by Katie Dettman

Graduate Student

“Besides, we spend more time on Facebook than we'd like to admit so we figured 'why not turn it into a research project?'” Gangadharbatla says.

Sheehan and Gangadharbatla have been named 2009-2010 Oregon Community Credit Union Research (OCCU) Fellows for the project, and the fellowship includes $10,000 in research support.

“The proposed research will examine motivations to join Web 2.0 social networks, as well as different types of privacy concerns associated with different motivations,” explains Gangadharbatla. “While the results will add to emerging theory on online social networks, they will also provide practical learning on the establishment of online communities.”

“We noticed that a lot of organizations have started to set up Facebook pages,” he continues. “And one of our research interests is understanding how different nonprofit organizations, churches, local businesses, and politicians use social networking sites. OCCU being a local organization, it seemed like a great fit. Our findings should have direct implications should OCCU decide to implement social media strategies in the future. It's a great opportunity when a local entity supports research at professional schools. And we cannot thank them enough for what they do for our community.”

This was the first time either Sheehan or Gangadharbatla applied for the fellowship award, which has been in existence since 2006. They were one of three teams to win fellowships this year. OCCU funds $5,300 for each award, and the Office of the Vice President for Research provides $4,700. Funding will begin this fall. This year, the program accepted applications from faculty in the SOJC, the School of Education and the School of Architecture and Allied Arts Professional Programs.

“We have both done work in this area separately, and joined together to put together the proposal” adds Sheehan. “We were very excited and honored to win the fellowship.”