proved there could be some exceptions. The possible
outcome could be different as people are considered as different individual and they nourish
different perceptions. Still there are some questions remained unanswered like what if the sample
size becomes huge or how the result would be affected if the baselines were broader. It is
obvious that the result would be changed. If we are assigned to conduct the study again, we
would choose a bigger sample from the population; apply improved theory and higher level of
analysis.

References:

‘Social Networking sites: Public Private or What?’

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Danah Boyd

University of California-Berkeley and University of Southern California

Useful links: http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2007/?page_id=28

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