Do Social Games Help Us Get Socialized Do Social Games Help Us Get Socialized? : Findings that are against common beliefs Changwoo Suh Ph.D student KAIST College of Business Byungho Park KAIST Graduate School of Information and Media Management

Abstract Background Data and Measure Results Conclusion Rapid increase in people using social media Social games leading growth of social media since the adoption of Open API Q: Do social games really help us get socialized? Background Internet-based survey(Qualtrics) using ISCS developed by Williams (2006) for measuring internet user’s social capital and characteristics Data and Measure Playing social games does not necessarily promote bonding social capital (which is different from prior studies of the Internet users) Playing social games impedes bridging social capital. In other words, social game usage hinder browsing activities Social gamers tend to use social media longer than non-gamers Results Using social games reduces social activities like TV (Campbell et al., 1999) Using social games does not reduce other functions of social media Conclusion

Which of these benefits will social game users receive? Introduction Explosion in social media usage: leading to various social changes Social Media Social medias such as such as Friendster, CyWorld, and MySpace allow individuals to present themselves, articulate their social networks, and establish or maintain connections with others (Ellison, 2008) Social media users develop relationship and maintain it. They express themselves and communicate in the network (Boyd & Ellison, 2008) Social media contains detailed information about where discussions are made and how people participate, so social media can induce users discussing and making opinions directly (Delli-Carpini & Michael, 2000; Shah, Kwak & Holber, 2001) Which of these benefits will social game users receive?

Social media usage strengthens positive social capital formation Introduction Social media usage strengthens positive social capital formation Social Capital Social capital broadly refers to the resources accumulated through the relationships among people(Coleman, 1998) Putnam (2000) distinguishes between bridging and bonding social capital Bonding social capital: deep relation, strong tie Bridging social capital: wide relation, weak tie It is possible that new forms of social capital and relationship building will occur in online social network sites(Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe, 2007) Facebook usage was found to interact with measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that it might provide greater benefits for users experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction (Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe, 2007)

Introduction People use of social applications via social media: Social games on top of the list Social Game A social application that can be played in social media. It utilize Open API to use social media information Jung and Lee (2010) showed that adopting Open API functionality was a good option to surpass competitors - Open API: application programming interfaces to use social media information that can be used within/without social media Users who can play social games are already being friends in social media Different user base in comparison to studies of online game or social media itself.

Debates on social feature of social games Introduction Debates on social feature of social games Social game developers and service providers Social games strengthen social media friendship via frequent interaction (Alschuler et al., 2004) Like social media research, users of social games can make new friends and maintain their relationships. (Lampe et al., 2006; Xu et al., 2011) VS. Non-social game developers and service providers It’s not really about doing things with them because you’re never playing at the same time (Caldwell, “Blow interview”, 2011/2/15, PC Gamer). It is a game exploiting your friends list that you already made. They’re really just called social games because they run on social networks but they’re way less [social]

Do social gamers generate more social capital than non-social gamers? Research questions Do social gamers generate more social capital than non-social gamers? 두 번째 RQ는 Cannibalization issue를 논하는 것임. Do social game usage impede usage of other functions/services via social media?

Usage time of Social Media Bonding Social Capital Research model Prior studies did not show significant relationships Use of Social Game Usage time of Social Media Bridging Social Capital Bonding Social Capital Literature Review를 통해 Research model을 구조화. Social game의 사용에 따라 bonding social capital과 bridging social capital이 모두 증가할 것이고, SNS의 사용시간도 증가할 것이라 예상. 금희조 논문에 따라 SNS 사용시간의 증가는 bonding/bridging social capital의 증가에도 영향을 미칠 것. 따라서 bonding/bridging으로 구성된 social capital은 social game의 사용과 SNS 사용시간에 의해 증가할 것이라는 생각. Prior studies showed positive and significant relationship Increasing social media usage time influence positive effects on bonding and bridging social capital (Keum, 2010). Expected 1: social game usage influence positive and significant effects on bonding and bridging social capital. Expected 2: positive relationship between using of social game and social media

Usage time of Social Media Bonding Social Capital Research model Bonding /Bridging Social Capital Usage time of Social Game Use of Social Game Usage time of Social Media Bridging Social Capital Bonding Social Capital Social game의 사용은 social game의 사용시간과 사용빈도를 합친 개념으로 본다. 이 두가지가 합쳐진 social game의 사용이 bonding과 bridging social capital에 각각 어떤 영향력이 있는지를 연구하기로 한다. 이 때, age/gender/number of SNS Friends 등을 control하여 유의미한 요소를 밝히기로. 그 중에서도 Gender는 관련 연구 review를 통해 유의미할 것이라 예상되므로 H4로 설정하고 ANOVA 분석으로 증명하고자 한다. H1 and H2 analyze correlation between social game using time and social capital. In H3, we analyze impacts of social game usage time to social media usage

Social capital measure Methods Survey statistics Survey is done in May 2011 Respondents: Convenient sample was used: (61 KAIST students, 37 recruited via social media/Internet) Male respondents: 63 (average age: 29.4), Female respondents: 30 (average age: 28.2) Social Capital 측정 Social capital measure We use ISCS (Internet Social Capital Scales) developed by Williams(2006) (We use Korean version translated by Keum (2010)) Social Capital 측정 Mean SE α Bonding social capital 3.05 .352 .88 (Keum, 2010) 3.41 (4.78)1 1.81 .85 Briding social capital 3.33 .351 3.66 (5.12) 1.98 (1) Keum(2010) used 10-point scale. The value in the parenthesis is for 10-point scale, and the value outside the parenthesis is transformed value for 5-point scale

Statistic description Social media usage Social game usage Social Capital 측정 Frequent use of social media and number of friends in social media Utilization of social media and social game - Using time, friends visit ratio Facebook Cyworld Twitter Frequency of usage 43% 34.6% 20.7% Contents Avg Total using time of social media 11.70 Visiting days of social media in a week 5.82 Using time of social media on a visit 1.74 Average using time of social game .37 Frequency to visit friends in a social game 1.61 # of friends Frequency Ratio(%) More than 200 25 25% 100 ~ 200 32 32% 50 ~ 100 20 20% Less than 50 16 16% No Answer 7 7%

Bonding Social Capital 형성 성향이 강할 것이다. Results There was no significant correlation between social game usage and bridging social capital. Social media using time per visit Total social media using time a week Social game using time Bonding social capital Bridging social capital 1 .999** (<.001) .381* (.050) -.296 (.134) -.163 (.418) .373† (.055) -.293 (.138) -.164 (.415) -.275 (.165) -.478* (.012) .344† (.079) Bridging social capital 처음에 bonding social capital에 영향을 줄 것 같은 변수들을 모두 correlation 분석을 해 보았다. 그 중 correlation이 높은 변수들을 뽑아서 회귀분석을 했고, 그 중 통계적으로 유의한 ( 유의수준이 낮은 ) 독립변수들을 회귀식 모형의 독립변수로 지정하였다. Social Game을 많이 즐길수록 Bonding Social Capital 형성 성향이 강할 것이다. Correlation analysis Insignificant correlation between bonding social capital and social game using time.  Social game usage does not augment bonding social capital.

Bonding Social Capital 형성 성향이 강할 것이다. Results Social gamers built less bridging social capital than others who did not play social games. Social media using time per visit Total social media using time a week Social game using time Bonding social capital Bridging social capital 1 .999** (<.001) .381* (.050) -.296 (.134) -.163 (.418) .373† (.055) -.293 (.138) -.164 (.415) -.275 (.165) -.478* (.012) .344† (.079) Bridging social capital 처음에 bonding social capital에 영향을 줄 것 같은 변수들을 모두 correlation 분석을 해 보았다. 그 중 correlation이 높은 변수들을 뽑아서 회귀분석을 했고, 그 중 통계적으로 유의한 ( 유의수준이 낮은 ) 독립변수들을 회귀식 모형의 독립변수로 지정하였다. Social Game을 많이 즐길수록 Bonding Social Capital 형성 성향이 강할 것이다. Correlation analysis Negative and significant correlation between bridging social capital and social game using time  Social game usage impede “browsing” weak ties (not well known relationship)

Results   SS df MS F p-value Social game usage 21.791 1 34.068 <.001 51.810 81 .640 73.601 82 Social media visit a week 10.889 3.973 .050 222.032 2.741 232.922 Social media using time per visit 10.901 8.379 .005 105.376 1.301 116.277 Total social media using time 2280.899 5.657 .020 32661.720 403.231 34942.619 Total social media using time except social game usage 4.488 .609 .437 596.467 7.364 600.955 Social game 비사용자와 사용자 2개 집단의 평균값의 유의미한 차이를 검증하기 위하여 ANOVA 분석 채택. ANOVA Comparing social media using time between social gamers and non-social gamers Social gamers showing high rate of visits and longer using time per visit. But there’s no significant difference except social game usage  Social gamers are more enthusiastic user of social media, but there is no difference in social media using time when we exclude social game usage

Results of research model Bonding Social Capital -.275(.165) Bonding Social Capital Use of Social Game Usage time of SNS Social Capital Bridging Social Capital -.478 (.012) ** Similar to other studies of the Internet, social game usage does not lead increasing of bonding social capital. Social game usage decrease bridging social capital significantly. This result is similar to Campbell et al. (1999) which showed that TV reduce bridging social capital. Social game usage increase social media usage except social game insignificantly.

Conclusion Conclusion Limitation Sampling bias: gender ratio Original Survey 2. Small sample (N=83) 3. Newly developed scale (ISCS; Internet Social Capital Scale) Social game usage decrease bridging social capital. Social game usage doesn’t reduce social media usage We find that nature of social game is similar to TV, not the Internet or social media. But service providers can earn more opportunity to increase total usage time of social media, they have to caution to adopt social game service.