Topic:
Privacy on social networking sites
Research Question:
How do people set their privacy settings on social networks and why?
How you gathered your data, challenges you faced, things you learned about research
We were able to gather our data by sending our surveys via survey monkey. We created a template and then designed the survey keeping in mind the type of responses we were looking for. By doing this we were able to guide the people taking our survey into answering the type of questions we were looking for answers. We also gathered data by conducting interviews of 8 different people all of who have social networking sites. By doing this we were able to control the pace of the interview by asking probing questions and delving in deeper where it was warranted.
As far as challenges that arose, we didn’t have anything that would have been catastrophic to our research. We planned accordingly and were able to get our results without too much trouble.
We have learned so much about research and the process of doing research. One of the biggest things we have learned is that by doing proper preparation you will set your self up for success in the long run. This can be applied in all areas of life and we plan on implanting this into our daily lives.
Discussion
When beginning our project we knew right off the top that organization was going to be key. When gathering sources, we were overwhelmed with the amount of research that has previously been done about Facebook and privacy among social networks in general. We knew that we had to slim our search down to specifically research topics that involved Facebook since that was primarily our topic of discussion. Manen (2010) and Ahn’s (2011) research was geared towards college students which was exactly who we wanted to focus on. By having an example of how these two did their surveys and interviewing, we found it was a great start for us in how we would go about our designing of surveys. Quantitative research is something we found easy to go about designing surveys for. Assimwe (2010), Taraszow and Tatjan’s (2010) journal’s made sense for us to read about and take notes from because most of their research was quantitative, while Bateman (2011) and Christakis (2008) have more qualitative data. This was good to have because for our interviews that we did in person, we needed to have good questions to have to get more than just yes or no answers.
What we did find from all of our surveys was the majority of people who are looking for jobs or worried about their future, they are very private with who they allow to see their Facebook or social network site. While doing our face-to-face interviews, we found that those who are set in their jobs, with little to no risk of unemployment don’t care who sees their site. Something interesting that we found was that many people do not change their privacy settings once they have set them. 55% are comfortable with how they first set their privacy, although sites like Facebook are always changing and most likely changing each person’s privacy settings on accident. When asked “do you feel it is important to continually change your privacy settings?” one interviewee said, “Not really, once I have mine set, I don’t really see the point in changing them.”
A big problem we found was that some of our interviewees did not feel they have a fully grasp or understanding about how the privacy settings work on their social networking site. Tracy said, “I do not fully grasp it at all! I feel like I don’t know how because it is always changing.” Having several people say they don’t fully grasp the privacy settings or don’t feel it is important to go back and change it was very informative to us. It explains to us our big question of how people set their privacy settings.
- *Ahn, G., Shehab, M., & Squicciarini, A. (2011). Security and privacy in social networks. IEEE internet computing, 15(3), 10-12. DOI:10.1109/MIC.2011.66.
- *Asiimwe, E. N. (2010). Opinions of social web users on privacy and online DAM. journal of digital asset management, 6(6), 312-318. DOI:10.1057/dam.2010.37.
- *Bateman, P. J., Pike, J. C., & Butler, B. S. (2011). To disclose or not: publicness in social networking sites. information technology & people, 24(1), 78-100. DOI:10.1108/09593841111109431.
- *Christakis, N., Kaufman J., & Lewis, K. (2008).
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[sorry - some wierd format issue below here]
1. *Manen, M. (2010). The pedagogy of momus technologies: Facebook, privacy, and online intimacy. Qualitative Health Research. 20. 1023-1032. DOI: 10.1177/1049732310364990.
2. *Taraszow, M., & Tatjana L. (2010). Disclosure of personal and contact information by young people in social networking sites: An analysis using Facebook profiles. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics. 6. 81-101. DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1386/macp.6.1.81/1.
Comments (16)
Laurel Marshall said
at 8:47 am on May 3, 2012
1. Is the fear of a new employer the only motivator for setting FB privacy?
2. How could FB be more clear about their privacy settings?
3. Did you discover what settings most people felt comfortable with?
4. What are the reasons for people to chose more or less privacy?
**Laurel Marshall
Jose Molina said
at 10:35 pm on May 8, 2012
- Why do you think some individuals are careless about their privacy settings?
- What are some expectations you had prior to conducting your research?
- What are examples of content posted on FB by the individuals, and their relation to their privacy settings?
- Do the privacy settings change a lot for those people that, after being unemployed, get hired? (Right after being hired)
--Jose M.
Sofia Cruz said
at 5:19 pm on May 9, 2012
1. What were some of the common reasons you found people set their privacy settings on facebook?
2. Do you think that you its right for managers and bosses to search your facebook page before getting hired? Where do you draw the line?
3. Because facebook and other social networking sites are always changing, do you think that privacy settings should be able to be set more strictly?
4. Where your findings similar to what you were expecting? Or where there many people with different privacy settings for different reasons?
-Sofia
Mark Bateman said
at 8:37 pm on May 9, 2012
1. Why are people so unaware of the privacy issues on social network sites?
2. You said organization was important. How did you organize your data collecting process?
3. Do you think people should be constantly updating their privacy settings?
4. What made you choose this topic?
Kim Calisesi said
at 9:46 pm on May 9, 2012
1. How should Facebook advertise their privacy settings so it’s easy for users to read and understand?
2. Do you think that the FB users who do not care who sees their site or what they post are unprofessional?
3. Since FB’s privacy settings are always changing, would it be wise for the company to send out notifications to emails and FB inboxes regarding the changes?
4. What did you find were the most common privacy settings among your participants?
-Kim
Chaz Guerrero said
at 11:41 pm on May 9, 2012
1) What made your choose this topic?
2) What do you think is the major reason for Facebook privacy?
3) How private can these settings be? Do you think there are ways around if? Such as , employers?
4) Is there anything you would change in your research if so what?
-Chaz
Michael Wilkerson said
at 12:14 am on May 10, 2012
1. Why did you two choose this subject?
2. How safe do you feel with the privacy settings already available?
3. How constant did your survey takers change their privacy settings?
4. Is Facebook beginning to get too risky to give out very personal information?
Tania Berlinski said
at 12:31 am on May 10, 2012
1. Why did you choose only Facebook and not other SNS?
2. Do privacy settings on Facebook affect communication, either negatively or positively?
3. Did any of your participants feel that privacy affected their use of Facebook?
4. Why do you think some people don't understand their privacy settings? Does your literature reveal any insights?
Chris Valdez said
at 1:36 am on May 10, 2012
1. Why do you think those that are set with their job aren't as worried about privacy compared to those looking for a job/worried about their future?
2. Do you think GPS location features are an invasion of privacy?
3. Do you think privacy settings are too hard to access?
4. What were some privacy trends you found in the surveys?
Alex Torres said
at 7:01 am on May 10, 2012
Gallau and Mello
1. How many surveys did you get back?
2. Did you have any issues with any part of the project?
3. What would you do differently if you could do again?
4. Did you get see the difference between what they told you to what their actual Facebook settings are? (Meaning their privacy settings)
maxbunag@gmail.com said
at 8:49 am on May 10, 2012
1. What were the ages of the participants in your survey?
2. What was the most interesting facet of info obtained from your interviews?
3. Are employed people less likely to worry about their privacy?
4. Would the results be different in another SNS?
dannah.sanchez said
at 9:58 am on May 10, 2012
1. Did any of your participants have a private page (personal use) and a public page (business use)?
2. Did any of your participants lose an opportunity because of what is posted on their Facebook page?
3. Is there a relationship between gender and privacy settings? (ie. were females more likely to have strict privacy setting than males?)
4. What kind of questions did you ask during the interview?
Chloe Chandler said
at 10:54 am on May 10, 2012
1. Was protecting their jobs the predominate reason for having high privacy settings?
2. What questions would you add to your interview next time around?
3. Would you expand your research to privacy issues on other social networking sites?
4. Do you think our generation is more or less private than previous generations?
Brian Toback said
at 10:59 am on May 10, 2012
1 do you use your SNS privacy settings or did you leave it at default?
2 why did you choose this?
3 gender roles have any part in this?
4 is there anything you would have done differently?
matt.collins209@... said
at 11:29 am on May 10, 2012
1) Have you personally had issues with privacy settings?
2) What future research would you conduct?
3) Why do most people not know about the significance of privacy settings?
4) What was the gender ratio for your research?
michael sheng said
at 11:42 am on May 10, 2012
1. why is it that people who dont hold theiri employment at a high regard less likely to care about their privacy setting?
2. Why is it that people who are job searching hide their privacy more?
3. does gender play a role?
4 do jobs actually look at your facebook or other sns?
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