EurekAlert: “People are either Facebook users or they are not. Facebook user data can be used to draw conclusions about general social phenomena. According to Eric P.S. Baumer, who studies human-computer interaction, the simple statements above are, in fact, not so simple–nor are they true. Baumer’s new research takes a fine-grained look at Facebook use and non-use, using a more nuanced approach than has previously been undertaken. Rather than employing a simple binary of two categories–use and non-use–Baumer’s study looks at demographic and socioeconomic factors that impact Facebook use and non-use using four categories:

• current user, who currently has and uses a Facebook account;
• deactivated, who has temporarily deactivated her/his account but could technically reactivate at any time;
• considered deactivating, who has considered deactivating her/his account but never actually done so; and
• never used, who has never had a Facebook account…”