User Experiences of Regret While Engaging with Social Media

Social media offers users the ability to participate with a social network of others in a process of sharing and fellowship, presenting an impression of self and the ability to monitor constructed expressions. Recent studies examining the ritual view of communication, impression management, self-regulation, and self-reflective capabilities show each of these plays a role when using certain social media sites. However, a research gap exists regarding the use of any social media and the perspectives of young adult users during the scenario of experiencing regret as the result of engaging with social media. The study is a mixed-methods exploratory study analyzing emergent themes of this phenomenon. A survey of qualitative open-ended questions and quantitative directed-response choices was administered to 332 individuals. Descriptive, In-Vivo, Emotion and Pattern qualitative coding methods were administered for detailed analysis, as well as SPSS frequency analysis to those reporting the experience of regret (n = 152) while using social media. Findings reveal that users engage in a ritual view of communication while using social media that may be influenced positively or negatively by content posted or the frequency of use. Users seek to manage their own personal impressions to others, while also affecting other users\u27 impressions within the mediated network Self-regulation was in force, suspended or altered during the regrettable social media post, yet self-reflective capabilities assisted user comprehension of regret and post ramifications. Action regrets took place with both hot and cold emotional states. Frequency of social media posting decreased after experiencing instances of regrettable posts

User Beware: Determining Vulnerability in Social Media Platforms for Users in Ghana

There is a limited academic scholarship that examines vulnerability in social media use for people who live in Ghana. This study examines 1) user motivation for social media use, 2) user vulnerabilities in the online environment and 3) user preparedness prior to entering the online environment. In Ghana, people rely on social media for communications to circumvent an expensive telecommunications system and interact with family and friends who have had to travel for education or business. This study uses qualitative methods to engage with Ghanaian citizens within social media platforms like WhatsApp, Viber and Imo to learn more about their reasons for using social media, as well as the concerns they have about using it. Findings indicate that participants rely on social media as a way of communicating with family and friends who have left home, as well as using it to create opportunities. However, participants are also concerned about being tricked online, and having their images or texts used inappropriately. They are also concerned about government tracking when using social media and worry about how all of these things could hurt them in the future, including embarrassment, regrets, and financial troubles. Most participants indicated that they have not had any training in using social media, but if they had they could have avoided many problems that they experienced online. Despite this, participants feel social media improves their quality of life and are encouraged to use social media because of the perceived advantages of the platforms. The paper recommends that continuous user training on appropriate use of social media could benefit and protect Ghanaian citizens

Regulation and social practice online

© 2016 Taylor & Francis. This article argues that everyday media practices are foundational to regulation on social media platforms. Beginning from a practice theory perspective, supported by qualitative research conducted on Facebook and Reddit, this paper shows how individual interactions with the platform and with other people on the site shape central regulatory norms on these sites. We suggest that our focus on practice complements existing studies that consider how regulation operates on social media platforms and shows how both practices and algorithms operate in conversation with one another in order to govern these sites. This research sets out an alternative trajectory of regulation, which is not based in law or privately established processes (such as EULAs, ToS or flags) but instead one grounded in the everyday practices of sociality, reciprocity, and perhaps even the maintenance of a particular community ideal

Review of Research on Privacy Decision Making from a Time Perspective

Managing privacy is a process in which people continuously negotiate the boundaries of their personal space. Time is embedded in and influences this continuous negotiation. Digital technologies increasingly incorporate temporal elements, such as allowing users to define the expiration date of social network postings. Yet, researchers have not systematically examined the effects of temporal elements in privacy decision making. In this paper, we review how existing information privacy research has related to time in terms of three dimensions: duration, timing, and past, present, and future modalities. Our findings suggest that 1) duration has a negative influence on information disclosure; 2) timing, in the form of personal and external events, influences how people make privacy decisions; and 3) sensemaking that involves prior experience and planning for the future affect privacy decisions. We discuss how privacy decision making frameworks need to be adjusted to account for a time perspective

Disconnect between intentions and outcomes: A comparison of regretted text and photo social networking site posts

Many social networking site (SNS) users regret previous posts and post sensitive content despite the potential for negative consequences. Limited research has examined regret among SNS users, and it is unclear whether regret differs between text and graphic formats. An online survey of Australian SNS users (N = 995), compared regretted text to photo and video posts by examining demographic characteristics, psychological antecedents, post content, and consequences of posting. Feelings of regret were similar; however, regretted photo/video posts reported were related to a positive mood when posting, social motivations, and most frequently resulted in personal consequences (e.g., embarrassment). In comparison, regretted text posts were motivated by negative mood states and were more likely to result in social consequences. There might be a disconnection between what users hope to convey and how posts are perceived. SNS design that prompts users to consider the impacts of posts and to screen for offending content may reduce post regret. Interventions should encourage mindfulness of posting when upset and gaining self‐validation externally from SNS.Australian Research Council, Grant/Award Number: DE106010045

Bootstrapping Trust in Online Dating: Social Verification of Online Dating Profiles

Online dating is an increasingly thriving business which boasts billion-dollar revenues and attracts users in the tens of millions. Notwithstanding its popularity, online dating is not impervious to worrisome trust and privacy concerns raised by the disclosure of potentially sensitive data as well as the exposure to self-reported (and thus potentially misrepresented) information. Nonetheless, little research has, thus far, focused on how to enhance privacy and trustworthiness. In this paper, we report on a series of semi-structured interviews involving 20 participants, and show that users are significantly concerned with the veracity of online dating profiles. To address some of these concerns, we present the user-centered design of an interface, called Certifeye, which aims to bootstrap trust in online dating profiles using existing social network data. Certifeye verifies that the information users report on their online dating profile (e.g., age, relationship status, and/or photos) matches that displayed on their own Facebook profile. Finally, we present the results of a 161-user Mechanical Turk study assessing whether our veracity-enhancing interface successfully reduced concerns in online dating users and find a statistically significant trust increase.Comment: In Proceedings of Financial Cryptography and Data Security (FC) Workshop on Usable Security (USEC), 201

Group privacy management strategies and challenges in Facebook : a focus group study among Flemish youth organizations

A large body of research has studied young people’s privacy practices and needs in Facebook. Less is known about group privacy. In this study 12 focus groups were organized with a total of 78 adolescents and young adults of local Flemish youth organizations to discuss their privacy practices. Findings describe how different strategies are used to coordinate the group information flow. The study also shows how online group privacy management can be challenging because ‘implicit’ privacy rules need to be made ‘explicit’, personal boundaries may conflict with those of the group one belongs to and privacy turbulence is difficult to define