Do you think social networking is useful and why?Explain.

P urmm (p) I do think it’s useful because you can actually contact a lot of people without having to see them in person or you don’t have to use phones so it doesn’t really cost you anything, along as you have Wi-Fi connection you can actually be InTouch with everyone. I find it really useful for me as I live far away from my family and friends, since I’ve moved to England and urmm (p) it would have been really hard for me to keep in touch with all the people I would like to keep in touch with  because (p) they live in Serbia but they all actually live in different town and different cities, so even if I went back home it would be hard for me to meet up with everyone, I don’t have time urm (p) well  it’s actually really hard to travel especially because you want to spend most of your time with your family anyway,  so using social networks actually makes it a lot easier to keep in touch and to know what’s going on with other people in your life, people from high school, people from (p) primary school, people from university that actually I don’t see or I don’t speak with at least I know what’s going on in their life’s, like yesterday, actually one of my friends from high school that I didn’t see in like (p) 15 years posted that she’s pregnant, so I found out she’s pregnant and I wouldn’t know(p) any other way unless I used Facebook so, (p) I think, I think it’s a really good thing, it’s really useful especially for people who don’t live in the same country.

I  Have social networking sites had an impact on your life?

P (p) urm, (p) I guess they have (p) urm, some how you feel(p) you feel more connected, you feel like you’re not alone (p) urm, when I came over (p) because I had only my husband and his family really, I didn’t have any friends or family or anyone(p) here I felt really lonely, but then I found Facebook and then I started adding all these people that I knew from years ago and all my friends and (p) and even if you’re on your own in your house and you feel like talking to someone, you can actually go on Facebook and message or whatever, and start talking to someone and you know sometimes I talk like (p) I talk, I spoke with one of my college from work , that I didn’t see I think it was like, maybe 10 years ? we just started chatting because he was on his own at home and he was bored and I was on my own at home bored (p) we started talking about everything that happened from like 10 years ago working together till now and (interlude) you know (p) I got the full story of his life up to date, so it’s actually quite good.

I  How do you use each social networking differently?

P urm for example I use Facebook to keep in touch with people (p) with friends but not really (p) like I have all all  (p) everyone on my Facebook account like family members, loads of friends, load of you know (p) friends I actually didn’t  see in a very long time (p) people im not really close with but I still like to keep in touch with so (p) urm I use [inaudible] usually I don’t post much im not im not (p) im  quite a private person so im not going to put many posts up and if im going to post something im going to be (p) im going to be careful of what I post im not going to post anything that’s going to expose my personal opinions to much, urm (p) I put only a few photographs, just for people to see whats going on in my life like major events and stuff but im not going to post my everyday life when you know when I woke up and what im going to eat and when im gonna go back to sleep and stuff, urm I use viber and I use whatsapp.

(-) I so do you know on Facebook do you ever use the check in (p) where you can tell people where you are and stuff like that

P no I never (p) I don’t have that at all, that option is switched off on my phone. (-) I And whys that?

P (p) I don’t know I don’t think that its anyone’s business really where I am (p) and I don’t like people to (p) its not that I don’t like people to know where I am but I think (p) there’s no reason really to post that to the whole world. (-) I has that got anything to do with safety?

P it ha..s (p) well maybe it has to do with safety (p) because you know… (p) I don’t know who’s watching I don’t know who im connected with… its not only just a few hundred people that actually are my friends (p) actually your connected to the internet so anyone can track you to find where you are.. and urm (p) it might be the conspiracy theory I don’t know I don’t feel safe, I just [inaudible] urm (p) having this thing switched on so everyone can find out where I am but also (p) I don’t (pause) I don’t  think that people really  want to know like if I went to this restaurant in this moment of time and I’m sat here I don’t think anyone would be interested so why would I want to post something like that (-) I you’d be surprised.. oh right..

I  What are your personal opinions on social networking sites?

P Uh (p) I think they are useful to keep in touch with people you

Cant keep in touch with as iv said already… I use (p) urm as iv said already I use Facebook just barely to be present in the cyber world in a sense… so if anyone wants to find me its possible to find me, (pause) but I usually use viber and WhatsApp, to talk to my really close friends and family, so we do that every day… I spoke, I speak to my mum at least once a day , urm I speak with my sister (p) couple times a week , and urm… some of my cousins and some of my friends, so we… send photos to each other all the time, we send videos to each other all the time because they don’t see my child a lot… and urm [inaudible] they saw her last (p) last year almost… so they missing out on her growing up but I don’t want them to miss out on her growing up, I keep recording her all the time and sent videos over so they can see… you know how she’s changing now, what she’s doing now. I don’t see my nieces much… so I like to see what my niece is doing to -[i]- i so do you feel like it’s a good way to keep up with family and friends?

P yeah i think its a realty good way to keep up because urm when you think (p) when i moved to England… my family was really worried that they were not going to see me and that they going to miss out on my life, and it was going to be hard and it was really hard to (pause) make peace with me moving away, it was hard for me but now i think being able to see my mum.. you know on the phone or my mum being able to talk to my child over the phone and still see her face and her smiling and have some kind of interaction and an.. (p) My daughter is incapable you know she can listen to my language with more people talking not just me , i think it’s a really beneficial thing.

I  Do you think social networking sites provide a false sense of communications?

P for some people it might do, when i urm (p) urm i met my husband online actually, and urm (p) we was playing poker online it wasn’t like a social networking site or anything it was urm (p) almost 10 years ago so they didn’t really exist then and urm (p) even then there was this sense of danger and not knowing who you were talking to and you know (p) if he’s going to be some sort of killer or he’s going to sell me on or whatever or i did (p) i did believe he was genuine, and it turned out he was but my family wasn’t really sure about it… then you here all these stories about you know (p) you have these catfish programmes -(i)- i yeah

P people watch all the time, you have people pretending to be something that there really not, so (p) in my (p) depends how vulnerable you are or gullible, I urm think I was open to everything when i met my husband but i never (pause) i never believed 100% till i really met him.. you know i always had this precaution measures, i wanted him to come and meet me in my country on my, on my territory before i came over to Britain and even first time i came over here, i still had, you know some cash, i had a credit card just in case i have to run -(I)- I just in case something happened yeah?

p you have to be cautious, it’s possible that it is a false sense of communication but then (p) some people just need communication no matter who from, it might be a good thing, you know some people need to reach out and talk to, to someone, it doesn’t matter who they are -(i)- so don’t you think that can be damaging to the individual and the person providing the false image and communication?

P Depends what you’re looking for, if there looking for someone just to talk to, then (p), i think it’s a good outlet you know to share what’s bothering you to someone else you’re never going to see or meet, it’s easier to talk to people you don’t really know than people you know, but then if it leads to like a person maybe falling in love or you know building having (p) trust that other person, (pause) it can be damaging because it’s just going to damage self-esteem your, your -(i)- what if that person is going to expose everything you’ve been saying?

yeah that’s possible, that’s possible that’s what maybe you should be careful ,you know but you (p) I don’t know it might come with age, with younger people abi..abit careless or they fine… I don’t think there careless they, they or stupid or their just young i just think it’s this internet thing you know global communication.. It’s all normal to them they don’t see the world outside that you know just a world without Facebook doesn’t exist to them it’s a normal thing born into it almost, for me because I’m older. Facebook is a new thing really you know we didn’t communicate that way we didn’t post selfies of our self all over the place and maybe i would of done the same thing when i was 18 if urm Facebook did exist luckily it didn’t so i didn’t make a fool out of myself

I What social networking sites do you use and why?

P Urrm i use, i use Facebook urm because it just keeps you open to anyone who wants to contact you, you know there’s loads of people that i lost touch with over the years and you know it would be nice if they wanted to find me and talk to me and you know (p) and urm i like to have an … open way to people who contact me, some might remember 5 years from now and think o’my god i really wonder what this person doing? And then im going to go on Facebook and try find her, an..and you usually find people you want to find, so

somebody knows them, so it’s nice to just have that opportunity but then I use WhatsApp and viber because then there private and you know it’s only between you and whoever wants to be… you know who ever you want involved and they can see whatever you’re sharing or what you’re talking about, and urm also its great, you know you don’t have to pay for it. When i came over urm without WhatsApp and stuff, and urm (p) it was, it was costing a lot of money just to stay in contact with my family I wasn’t able to speak to all my family and now it’s easy you just send a video or photo, you can talk to them for hours, yeah. -(i)- so are those the only 3 that you use?

p – Yeah I don’t think I use anything else.

I  Have you even experienced cyber-bullying throughout your time using social networking sites?

p I haven’t uh (p) I think it might be because I’m really private and urm i don’t add people I don’t actually know so i don’t have many friends, an..and the people that i do know are those iv physically was in contact with, or you know there friends or there family friends or there colleagues or whatever, I don’t add anyone that actually not sure who they are. so that might be the reason, i did actually once iv urm had something similar to that like cyber bullying but it wasn’t on Facebook it was urm…this actually website where i met my husband we…we use to play poker and it says where you’re from and you know it shows the country where your from and i had this guy from turkey and he was being really nasty to me calling me a murderer an (p) all sorts of stuff because my country use to be in war, so (p) i felt really bad about it but you can’t do anything, you can’t defend yourself against people like that -(i)- I yeah

I  Do social networking sites you use make you feel less productive? Is so can you elaborate on how?

p in what sense do you mean like waste my time -(i)- I yeah like wasting time browsing online and stuff and feel like i don’t have to do anything today, iv got Facebook today i don’t have to be productive.

p urm (p) in my life its abit difficult, its impossible because i have so many things to do, because i have a family and i have um work and the university lectures and stuff, so i don’t really have much time to browse, so you know my priorities are concentrated there, i actually do need to do physically, but urm any spare time… you know there’s not one day that goes that i don’t go and check Facebook at least to see all the statuses and stuff, I don’t really do much on it , i just keep an eye that everything… you know to see if there’s anything going on. -(i)- on a whole do you think social networking do make people be less productive? Like because of the content.

P yeah like sometimes it hits me that people that i work with don’t go on their breaks without their phones an and i never understood, why would you want to go on your break with your phone… you know you have a whole day for posts or posting stuff then you go to work and have 15/20 minute break and you still bring your phone out and you still on Facebook posting stuff, i don’t understand, instead of having a communication with people who are actually on their break with you and can have a normal chat with someone else

I  Have you ever felt that social networking sites invade your privacy? If so have they caused any harm to your career prospect?

p urm i think (pause) i do think they invade your privacy, um im a really private person and the other day i actually googled my name and urm (pause) a picture of my daughter came on google and i felt really bad about it, a public photo of my child that i didn’t really post there, for a reason.. for it to be public , i just wanted… that’s my favourite photo of my daughter, that’s a photo of my baby and that photo is there and everyone can see it. -(i)- I did you feel hurt by that?

p i did feel hurt, i feel betrayed in a way and i felt really, you know urm.. i felt really like i didn’t protect her enough and that wasn’t my intention to put.. to plaster her all over the internet i doubt that people are really going to do anything with it because it’s only one… um it’s not anything you know (p) it’s just a pretty photo of a baby but i just didn’t feel sa… i didn’t really feel and I’m really thinking of taking it off and now i understand there’s a lot of people on Facebook that actually have photos of random stuff on, you know instead of photos of themselves or their children or something… that i always thought… like i always had my face on thinking if someone tries to look for me (p) there not going to know who i am, unless they see my face.. you know if I’m looking for someone i need to see their face (p) to know that’s the real person or -(i)- do you think they have potential to harm peoples careers? P i think they do especially to people that post urm (p) you know thing that they didn’t really think through urm you know -(i)- for example they go out partying? P yeah of them being drunk or being naked or urm you know some maybe really racist comments or comments about the work or comments about what you want to do or comments about what you don’t want to do. Even, even being sarcastic, people don’t understand if you’re being sarcastic or not its just a letters on a white surface, you can’t, you know you can’t see facial expressions. No one knows what you actually mean by that. you can see it in newspapers and stuff, people get arrested for posting stuff, on you know twitter and Facebook just any really… even if it sounds to someone {inaudible] yeah.

I  What impact do you think social sites might have on health?

p urm (pause) there’s a possibility of having um… depends on how you use it or what your needs are, if you need a let out, for some frustration, or any kind of problems you have, there’s a possibility that it actually can be a good thing, urm (pause) being able to reach out and talk to people in cyber space cause um,.. you feel safer and because your behind a screen or behind a phone and your only using you know a keypad to type, and you don’t really have to say anything and you don’t feel as vulnerable, so it’s easier for you to open up , {inaudible] so it might be a really good way of healing , if your.. if. If your suffering from something or on the other hand it might be really bad to your health if you’re a different kind of person or if you unfortunately get into a…. some kind of cyber bullying situation when you know the people are actually going to prey on you being vulnerable and try to hurt you.. That…that can have really bad side effects i believe.

I  What kind of communications do you think social networking sites provide?

p (pause) I don’t understand the question?  -(i)- its just basically like what you use on there like messenger or like video chat.

p oh yeah you can have video communication which is.. urm you can actually watch each other talking, which is the best… i think it’s the best way of communicating because then you actually do know the other person means and thinks and feels when you’re watching them… there’s this emoticons… what do you call them?

-(i)- I them smileys?

p yeah, i like that… use them a lot… i think it shows more than if your kissing someone… its nicer to in a way than just writing down.

-(i)- so your trying to say it comes across better when using certain emojis?

P yeah yeah , i think its more urm personal, it shows more emotion, it shows you know more… like you mean it more. -(i)- I yeah like when your trying to be sarcastic, people can see… putting the laughing face or. -(i)- P yeah yeah.

I  What are the impacts of social networking sites when it comes to promoting business?

P i think there really good actually, you know theres um alot of people on social media networking sites so, the sheer amount of people that are going to see any kind of promotion or commercial or whatever your trying to show them, its urm..its urm massive and its.. it might…there’s a big possibility that its gonna leave some impact on some people, if some people are pleased it would give them an idea where to look… if there looking for something and i guess its not as expensive to promote anywhere else. i think its a really {inaudible] promotion. -(i)- I do you think businesses can actually be damaged quicker online? by peoples reviews and what they think?

P yeah there’s a possibility… because then [inaudible] its open to any kind of comments and if there’s anything written down then actually people can write down under that or you know about it , if er, if it is a commercial on tv, even the comments are not going to be so public are they. People are going to talk between themselves but they won’t be writing anything down, and if it’s on.. er… for example Facebook, you have Facebook pages promoting something, everyone will write about it, under that picture and it could actually have a worse affect than what your trying to promote.

I  Do you feel like you have become less connected to the real world since using social networking sites?

P I don’t think so, i think that, that’s just a… that’s completely false in my opinion, because you do… you still are connected to real people, you should have an opportunity to be connected to more people not in real life and urm I think that it is a really good thing. -(i)- I and what about the people who are constantly on social networks and the only sense of communication that they know is through the cyber world not face to face.

P i still think it’s a really good thing because its still communication and it’s not com… it’s not y’know… it’s better to communicate that way than not communicate at all, ye.. y’know {inaudible] going with the flow, y’know part of this society is about.., and this age we using phones and laptops in everything all the time, even when you study and all the lecturers are using black board, so that doesn’t mean it’s not working it’s just more convenient, most probably.

I What kind of effects do networking sites have on society?

P they can have good and they can have bad affects either way they give you. If your open, you have a massive broad world you can interact with, and urm you can find anything you want, anything that interests you (p) yeah I think it gives you a lot of freedom.

I  Tell me more about personal experiences whilst using social networking sites? E.g. stalkers.

P urm actually I didn’t have any experiences like that i urm.. I didn’t have any bad experiences (p) so far on social networking sites, as the only bad experience is like iv said before… my daughter online..on..on… when I google my name, and urm y’know some people leaving comments that I don’t find really amusing but it’s not really anything that disturbs me I just find it annoying and that’s about it.