MS 150 Statistics spring 2009 test one: FaceBook Rising • Name:

According to Hitwise¹, FaceBook saw a 50% increase in site visits year-on-year from August 2007 to August 2008. MySpace saw a 10% loss in site visits during the same period, and Bebo lost 32% year-on-year. FaceBook originally only allowed members who had ".edu" e-mail addresses, restricting their site to students and faculty in schools. With FaceBook now open to all, the platform continues to gain membership and market share, while the Hitwise data suggests losses for both MySpace and Bebo.

A global study by comScore^{2 [see also 3]} indicated that global growth for FaceBook was even larger at 153% with a massive 458% growth in the Asia-Pacific region - our region. During the year FaceBook went from number two behind MySpace to number one in 2008 as measured by millions of Total Unique Visitors (mTUV). The table on the right provides the mTUV data from the comScore study for seven different social networking sites in 2007 and 2008. Use the 14 values in the mTUV data column for this test.

1. __________ What is the level of measurement for the mTUV data?
2. __________ Find the sample size n.
3. __________ Find the minimum.
4. __________ Find the maximum.
5. __________ Find the range.
6. __________ Find the midrange.
7. __________ Find the mode.
8. __________ Find the median.
9. __________ Find the sample mean x.
10. __________ Find the sample standard deviation sx.
11. __________ Find the sample coefficient of variation CV.
12. __________ If this data is to be divided into SIX classes, what is the width of a single class?
13. Determine the frequency and calculate the relative frequency using six classes. Record your results in the table provided.

14. Sketch a relative frequency histogram of the data, labeling your horizontal axis and vertical axis as appropriate.
15. __________ What is the shape of the histogram?
16. Based on the shape of the histogram, which social networking sites would be considered "market leaders"?
17. z = __________ Calculate the z-score for FaceBook's 132 mTUV in June 2008.
18. _________________ Is an mTUV of 132 an ordinary value OR an extraordinary value based on the sample data above?

Survey: not a graded part of the quiz! Anecdotal data seems to suggest that some students really resist the idea of faculty using a social networking tool, one that they've come to love and use personally, for coursework. ( NMC citing a Duke web page).

Do you want faculty to use social networking sites? _______
Does having faculty on social networking sites seem weird? ______

¹ Hitwise study
² comScore study
³ A Guide to Facebook for School Faculty, Administration and Staff
See also: Facebook and the Future of the University
Survey results
Statistics tagged blog material