I have explored a
research participant’s use of social media and her communication with her
strong ties. In doing so, I have asked numerous questions that yield both
qualitative and quantitative results.
The questions are as follows:
- How many people have you
communicated with today?
- How many people did you
communicate with via Facebook today?
- How many people did you
communicate via the phone today?
- How many people did you
communicate face to face today?
- How many people did you
communicate with via email today?
- How many people do you
communicate with every single day?
- How often did you interact
with this particular person?
- What form of communication
was used?
- Did the conversation relate
to social or work matters?
- What is the relation
between you and this person?
- Did you communicate in the
morning, afternoon or night time?
- How long did you
communicate with this particular person for?
- Was the communication
planned or unplanned?
Findings
Feroza Petersen was my research participant and agreed to
answer the questions above for my short pilot interview to gain an insight into
her use of social media to communicate with her close ties. She communicated
with 119 people on the 25th March 2015. She communicated with 7
people via Facebook, she spoke to 15 people face to face, sent and received 72
emails, whatsapp’d 5 people and sent and received 8 SMS’s. On a daily basis,
she communicates with the same 4 people, namely Ghaalid, Aeysha, Layinah and
Shaheen.
Ghaalid is her employer. She communicated with him 6 times,
via whatsapp, email, on the phone as well as face to face communication. They
spoke about matters concerning work and social throughout the day for
approximately 45 minutes in total. This communication was both planned and
unplanned.
Aeysha is her friend. She communicated with her thrice times
via whatsapp and a phonecall. They spoke about social matters during the day
for approximately 20 minutes. This communication was unplanned.
Layinah is her daughter. She communicated with her 4 times
via whatsapp, Facebook, on the phone and face to face. They spoke about social
matters throughout the day for approximately 1 hour in total. This communication
was unplanned.
Shaheen is her husband. She communicated with him twice in
person. They spoke about social matters in the morning and evening for
approximately 10 minutes in total. This communication was unplanned.
Rationale
Although Feroza has a high number of people she communicated
with on the 25th of March 2015, the bulk of this communication was
via email about matters concerning her job. She regularly stays in contact with
the same 4 people every day. This is an indication of the importance of maintaining
close ties with these 4 people. Work, friendship and family are important to
her and require her to continuously maintain communication with these relations
throughout the day. Feroza has communicated with 3 out of 4 of these relations
on more than one platform. She communicates with people
