Computers in Human Behavior xxx (2014) xxx–xxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Computers in Human Behavior

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate /comphumbeh

To connect or promote?: An exploratory examination of Facebook pagesdedicated to moms

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.02.0300747-5632/Published by Elsevier Ltd.

⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 5136752070.E-mail addresses: Renee.Kaufmann@uky.edu (R. Kaufmann), Marjorie.Buckner@

uky.edu (M.M. Buckner).

Please cite this article in press as: Kaufmann, R., & Buckner, M. M. To connect or promote?: An exploratory examination of Facebook pages dedicmoms. Computers in Human Behavior (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.02.030

Renee Kaufmann ⇑, Marjorie M. BucknerUniversity of Kentucky, 310 Lucille C. Little Library, Lexington, KY 40506, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history:Available online xxxx

Keywords:Facebook pagesMothersOnline communicationPurpose

Mothers are increasingly using Facebook for a variety of communication functions. As an initial steptoward understanding how mothers use Facebook, this exploratory study examines the types ofmessages mothers receive from Facebook pages solely designated for them. Using a content analysis,twelve Facebook pages and 526 administrators’ posts were analyzed. The majority of pages identifiedpurpose as conversational/ discussion starter, while the majority of administrators’ posts were codedas informational/promotional. The discrepancies between the pages’ and posts’ purpose are considered.Directions for extending the research examining mothers and social networking sites are also suggested.

Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine thenature of Facebook pages using pages dedicated to mothers asthe sample as well as explore the stated purpose of those pagesalong with the accompanied posts by page administrators. Withapproximately 189 million users, Facebook constitutes the mostpopular of social networking sites (SNSs) (Nielsen, 2012a,b). As‘‘a mass social phenomenon in itself’’ and a ‘‘unique window ofobservation’’ (Acquisti & Gross, 2006, p. 3), Facebook providesopportunities for scholars to better understand how peopleconnect and communicate via SNSs. In order to stay relevant andprovide continued new opportunities for users to engage in com-munity, Facebook continues to transform and introduce new func-tions (e.g., Facebook pages) to the site. The site states that pagesare designed to address a specific audience or purpose. DespiteSNSs research investigating a range of topics from: who is doingwhat on Facebook (McAndrew & Jeong, 2012), source credibility(Spence et al., 2013), functions (boyd & Ellison, 2007; Good,2013), identity construction and perceptions (Mehidizadeh, 2010;Schwämmlein & Wodzicki, 2012), impact on relationships (Kanter,Afifi, & Robbins, 2012) and uses (Ryan & Xenos, 2011; Tufekci,2008), but there is still more to learn about the particulardemographic purposes and usage of Facebook pages.

One specific audience recently targeted by Facebook is mothers(Nielsen, 2012a,b). In fact, mothers have emerged as one of the top

demographics for social media use with three out of four momsonline (Nielsen, 2012a,b). As prominent Facebook users with adistinctive characteristic distinguishing and connecting thiscommunity, mothers participating on Facebook pages provide anopportunity for scholars to further investigate the purposes anduses of Facebook pages. Hence, the purpose of this study was toexamine Facebook pages dedicated to mothers. Conducting a pre-liminary study such as this one provides information that willserve as a framework to build future studies regarding moms onFacebook and the communication exchanged. The informationcollected from this initial study will not only be useful for futureinvestigations that explore Facebook and the site’s many functions,but could also be valuable for understanding and exploring thetypes of messages mothers are exposed to on other SNSs.

1.1. Facebook and pages

Since the site’s inception in 2004, Facebook notes that theirusers have engaged in friending, posting status updates, defriend-ing, and more recently, creating pages for users to share informa-tion and stories, discuss issues, and even voice concerns. Withover 67% of American adults participate in mediated communica-tion via Facebook (Rainie, Smith, & Duggan, 2013) with womenrepresenting a majority of the site’s population (McAndrew &Jeong, 2012). Though the most popular and largest place for indi-viduals to gather and socialize (Nielsen, 2012a,b; Olanoff, 2012),competition from other SNSs such as Twitter, Pinterest, or Insta-gram encourage Facebook to continue updating the site’s interface(Sanghvi, 2006) and developing new communication tools andapps that provide better navigation and connection resources. In

ated to

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keeping with Facebook’s goal of social community, the site recentlydeveloped a variation of the group feature called pages.

According to Facebook’s site (2013), pages provide users with aspace for individuals (e.g., administrators, individuals, businesses,and organizations) to post messages with a specific purpose, audi-ence, and topic in mind to market, promote, and inform. Precisely,‘‘pages allow real organizations, businesses, celebrities, and brandsto communicate broadly with people who like them. Pages mayonly be created and managed by official representatives’’(Facebook., 2013, p. 1). With millions of public Facebook pages tochoose to ‘‘like’’ (i.e., when a user accepts to follow a page thusreceiving updates within newsfeed and access to information onpage) understanding how administrators market the purpose ofthose pages to drive audiences’ attention would be insightful fortrying to understand Facebook and the messages sent to their vastand prevalent audience.

1.2. Social networking and mothers

Studies have found that parents, specifically mothers, use SNSs,discussion boards, and blogs for information, support, and adviceon specific parenting topics and issues (Gray, 2013; Thoren, Metze,Bührer, & Garten, 2013). Mothers are turning to the Internet andSNSs like Facebook to seek information on child-rearing, conversa-tions about health issues, support for breastfeeding, and evenadvice (Bernhardt & Felter, 2004; Drentea & Moren-Cross, 2005;Gray; Madge & O’Connor, 2006; Thoren, Metze, Bührer & Garten;Wang, 2003). Whether searching for informational purposes,conversation, support or awareness, mothers are connecting tomany different types of SNSs and are making themselves highlyvisible on the social media scene.

Research conducted by Facebook Market Research claimed thatin 2009, 65 percent of American mothers were on Facebook (Engel,2010). Of those moms, the site reported 94% logged on at least oncea week (Engel, 2010). Further, more than 25 million Facebookgroups and pages were created specifically to target mothers(Nielsen, 2012a,b).

According to Engel (2010), Facebook is changing the way it pre-sents itself to mothers, and is failing them. She continues statingoriginal motives were for connecting and information, but enter-tainment has also become a motive as well. In other words, momsstate reasons for joining the social networking site including tomake connections for support, raise awareness on issues, emergein conversation and search for information. Likely, mothers usesimilar reasoning for ‘‘liking’’ a Facebook page for mothers.

Although mothers may seek marketing and promotions via Face-book (i.e., the reasons determined by the site for developing pages),they may also seek connection and sharing with other mothers.Identifying purposes of pages targeted for mothers and the mainte-nance of this purpose through administrator posts will demonstratehow closely one sect of Facebook pages users adhere to the intendedpurposes expressed by the site. Moreover, characterizing the pur-poses of pages available for mothers and how administrators are ful-filling this purpose will inform how closely this new Facebookfeature is meeting the targeted audience’s needs. With this beingsaid, the following questions and hypothesis are posited:

RQ1. How do pages targeted to mothers align with the pages’purpose expressed by Facebook?RQ2. What are the stated purposes of Facebook pages targetedfor mothers?RQ3. What are the unstated purposes of the posts by the pageadministrators?

H1. Pages stated purposes and administrators’ posts will bepositively associated.

Please cite this article in press as: Kaufmann, R., & Buckner, M. M. To connectmoms. Computers in Human Behavior (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.20

2. Method

To best understand and answer the proposed research ques-tions and hypothesis, a content analysis of Facebook pages dedi-cated to mothers was conducted (Neuendorf, 2002).

2.1. Data collection procedure

With millions of pages and groups dedicated to mothers onFacebook, the search for the sample was conducted using the searchengine Google (www.Google.com). The following search termswere used to extract and collect pages on Google: ‘‘Moms site:facebook.com,’’ ‘‘Mom site: facebook.com,’’ ‘‘Mommy site:facebook.com,’’ and ‘‘Mothers site: facebook.com.’’ The search wasrestricted to Facebook pages that met the following criteria: (a)explicitly for mothers, (b) English language and American basedpage, (c) minimum 100,000 ‘‘likes’’, and (d) not endorsing televisionshow or specific person.

Google provided over 25 million results using the search terms.From that sample, applying language and region restrictions withinan advanced Google search produced the next round of data(n = 987,000). A purposive sample collection followed, selectingpages with over 100,000 ‘‘likes’’ for analysis (n = 12) (Palmén &Kouri, 2012; Patton, 1990). The sampled page demographics andposts were collected on March 20 through April 3, 2013 for a totalof (n = 526) posts analyzed. Page likes ranged from 154,063 to over1.1 million by the site’s users (M = 478,642, SD = 307,923).

2.2. Creating categories and coding

Based on Facebook’s description of pages and the literature onsocial networking sites, a coding scheme was developed. The cod-ing scheme used to guide the analysis of the pages consisted of twophases. The first phase included collecting demographic informa-tion about each page (i.e., page’s purpose, post frequency byadministrator, amount of ‘‘likes’’ – users). The second phaseentailed collecting administrators’ posts and coding posts intocategories. For the purpose of this study, the two coders definedadministrator as the person or persons in charge of maintainingcommunication on the page with the users. Also, for the purposesof this exploratory study, the coders decided to only examineadministrators’ posts. This information will serve as baseline datafor future studies that investigate Facebook, the mom population,and the uses of pages on the site.

Facebook’s descriptive coding for purpose of pages was em-ployed to categorize administrators of pages. The following Face-book descriptions were modified from the site’s own descriptionof pages and used: (a) community, (b) personal blog or website,(c) for-profit organization/corporate website, (d) enthusiast orfan, (e) magazine, (f) book, (g) non-profit organization, and (h)app. These labels are located within the search terms for theFacebook pages.

Coding for purpose of the page included an analysis of thepage’s about section and utilized previous categories (Bender,Jimenez-Marroquin, & Jadad, 2011): support, promotional, andawareness (Bender et al., 2011). Two additional categories for pur-pose emerged during coding training: conversational/discussionstarter and informational/promotional. The terms were addedand combined due to the synonymous qualities and use within thisspecific context. Coding for administrators’ posts purposeemployed the same coding scheme as page purpose.

Categories to code each question were developed and testedusing one sampled Facebook page. Coders came to a consensusabout purpose and coded the rest independently. Upon comple-tion, coders discussed inconsistencies and made changes based

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on reviewing posts with code descriptions when necessary. ACohen’s kappa for page purpose was appropriate (k = .80), and aCohen’s kappa for purpose of posts was appropriate (k = .79).Conversations about the page and posts purpose followed and finalset of codes was distinguished.

2.3. Data analysis

Data were entered into SPSS 21.0. Cohen’s kappa was conductedto check for intercoder reliability for first three proposed researchquestions. Descriptive analysis such as frequencies for administra-tor type, purpose, and posts topics messages were calculated andanalyzed. A Pearson chi-square test was employed to answer thelast research hypothesis.

3. Results

The first research question examined whether the Facebookpages targeted to mothers aligned with the purposes of Facebookpages expressed by Facebook. Pages labeled by the site as an orga-nization or corporate website (n = 8) were the most common formof page followed by community (n = 1), magazine (n = 1), app(n = 1), and non-profit (n = 1). Facebook explains that the site’s callfor the page feature clearly states that it is a place for marketing,promoting, and informing.

To answer RQ2, two coders completed an analysis of the pages’purpose using four categories. The standard reliability statistic,Cohen’s kappa, was employed to assess intercoder reliability(Cohen, 1960). Cohen’s kappa was an appropriate (k = .80). Thehighest frequency for page purpose was conversational/discussionstarter (n = 9), with informational/promotional the second highestpurpose for page frequency (n = 4). The two lowest page purposefrequencies were awareness and support (n = 0).

To answer RQ3, the two coders completed an analysis of thepurpose for the administrators’ posts using the exact same codesfrom the purpose of the page. Cohen’s kappa was appropriate(k = .79). The purpose information/promotional was the highestfrequency purpose of posts (n = 254) used on the Facebook pagesfor moms. The post purpose with the smallest purpose frequencywas awareness (n = 7).

To answer the research hypothesis, a chi-square test wasemployed. The Pearson chi-square test was performed to deter-mine if purpose of posts and purpose of page were significantlyassociated with one another. The test failed to indicate a significantassociation, x2 = (1, N = 526) = .364, p = .546.

4. Discussion

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the nat-ure of Facebook pages dedicated to mothers as explore the statedpurpose of those pages along with the accompanied posts by pageadministrators. When McLuhan (1964) stated, ‘‘the message is inthe medium,’’ he could not have foreseen how Facebook and othersocial networking sites have transformed the way we communi-cate. Likewise, McLuhan could not have predicted how quicklysocial networking mediums change. Researching why people com-municate (i.e., purpose) and how people communicate (i.e., use)employing new mediums such Facebook pages aligns withMcLuhan’s assertion that understanding the medium will allowus to grasp the message.

One particular group adopting and adapting to communicationvia Facebook pages are mothers. In fact, mothers comprise 65% ofFacebook’s largest user population – women (Engel, 2010; Rainieet al., 2013). However, the messages mothers send and receiveon Facebook are unclear, as little research regarding mothers’ use

Please cite this article in press as: Kaufmann, R., & Buckner, M. M. To connectmoms. Computers in Human Behavior (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.20

of SNSs exists. Yet, in light of the medium, scholars should investi-gate mothers’ use of specific functions such as Facebook pages. Thispreliminary investigation examining the purpose of pagesdedicated to mothers and the posts on these pages illuminatesthe messages mothers receive via SNSs.

Given that Facebook describes pages as a place for organiza-tions, celebrities, business, and brands, it is not surprising thatthe most common type of page labeled was an organization orcorporate website. The pages with the most users were all tied toorganization or corporate websites. Administrators of pages dedi-cated to mothers are overwhelmingly marketed as a place for con-versation and discussion. Results show how the about sections ofthese pages describe a place of conversation and encourage moth-ers to share, discuss, provide opinions, and even in some cases –post a picture of yourself with your name. The sense of communityexpressed on these pages are fashioned in such a way thatconstructs the main purpose of the page as conversing aboutmom issues albeit positive or negative. Furthermore, the highestfrequency for page purpose was conversational/discussion starterin lieu of informational/promotional, which was the secondhighest frequency. Notably, the purposes of these pages did notalways reflect the intent of the pages as stated by the site. Interest-ingly, awareness and support were not represented within thesample. Future research should examine pages that clearly statethe purpose as awareness or support to see: (1) how many ‘likes’the pages contain, (2) the purpose of the posts for those pages,and (3) if those pages are public or private.

When analyzing page purpose in relation to post purpose (i.e.,posts on a specific page), most pages appeared to publicize the pur-pose of the page as a place to share, discuss, and have conversa-tions. Yet, in most cases, this purpose did not match the purposeof the page’s posts. That is, the association between the purposeof page and purpose of posts on the page was insignificant, thusrevealing that pages’ administrators were not clearly presentingthe page correctly or upholding pages’ intended purposes as de-scribed. It is important to note that posts, which were primarilyinformational and promotional, usually led to the page’s organiza-tional or corporation website or to an affiliate website. Administra-tors for these pages encouraged users to ‘‘like and join’’ and‘‘register’’ for more information. Thus, administrators promotedinformation or products rather than fulfilling the stated purposeof the page to generate discussion and build community amongmothers. Future research should examine the implications ofincongruent purposes for Facebook pages and posts on specificpages. Exploring how users view the purpose of these pages andadministrators’ posts (i.e., does the post generate conversationamongst friends, does the post inform) and how they take actionbased on the message is a worthwhile investigation to the usesand gratifications these pages provides users.

Although this exploratory study lacked examination of themothers’ responses towards the administrators’ post, it also lackedmothers’ perceptions of the posts. Hence, future research may ex-plore mothers’ responses to administrators’ posts in light of moth-ers’ perceived purpose of the page. Additionally, scholars shouldexamine mothers’ perceptions of Facebook pages targeted formothers, how mothers use information gained through thesepages, and mothers’ perceived gains by interacting via theFacebook page.

Overall, the results of this exploratory study suggest thatFacebook pages may be engaged by the site’s users for purposesoutside of the original intent of the page function. In light of thisstudy, Facebook pages dedicated to mothers, administrators mayproclaim pages’ purposes to foster conversation, but insteadpromote and inform issues, products, or services at the discretionof the administrator. These pages have the potential to influencemany users by providing information and encouraging thoughtful

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conversations about motherhood. Exploring SNSs like Facebookwill continue to shed light on a medium that is constantlychanging and growing in popularity thus presenting more opportu-nities to maximize its use.

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