Mining social network data for personalisation and privacy concerns: A case study of Facebook’s Beacon

This is the post-print version of the final published paper that is available from the link below.The popular success of online social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook is a hugely tempting resource of data mining for businesses engaged in personalised marketing. The use of personal information, willingly shared between online friends' networks intuitively appears to be a natural extension of current advertising strategies such as word-of-mouth and viral marketing. However, the use of SNS data for personalised marketing has provoked outrage amongst SNS users and radically highlighted the issue of privacy concern. This paper inverts the traditional approach to personalisation by conceptualising the limits of data mining in social networks using privacy concern as the guide. A qualitative investigation of 95 blogs containing 568 comments was collected during the failed launch of Beacon, a third party marketing initiative by Facebook. Thematic analysis resulted in the development of taxonomy of privacy concerns which offers a concrete means for online businesses to better understand SNS business landscape - especially with regard to the limits of the use and acceptance of personalised marketing in social networks

#any use? What do we know about how teachers and doctors learn through social media use?

This scoping literature review describes the landscape of recent publications (2007-2016) about how teachers and doctors learn through social media to identify whether learning was being considered and, if so, how evidence was collected (N=162). Sixty-seven percent (N=108) were teacher-related and thirty-three percent (N=54) doctor-related, covering empirical studies, literature reviews, position articles and letters to academic journals. Empirical studies were dominant – ninety-one percent (N=98) of teacher-related and sixty-one percent (N=33) of doctor-related – with both fields dominated by in-course evaluations and use/attitude studies. Although doctor-related articles focused on professional online behaviour, rather than professional learning, conference communication and information evaluation were interesting areas of enquiry. Despite professional interest in social media in these professions, there is a dearth of academic studies about their benefits for teacher and doctor learning

Exploring the democratic potential of online social networking: The scope and limitations of e-participation

Copyright © 2012 by the Association for Information Systems.The availability and promise of social networking technologies with their perceived open philosophy has increasingly inspired citizens around the world to participate in political activity on the Web. Recent examples range from opposing public policies, such as government funding cuts, to organizing revolutionary social movements, such as those in the Middle East and North Africa. Although online spaces create remarkable opportunities for various forms of political action, there are concerns over the power of existing institutions to control and even censor such interaction spaces. The objective of this article is to draw together different insights on the online engagement phenomenon, highlighting both its potential and limitations as a mechanism for fostering democratic debate and influencing policy making. We examine recent examples from Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Finally, we summarize the implications of our work and outline directions for further research

Social networking and transnational capitalism

Social Networking Sites (SNS) have become a key component of users’ experience of the internet. Whilst much has been made of the social dynamics of online SNS, the influence of the structures and operations of these sites – and the business models behind them – on users is rarely accounted for. This paper argues that behind the social behaviours sup- ported by SNS, there is a growing shift towards viewing online communities as commodities, and SNS as an extension of mainstream capitalist ideologies fostered by existing patterns of commercialization and consumption. Using the works of Gramsci, Gill and Hardt & Negri to provide a critical grounding, this paper explores the popular SNS site ‘Facebook’ and suggests that SNS may feel to the users to be free, social, personal, but in fact SNS are business as usual

Internet Social Networking

An overview of the literature on Internetsocial networking (ISN) is presented.The authors identify four dominantstreams of research and reviewthe key contributions to the field. Thereview reveals that the research fieldis fragmented and does not yet facilitatea general understanding of thephenomenon. In particular research isvery much skewed towards certain usergroups (e.g., students) and platforms(in particular Facebook). Further, implicationsfor a corporate context arediscussed. In doing so, three contextsof application are differentiated: Socialnetwork sites (SNSs) for 1) recruitingand professional career development,2) relationship facilitation in distributedwork contexts, and 3) interactions withend customers. The authors discussSNS potentials, implications of existingISN research and future research opportunities.In summary, they seek tocontribute to a better understandingof the phenomenon of ISN and to makingavailable the current state of ISN researchfor the wider Enterprise 2.0 community

IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORK SITES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIOURAL OUTCOMES IN THE WORK-PLACE: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

This paper reports on a systematic review of the evidence into the impacts of social network site usage on individual workplace outcomes. Twenty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria. SNS use in the workplace has been found to be positively associated with job satisfaction, job performance, innovative behaviour, employee engagement, and knowledge sharing, with knowledge sharing the most supported workplace outcome. The evidence does not support SNS use as being associated with negative behaviour like absenteeism and turnover intentions. Evidence of effects on behavioural outcomes such as presenteeism, organisational citizenship behaviour, and psychological outcomes such as employee involvement were limited. Results have implications for SNS usage policies in the workplace. Avenues for future work are provided

Social Networking Sites as Marketing and Outreach Tools of Library and Information Services

At a time when Web 2 0 applications in libraries have gained growing popularity globally it appears that the library must consider marketing its services more regularly through the Internet taking advantage of Web 2 0 applications to improve access to its users and to promote information services Many studies have discussed the importance of enhancing library services through Web 2 0 applications such as blogs wikis RSS Really Simple Syndication podcasts and social networking sites SNSs However very few studies have focused on social networking sites in relation to marketing strategies for library and information services The main purpose of this paper is to explore the varied marketing activities of libraries on SNSs focusing on Facebook as it is recognized as a popular SNS used among libraries Additionally the study introduces the role of library and information professionals LIPs within SNSs as well as user contributions to the marketing process Web content is used in a quantitative approach Twenty public libraries that have Facebook pages have been selected as subject sample

Marketing of Library and Information Products and Services During Covid -19 Pandemic: A Study

The Social networking sites play a major role in promoting library services and products to its user community. In this Covid-19 Pandemic and lockdown period, physical communication was locked and online web communication technology proved a powerful tool to bridge the gap between the library and users. The users were unable to reach the libraries during this pandemic period. The librarians used social networking tools to provide information during this pandemic period. The libraries provided a variety of services to its user community. The purpose of this paper is to show how effectively the libraries used Social Networking Sites for marketing & promoting the library and information products & services to their users during this pandemic and lockdown period. A structured online questionnaire was used for data collection. The targeted population was academic librarians working in colleges in Goa, India. From the study, it was found that Social networking sites play a major role in marketing and promoting library and information products and services during this pandemic period. Maximum librarians are using the Library website, Facebook and WhatsApp tool for marketing and promoting the library services and products to reach their users

The Use of Online Tools by Information Professionals in Medical Libraries in Oman

Rapid development of the Internet and the emergence of a new generation of the Internet within different social software offer advantages to medical libraries in terms of their services and marketing. Medical libraries need to change the ways they provide their services based on changes in users’ needs in the digital world. The main purpose of this study is to explore the perception/attitude of information professionals in Medical libraries in Oman towards use of various online tools or so-called Web2.0. The study also intends to highlight the main challenges that prevent libraries from using these tools and applications in providing services. An online survey was used as a data collection method. Survey Monkey software was used to design the questionnaire. The survey included all medical libraries (16) in Oman. The study found that the majority of information professionals in medical libraries in Oman are aware of Web 2.0 and the majority of them use its tools within library services. The majority of information professionals reported positively regarding the use of these tools in library services. However, several challenges were identified regarding using and adopting online tools within library services. This study tried to provide a clear understanding of the ways that online tools are used and adopted by information professionals in medical libraries. It is hoped that it will make a contribution to the future development of this subject area. Keywords: Oman, Online Tools, Information Professionals, Medical Libraries, Web 2.0, Library 2.0, Librarian 2.