More than just friends? Facebook, disclosive ethics and the morality of technology

Social networking sites have become increasingly popular destinations for people wishing to chat, play games, make new friends or simply stay in touch. Furthermore, many organizations have been quick to grasp the potential they offer for marketing, recruitment and economic activities. Nevertheless, counterclaims depict such spaces as arenas where deception, social grooming and the posting of defamatory content flourish. Much research in this area has focused on the ends to which people deploy the technology, and the consequences arising, with a view to making policy recommendations and ethical interventions. In this paper, we argue that tracing where morality lies is more complex than these efforts suggest. Using the case of a popular social networking site, and concepts about the morality of technology, we disclose the ethics of Facebook as diffuse and multiple. In our conclusions we provide some reflections on the possibilities for action in light of this disclosure

INVESTIGATION OF THE NETWORK CONSTRUCTION BEHAVIOR ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

By enabling connections between individuals, Social Networking Sites, such as Facebook, promise to create significant individual as well as social value. Encouraging connections between users is also crucial for service providers who increasingly rely on social advertising and viral marketing campaigns as important sources of their revenue. Consequently, understanding user’s network construction behavior becomes critical. However, previous studies offer only few scattered insights into this research question. In order to fill this gap, we employ Grounded Theory methodology to derive a comprehensive model of network construction behavior on social networking sites. In the following step we assess two Structural Equation Models to gain refined insights into the motivation to send and accept friendship requests – two network expansion strategies. Based on our findings, we offer recommendations for social network providers

Ethics and social networking sites: A disclosive analysis of Facebook

Paper has been accepted for publication in Information, Technology and People.Purpose: This paper provides insights into the moral values embodied by a popular social networking site (SNS), Facebook. We adopt the position that technology as well as humans has a moral character in order to disclose ethical concerns that are not transparent to users of the site. Design/methodology/approach: This study is based upon qualitative field work, involving participant observation, conducted over a two year period. Findings: Much research on the ethics of information systems has focused on the way that people deploy particular technologies, and the consequences arising, with a view to making policy recommendations and ethical interventions. By focusing on technology as a moral actor with reach across and beyond the Internet, we reveal the complex and diffuse nature of ethical responsibility in our case and the consequent implications for governance of SNS. Research limitations/implications: We situate our research in a body of work known as disclosive ethics and argue for an ongoing process of evaluating SNS to reveal their moral importance. Along with other authors in the genre, our work is largely descriptive, but we engage with prior research by Brey and Introna to highlight the scope for theory development. Practical implications: Governance measures that require the developers of social networking sites to revise their designs fail to address the diffuse nature of ethical responsibility in this case. Such technologies need to be opened up to scrutiny on a regular basis to increase public awareness of the issues and thereby disclose concerns to a wider audience. We suggest that there is value in studying the development and use of these technologies in their infancy, or if established, in the experiences of novice users. Furthermore, flash points in technological trajectories can prove useful sites of investigation. Originality/value: Existing research on social networking sites either fails to address ethical concerns head on or adopts a tool view of the technologies so that the focus is on the ethical behaviour of users. We focus upon the agency, and hence the moral character, of technology to show both the possibilities for, and limitations of, ethical interventions in such cases

Young people's views regarding participation in mental health and wellbeing research through social media

Social media is a central component in the lives of many young people, and provides innovative potential to conduct research among this population. Ethical issues around online research have been subject to much debate, yet young people have seldom been consulted to provide a youth perspective and voice. Eight (8) focus groups involving 48 Grade 9 Western Australian secondary school students aged 13-14 years were held in 2012, to investigate how young people perceive the feasibility and acceptability of social media when used as a research tool to investigate various issues relevant to their mental health and wellbeing. Whilst young people recognise many benefits of researchers using social media in this way, such as its relevance, innovation and accessibility, there were salient issues of privacy, consent, and practicality that require careful negotiation. There is a need for continued exploration and scientific debate of the moral and ethical implications of using social media for research, to help ensure this is employed in an appropriate and effective way that is respectful of and sensitive to the needs and views of young peoplepeer-reviewe

When 'friends' collide: social heterogeneity and user vulnerability on social network sites

The present study examines how the use of social network sites (SNS) increases the potential of experiencing psychological, reputational and physical vulnerability online. From our theoretical perspective, concerns over the use of social network sites and online vulnerability stem from the ease with which users can amass large and diverse sets of online social connections and the associated maintenance costs . To date most studies of online vulnerability have relied on self -rep ort measures, rarely combining such information with user’s validated digital characteristics. Here, f or a stratified sample of 177 UK-based Facebook users aged 1 3 to 77, digitally derived network data , coded for content and subjected to structural analysis, were integrated with self -report measures of social network heterogeneity and user vulnerability. Findings indicated a positive association between Facebook network size and online vulnerability mediated by both social diversity and structural features of the network . In particular, network clustering and the number of non- person contacts were predictive of vulnerability. Our findings support the notion that connecting to large networks of online ‘friends’ can lead to increasingly complex online socialising that is no longer controllable at a desirable level

Spiralling out of control? Online vulnerability in ego-centric networks

Online social network sites (SNS) are a ubiquitous method of socialising in the digital era. A potential source of social support, their continued and frequent use has been linked to a fear of missing out (FOMO) and the implicit desire to regulate offline psychological needs deficits through online connective behaviours. This thesis provides an examination of the online vulnerability implications associated with social networking. A multi-methods approach was used combining self-report surveys with digitally derived data from participants’ online networks. Participants were sampled by age-group (adolescents, university students, and adults), rendering an overall sample of 506 (53% male; 13 to 77 years) UK based Facebook users, from which subsequent study-specific datasets were derived. Data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, mediation analysis, multilevel modelling, and social network analysis. The results indicate that: (1) FOMO and online connective behaviours mediate the relationship between offline psychological vulnerability and exposure to negative online experiences; (2) offline vulnerabilities have the capacity to initiate a cycle of potentially problematic online behaviour; (3) maintaining a large, diverse network of social connections is associated with higher levels of reported exposure to negative online experiences; (4) the presence of certain types of individuals / online entities might be associated with an individual experiencing negative online experiences, and (5) adult users might be less likely to perceive themselves as vulnerable to negative online experiences when compared to adolescent users. The research contributes to knowledge and understanding of online life by providing a digitally enhanced perspective of the implications that offline psycho-social motivations, online behaviours, and user characteristics can have on an individual’s vulnerability to negative online experiences

Gendered Expression Online: Exploring Gendered Communication on Facebook and in a Collaborative Editing Task

College students are increasingly using digital media, such as social network sites (SNSs) and collaborative editing tools (Wikipedia), as identity exploration tools, aligning or distancing themselves from their offline selves through the online affordances of anonymity and agentic choice. The opportunities for gender fluidity available online (Armentor-Cota, 2011) provide college students with opportunities to experiment with and manipulate varied identities in a safe space where consequences of confronting identity norms may be less severe (Turkle, 1996; Shaw, 1997). Similarly, restrictive offline gender differences may diminish in online spaces, favoring a more flexible and androgynous enactment of gender (Martin, Cook, & Andrews, 2016) in certain online spaces. Even so, research has identified a significant gender gap in collaborative digital spaces such as Wikipedia (Glott, Schmidt, & Ghosh, 2010; Hill & Shaw, 2013; Lam et al., 2011; Pande, 2011). The current research examined identity choices and gendered communicative patterns online using a popular SNS, Facebook, and a simulated collaborative editing environment. Study one explored gender variations in communicative patterns on Facebook, while study two explored gender expressions in a public, collaborative editing task. Although the studies found specific gendered communicative patterns on both Facebook and Wikipedia, the majority of the online behaviors were not gender-specific and online behaviors reflected more similarities than differences between men and women, supporting a more flexible understanding of gendered expressions (Martin, Cook, & Andrews, 2016) online. Based on these studies, some offline gender differences replicated through certain online spaces, such as women favoring relationship maintenance (Facebook), women orienting towards more harmonious behaviors/environments (Facebook and Wikipedia), and gender-specific power dynamics from offline spaces (Facebook). Women also favored more positive collaborative environments and those that included at least one other female editor, while men more actively edited in a neutral environment lacking positive affirmations. Other gender differences appear to dissipate in certain online environments, illustrated by both women and men actively editing and collaborating to the same extent on a fact-based section of an essay. Furthermore, men have more often favored this type of information sharing than women in other online environments. Overall, these results find that certain offline inequalities and power dynamics may replicate in online spaces. Online gender differences appear to be nuanced in nature with regards to specific online behaviors and expressions of gender may reflect the gender composition of peers engaging in the online space

[email protected] : unsanctioned social network site connections between youth work practitioners and young people

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Professional Doctorate.Social network sites are online spaces that can be used for interaction between young people and youth work practitioners. The focus of this thesis is social network site interaction that falls outside the guidance of the local authority, through unsanctioned interaction on practitioners’ personal but also work profiles. Twenty one practitioners and fourteen young people were interviewed, using a semi-structured interview guide. Three inter-linked themes emerged through the research process; space and place; trust development and boundary management. Young people wanted to interact with some practitioners through the practitioners' personal profiles but the majority of practitioners would rather interact with young people through work profiles. Young people viewed and trusted these practitioners as friends and were willing to share their personal, but also socially intimate information with them. Most practitioners viewed their relationship with young people as a professional relationship and aimed to maintain personal and professional boundaries. However, practitioners did not extend this same awareness to the boundaries of young people. This was further confirmed by the practice of client searching through a variety of profiles to access socially intimate information of young people. Where practitioners and volunteers lived and worked in the same geographical spaces, these multiple relationships increased uncertainty with regards to unsanctioned SNS interaction. Other practitioners were either fearful or opportunistic of these relationships and used them to gain further socially intimate information about young people or turned a blind eye to these relationships due to uncertainty of how to respond. This thesis extends knowledge and theory concerning youth work practice at a time of change, and also new spaces for interaction online. Civic courage and incentives that outweigh deterrents lead to unsanctioned connections for practitioners. For young people this interaction was based on the type of friendship they perceived they had with practitioners. Studying perceptions regarding this interaction revealed cycles of perpetual negative practice, personal and socially intimate boundaries and different views on the type of relationship that young people and practitioners developed with each other