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  • Essay / Facebook: Why Do People Use Social Networking Sites?

    As of September 2006, Facebook is just a new social networking site with approximately 9.5 million users (Raacke and Bonds-Raacke, 2008). As of November 2013, the number of Facebook users increased to 1,278 million (Facebook, 2013). Based on the number of users and traffic searches, Facebook has already become the largest social networking site in the world. The spectacular development of Facebook brings a series of changes to people's daily lives. There are a number of functions to satisfy the different demands of their audience. For example, Facebook allows users to create a personal profile and post their information there. Additionally, they can find entertainment features, Games app provides thousands of games. Much research is beginning to focus its attention on the relationship between Facebook and its audiences. This research mainly uses students as subjects of investigation. As the largest user group, more than 90% of students have a Facebook account (Wiley and Sisson, 2006; Ellison and Steinfield et al., 2007; Raacke and Bonds-Raacke, 2008). Some research has shown that students spend approximately 30 minutes per day on Facebook (Ellison and Steinfield et al. 2007; Valenzuela and Park et al., 2009; Pempek and Yermolayeva et al. 2009). However, this research has just evaluated the impact of Facebook on users, and no research analyzes how public demand affects the Facebook service. As a Facebook user, it is important to know the relationship between Facebook and me. In this study, the relationship between Facebook and its audience will be analyzed. At first, we will apply usage and gratification theory to analyze how Facebook responds to user demand. The next step is to find out how public demand and behavior affects Facebook. Finally, based on all these results, the interactive relationship will be concluded. Internet users are relatively active. They can choose and actively use different media products to satisfy their social and psychological needs. Use and gratification theory provides an important way to explore the needs that individuals meet by using Facebook (Raacke and Bonds-Raacke, 2008). Although the use and gratification theory attracts some criticism, notably because it does not predict media exposure very well and fails to integrate different research findings (Larose and Eastin, 2004, Raacke and Bonds-Raacke, 2008), this approach remains an important approach. tool to understand Facebook usage and user needs. Mcquail (2005: 425) identifies four types of interactions between media and people: diversion, personal relationships, personal identity and surveillance. Park and Kee et al..