University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 5-2018 The hC allenge of Anonymous and Ephemeral Social Media: Reflective Research Methodologies & Student-User Composing Practices Sara Elyse West University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Communication Technology and New Media Commons, and the Social Media Commons Recommended Citation West, Sara Elyse, "The hC allenge of Anonymous and Ephemeral Social Media: Reflective Research Methodologies & Student-User Composing Practices" (2018). Theses and Dissertations. 2676. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/2676 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. The Challenge of Anonymous and Ephemeral Social Media: Reflective Research Methodologies & Student-User Composing Practices A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English by Sara West Lincoln Memorial University Bachelor of Arts in English, 2011 East Tennessee State University Master of Arts in Literature and Language, 2013 May 2018 University of Arkansas This dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. Adam Pope, Ph.D. Dissertation Director David Jolliffe, Ph.D. Patrick Slattery, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member Abstract This project seeks to provide a framework for navigating anonymous and ephemeral research spaces to theorize student-user composing practices on these social media platforms. This project reflects on and builds from the difficulties that arose during a previous project for which I collected data from a space that was both ephemeral and anonymous. That experience led me to the questions of use and research methods that I consider in this project, wherein I rely on critical reflective research practices to provide an effective methodology for examining the type of data in question. In this work, I consider how past and current conversations in composition studies, technical and professional communication, and popular media have shaped perceptions of anonymous and ephemeral spaces. Then, using the specific examples of Snapchat, Yik Yak, and Whisper, I discuss an IRB-approved, mixed methods study designed for this project. Through a large-scale survey and a small batch of qualitative interviews, I examine the ways that students are using these applications and the extent to which the characteristics of anonymity and ephemerality influence how they navigate these spaces. Finally, I offer implications of this project for instructions of composition and technical and professional communication, content creators and communication designers, and online researchers. ©2018 by Sara West All Rights Reserved Acknowledgments Many thanks to everyone who made this project possible: Dr. Elías Domínguez-Barajas for helping to notify instructors about my research and to distribute my survey, the instructors from the Program in Rhetoric and Composition who agreed to proctor the survey, every student who participated in the survey, and the four students who gave their time and knowledge for the interview portion of this project. Special thanks to Dr. Adam Pope, who has guided me not just for this project but for my entire time in the program, and to Paige Hermansen, who first introduced me to Yik Yak and got this whole thing started. And to all who have stood by me throughout this process, you know who you are, and I appreciate you. Dedication To my parents, Gary and DiAnne. Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Defining Anonymous and Ephemeral Applications ................................................................. 3 Situating the Researcher .......................................................................................................... 9 Situating the Project .............................................................................................................. 11 Chapter Breakdown............................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 2: Literature Review .................................................................................................... 15 Informal Composing Spaces and the “Self-Sponsored” Writer .............................................. 17 Origins: MOOs, MUDs, and Online Discussion Boards ........................................................ 18 New Media, Social Media, and Composition Studies ............................................................ 25 Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) and Social Media Studies ....................... 29 Existing Research in Anonymous and Ephemeral Platforms .................................................. 32 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 36 Chapter 3: Methods ................................................................................................................... 39 Theoretical Perspectives: Critical-Reflective Methodologies ................................................. 40 Background: Reflecting on Previous Research ...................................................................... 41 Current Research Methods .................................................................................................... 48 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 71 Chapter 4: Data and Analysis .................................................................................................... 73 Survey Results ...................................................................................................................... 74 Participant Interviews.......................................................................................................... 101 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 123 Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications ................................................................................ 125 Implications for Instructors of Composition and Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) .................................................................................................................................. 126 Implications for Content Creators and Communication Designers ....................................... 130 Implications for Online Researchers .................................................................................... 133 Conclusion and Call for Further Research ........................................................................... 136 References .............................................................................................................................. 138 Appendix A: Research Compliance Protocol Letters ............................................................... 148 Appendix B: Survey Questions ............................................................................................... 151 Appendix C: Interview Questions ........................................................................................... 157 List of Figures Figure 1. Example of received message on Snapchat. .................................................................. 5 Figure 2. Example of Yik Yak post list when user handles were optional. ................................... 7 Figure 3. Example of a post on Whisper. ..................................................................................... 9 Figure 4. Most popular platforms with anonymous/ephemeral components, as per survey results. .......................................................................................................................................... 75 Figure 5. Reasons for Using Snapchat, as per survey results. ..................................................... 78 Figure 6. Users' characterization of their use of local/campus stories, as per survey results........ 80 Figure 7. Recipients of Users' Snaps, as per survey results. ....................................................... 82 Figure 8. Frequency of Snapchat's use for sending/receiving suggestive material, as per survey results................................................................................................................................ 83 Figure 9. Frequency that participants would send content on Snapchat that they would not share on other platforms. .......................................................................................................... 85 Figure 10. Frequency of Snapchat Use, as per survey results. .................................................... 86 Figure 11. Participants' reasons for using Yik Yak, as per survey results. .................................. 88 Figure 12. Frequency of participants' use of Yik Yak, as per survey results. .............................. 90 Figure 13. Reasons for discontinuing use of Yik Yak, as per survey results. .............................. 91 Figure 14. Use of Yik Yak with required profiles/handles, as per survey results. ......................