Exploring the affordances of social networking sites: an analysis of three networks

Social network sites (SNS) are becoming increasingly important, both for individuals and organizations. These systems have affected social and cultural activities, work practices, and in particular the ways in which we discover, share and consume information goods. The functionality of SNS is emergent, shaped by user appropriation choices. In this paper, affordances are proposed as a way to understand the potential uses and future evolution of SNS. Affordances describe the characteristics of an interactive system which suggests how the system should be used. The objective of this study is to explore the affordances of SNS. The study comprises an inventory of the affordances of three popular SNS. The study reveals a diverse collection of software features which afford user behaviour in six areas of activity: social connectivity, social interactivity, profile management, content discovery, content sharing and content aggregation. The findings of the study provide a rich foundation for future research on user appropriation of SNS, the future evolution of SNS, and the design of SNS systems

EXPLORING THE AFFORDANCES OF SOCIAL NETWORK SITES: AN ANALYSIS OF THREE NETWORKS

Social network sites (SNS) are becoming increasingly important, both for individuals and organizations. These systems have affected social and cultural activities, work practices, and in particular the ways in which we discover, share and consume information goods. The functionality of SNS is emergent, shaped by user appropriation choices. In this paper, affordances are proposed as a way to understand the potential uses and future evolution of SNS. Affordances describe the characteristics of an interactive system which suggests how the system should be used. The objective of this study is to explore the affordances of SNS. The study comprises an inventory of the affordances of three popular SNS. The study reveals a diverse collection of software features which afford user behaviour in six areas of activity: social connectivity, social interactivity, profile management, content discovery, content sharing and content aggregation. The findings of the study provide a rich foundation for future research on user appropriation of SNS, the future evolution of SNS, and the design of SNS systems

A categorisation framework for a feature-level analysis of social network sites

Social media (SM) have enabled new forms of communication, interaction, and connectivity that affect individuals on a personal and professional level. But SM is a broad term that encompasses a wide range of technologies with both distinct and shared capabilities. In addition, while there is an agreed-upon definition of these systems, a comprehensive list of features and their affordances does not exist. Hence, this study sought to create a feature-level categorisation framework for analysing the use of social network sites (SNS). This categorisation was undertaken using the concept of affordances, which framed the high-level characteristics as well as distinct SNS features, to better understand the divergence in SNS capabilities and inform the study of different types of SM. The framework was created from an analysis of the literature on SNS affordances and a system investigation into three types of SNS (Facebook, YouTube and Twitter). The comprehensive review was undertaken using two families of SNS affordances (social and content affordances) identified in the literature to categorise and compare the platforms. The study reveals a diverse collection of features which afford behaviour in six areas of activity: profile building, social connectivity, social interactivity, content discovery, content sharing and content aggregation. Finally, the framework provides a basis from which the usage and management of SM within organisations can be more rigorously investigated

XRay: Enhancing the Web's Transparency with Differential Correlation

Today's Web services - such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook - leverage user data for varied purposes, including personalizing recommendations, targeting advertisements, and adjusting prices. At present, users have little insight into how their data is being used. Hence, they cannot make informed choices about the services they choose. To increase transparency, we developed XRay, the first fine-grained, robust, and scalable personal data tracking system for the Web. XRay predicts which data in an arbitrary Web account (such as emails, searches, or viewed products) is being used to target which outputs (such as ads, recommended products, or prices). XRay's core functions are service agnostic and easy to instantiate for new services, and they can track data within and across services. To make predictions independent of the audited service, XRay relies on the following insight: by comparing outputs from different accounts with similar, but not identical, subsets of data, one can pinpoint targeting through correlation. We show both theoretically, and through experiments on Gmail, Amazon, and YouTube, that XRay achieves high precision and recall by correlating data from a surprisingly small number of extra accounts.Comment: Extended version of a paper presented at the 23rd USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 14

Preserving Film Preservation in the Digital Era

This paper explores the current controversies surrounding film preservation in the digital era. Questions address the benefits of new technologies and the potential sacrifices to a film\u27s authenticity and designation as a valued historical, social, and cultural artifact. Issues examined include film\u27s frail format, archives\u27s financial and storage limitations, the concept of the original film, and how current digitization methods affect each of these areas. This paper addresses the recent restorations of two particular films—Fritz Lang\u27s Metropolis (1927) and Alfred Hitchcock\u27s Vertigo (1958)—and concludes that digital technologies are not stable enough to replace traditional preservation methods, but they can greatly increase exposure to lesser-known films and support the general preservation of film

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

Children and the internet: An exploration of Year 5 pupils’ online experiences and perceptions of risk

The internet is becoming increasingly integral to children’s lives. Consequently, it is vital that children are educated in how to protect themselves online and how to become responsible online users. This action research study addresses significant gaps in existing research by exploring children’s online experiences, alongside their understandings of risk, from their own perspective, in order to inform a personalised and relevant internet safety curriculum within the research setting. The study utilises a mixed-methods approach, combining a comprehensive quantitative survey with a subsequent qualitative group interview with a sample of 14 participants. Findings suggest that, despite being proficient online users with an awareness of what constitutes online risk, many children largely fail to apply this knowledge to their own online practices. The study demonstrates the importance of educators and schools understanding children’s online activities in order to respond to their needs and concerns effectively. Based on the research findings, it is recommended that similar research is actioned across primary schools, and that schools appoint pupils as internet safety ambassadors to provide educators with insights into children’s current online activities, alongside providing peer guidance and support from a pupil perspective. These recommendations could be significant for the online safety education of children and young people in the wider context