Social Networking Sites: Security and Privacy Issues
Methodology
Social Networking Sites: Security and Privacy Issues
1. Research Question
It was previously stated that security and privacy issues as they relate to social networking sites present a considerable area of scientific interest due to the speed of these online tools dissemination and associated risks for users. Millions of users worldwide prefer to communicate, exchange and share information by means of tools and mechanisms embedded into web architecture of social networks but remain reluctant to the information sensitivity considerations when it comes to data and information protection. This attitude creates a twofold problem. On the one hand, while contemporary social networking sites openly communicate privacy and security policies applied to the user-provided information, this information appeared to be poorly comprehended by average social network users (Van Eecke & Truyens, 2010). On the other hand, with increased value of information in today’s digital world, it obtains significant interest among users seeking for illegal data access – thieves, hackers, spoofers and other digital criminals (Narayanaswamy & McGrath, 2014). Thus, advancing security protocols to protect users from malicious intentions of other users appeared to be not enough since, first, users might be technically incompetent to protect themselves utilizing available data protection mechanisms, and second, advancing efforts might be easily overthrown by digital thieves who could possess extended expertise in security standards and architecture. Thus, investigation of methods to protect users of social media from cyber-attacks, as well as the exploration of user awareness on the threats presented by social networks and ways to mitigate them are the cornerstone of this research.
2. Research Methodology
The research question outlined above was guided by the research philosophy of how users of social networking sites perceive the importance of privacy settings, anticipated risks of inappropriate security configurations and outcomes of wrong choices or actions taken with respect to this problem. In applied research scenario, this problem has been re-formulated into a qualitative research design, which is currently seen as a legitimate enterprise among research community in the field of information systems (Suprateek, Xiao, & Beaulieu, 2013). The straightforward approach of choosing only one method with qualitative research design, however, was considered as insufficient due to the several concerns identified in present academic literature. Reflecting on the attitudes of users towards using or not engaging into enterprise social networks, Behrendt, Richter & Trier (2014) specified that it is impossible to define specific use cases to apply a single method of analysis when user motives behind their choices are not explicitly defined, meaning that evaluations are a comprehensive and exploratory inquiry calling for two or more sequential methods. Similarly, Jang, Kim & Jung (2016), exploring the perceived worth of social exchange calculated by people based on comparison between benefits and costs, utilized sequential approach to analyze the reasons of posting benevolent comments online through actual comments posting at the first stage and interviewing participants on the reasons behind doing this at the second …
