‘I’m always on Facebook!’: exploring Facebook as a mainstream research tool and ethnographic site

This chapter discusses a research project which explored the everyday use of the social network site (SNS) Facebook by first-year undergraduate students in their transition to university. It not only explores the opportunities and challenges of using Facebook as a research site and how this digital approach may differ from a ‘mainstream’ ethnography, but also argues for this approach to be viewed as ‘mainstream’ due to the mediated nature of contemporary social life.