“Internet users” does not fit, it is entirely vague. Differences in

Contents
Use & Effects ........................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction to the first edition: The handbook of New Media: Updated student edition ................ 2
Introduction to the updated student edition: The handbook of New Media: Updated student
edition ................................................................................................................................................. 2
New Media, New Theory? ................................................................................................................... 3
Media Choice and ICT Use ................................................................................................................... 5
Citizens and Service Channels: Channel Choice and Channel Management Implications .................. 7
Perspectives on Internet Use: Access, Involvement and Interaction .................................................. 8
Multichannel marketing: An experiment on guiding citizens to the electronic channels ................ 10
Tie Strength and the Impact of New Media ...................................................................................... 11
Adoption ................................................................................................................................................ 12
Innovativeness and Adopter Categories ........................................................................................... 12
How Users and Non-Users Matter .................................................................................................... 13
The adoption of Web 2.0 services: An empirical investigation ......................................................... 13
New Communications Approaches in Marketing: Issues and Research Directions .......................... 14
Non-Users also matter: the construction of users and non-users of the Internet ........................... 15
Network Ethnography and the Hypermedia Organization: New Media, New Organizations, New
Methods ............................................................................................................................................ 15
The early bird catches the news: Nine things you should know about micro-blogging ................... 16
Dialogic communication in 140 characters or less: How Fortune 500 companies engage
stakeholders using Twitter ................................................................................................................ 17
Design .................................................................................................................................................... 17
Methods to support human-centred design ..................................................................................... 17
Online Trust: State of the Art, New frontiers, and Research Potential ............................................. 22
Privacy and Disclosure on Facebook: Youth and Adults’ Information Disclosure and Perceptions of
Privacy Risks ...................................................................................................................................... 23
Privacy by Design. The 7 Foundational Principles. Implementation and Mapping of Fair Information
Practices ............................................................................................................................................ 24
Leveraging Trust and Privacy Concerns in Online Social Networks: An Empirical Study .................. 24
Mapping conversations about new media: the Theoretical Field of Digital Communication........... 25
Use & Effects
Introduction to the first edition: The handbook of New Media: Updated
student edition
Many definitions of New Media. Most ones about technological features.
Internet consists of many different modes with own characteristics. People expected internet to have
the same rules as e.g. print sales or movie distribution.
NEW in New Media: Everyone can speak, comment or distribute = emancipatory break or more
global corporate capitalism of a small elite??? New Media is more influenced by economic factors
than traditional media.
NEW MEDIA:



Artifacts or devices that enable and extend our abilities to communicate
Communication activities and practices we engage in to develop and use these devices
Social arrangements or organizations that form around the devices and practices
New Media instrument and product of social shaping.
Selectivity: Bad consequence of emancipatory break, users have to be careful which sources they can
trust
New Media = New Methods? Different meanings both can be argued for. Technology is getting
influenced by research.
Introduction to the updated student edition: The handbook of New Media:
Updated student edition
Shift from technological determination in 1970s and 1980s towards social determination.
Mutual shaping: Technological development and social practices are co-determining.





Ethnoscape: shifting landscape of persons, identities, diaspora
Technoscape: fluid, networked configuration of technologies
Financescapes: disposition of global capital
Mediascapes: distribution of information, images and audiences
Ideoscapes: ideologies and counter-ideologies which link images and ideas to the power of
states
Recombination: “continuous hybridization of both existing technologies and innovations in
interconnected technical and institutional networks”, new media technologies change because of
available technological and cultural resources and human actions.
Remediation: Older media are being adapted into the new technology (e.g. online newspaper or
tele-conferencing)
Network Metaphor: Broad, multiplex interconnection, one-to-one & many-to-many communication.
Consequences: Ubiquity & Interactivity
Ubiquity: Even as a non-user, because of its widespread presence and implementation, everyone is
influenced. “Digital divide” (differences in distribution or ability to use ICT) is a social problem. There
has been a basic assumption that ubiquity is good, even though the technology was not being
controlled.
Interactivity: “choices of information sources and interactions with other people”. Immediacy,
responsiveness and social presence are the differences towards interactivity via “old” media.
Audience: Because of these characteristics, “user”-descriptions had to be renewed. They are active,
diffused and embedded. Because of this, media content is more personal, convergent with other
channels and has to be more interactive.
“Internet users” does not fit, it is entirely vague. Differences in channels or characteristics of
users of these technologies make this group to heterogeneous to collect them in one group.
Communication: “coordinated action, that achieves understanding or shared meaning”
Information: “organized, expressed and intelligible representation or product of communication
process”
Mediation: “enables, supports or facilitates communicative action and representation”,
 Artefacts (alphabets, keyboards, money…)
 Practices (gestures, language…)
 Social arrangements (single-parent families, think tanks, political campaigns)
Critique of understanding mass media (or mediation) as distortion of interpersonal interaction.
Shift from mass society to network society changed people’s behavior regarding media use (more
diverse mediated and unmediated communication, information sharing…)
New Media, New Theory?
A medium embodies a set of social relations that interact with features of the new technology.
Institutional/professional content
(Formal/professional interpersonal communication)
MASS
MEDIA
Symmetrical,
Mediated
Interaction
Asymmetrical,
Mediated
Quasi-interaction
PERSONAL MEDIA
(Alternative media)
De-institutional/ de-professional content
Combination of interactivity with mass media characteristics (content range, audience reach…) are
the most important new aspects of Internet. (Livingstone)
The ubiquity and implementation made sure that ICT is so integrated into our community and is been
taken for granted. (Lievrouw)
Journalism: Copyright, gatekeeping and control are most important aspects in spreading
news/products via Internet. The audience is far more personal and interactivity has been made
possible.
Concerns: Power, social integration, social change, development, space & time




Power: No strict ownership, difficult to locate, much more freedom (as receiver, sender and
also spectator or participant), (almost) no control from government
Integration: New communities, new identities were created.
Social change: Participatory media can better produce change, are more involving; Access is
required
Space & time: Removed many constraints, but still separated into geographical territories, no
real time saved
Because of complexity and number of functions, Internet should be described by types of use,
content and context:
 Interpersonal communication, Interactive play, Information search, collective participatory,
substitution of broadcast
Interactivity: Proximity (social nearness), sensory activation, perceived speed, telepresence
5 Levels: - Direction of communication
- Flexibility regarding time & roles
- Sense of place in communication environment
- Level of control
- Perceived purpose
Point of view of user(s)
Allocution: One
Many
Conservation & Exchange: One/Many
One/Many
Consultation: Source
Information seeker
Registration: Center
One
Control of Information store
Central
Individual
Central
Allocution
Registration
Individual
Consultation
Conversation
Control of time
and choice of
subject
Virtual Community: Set of individuals on the internet which share some interests or respond to a
certain stimulus. Characteristics they have in common with real communities are e.g. interaction,
common purpose, rituals and so on. Can either be open & accessible or hard to enter.
Politics: Emancipatory break good for democracy, can provide forums for new groups, allow
dialogue, open arena for public discussions. Can widen the gap between already interested
participants and others.
Freedom: Missing regulations a consequence from capacity, lack of structure, organization &
management. Because of control of access via some small groups, first regulations have started and
keep growing.
Equalizer or divider: Internet has potential to give everyone the same power to be heard. But
because of access, ability to use and availability of resources, it can also widen the gap socially and
economically.
Media Choice and ICT Use
Determinism: Media Choice is rational & predictable
Social Construction: Technology features & social factors are intertwined
Media Richness: Dependent on the following aspects, a channel is being described as rich or lean:
-
immediate feedback
number of cues and channels available
language variety
personality of messages
The higher a channel scores according to these aspects,
the more effective he is and should be used in situations
with high ambiguity and uncertainty.
Critic has focused on different perceptions of these aspects that people can get used to channels and
the lack of synchronous or asynchronous communication.
Social Influence Theory: According to this theory, people use their evaluation of media and task
features, as well as their experiences with these media and tasks. They are also socially influenced,
e.g. because of group norms or because they would otherwise not reach this person.
Dual Capacity Model: The channel himself represents a meaning which should be transmitted. This
meaning can change over time. Also, the norms of an organization (or culture) are being emphasized.
Structuration theory: The channels also change because of the way people use them.
Media Choice is dependent from many factors. Sometimes it even is not a choice (e.g. in
organizations). In addition to that, it can change over time and people are not aware of why they use
this exact medium.
Credibility: Evaluated by two aspects:
Expertise: intelligence, training, competence
Trustworthiness: ethic, honesty, moral, genuine
Knowledge trust: established over time with good experiences
Initial trust formation: based on personality, environment, first impressions and possible benefits and
costs
Frequent communication, interactivity and much feedback ensure high-trust relations.
Goodwill: understanding, empathy, responsiveness
Message: content (e.g. topic), structure (clarity of organization), delivery (e.g. choice of words)
In addition to that, credibility is also dependent from context, personality of audience and the used
channel.
Citizens and Service Channels: Channel Choice and Channel Management
Implications
The governmental agencies offer a variation of channels to have contact with them. This was being
supported by the shift from bureaucracy to user-centeredness.
New Public Management: Shift towards a perspective where citizens are clients. More marketoriented. Reinforcement of law became service provision.
But citizens are more than just clients, they interact with the government in different roles. On the
one hand they have rights, but also duties. They have to comply with rules and can vote on different
occasions. Thus, a separation into voter, subject of the state, citoyen and customer should be made.
So it is apparent that they communicate in different ways with the government and prefer different
channels each time.
E-Government: Implementation of ICT in public administration. Function at first hand exclusively
improvement of public service delivery. Much emphasis because this technology should reduce costs
for citizens & government. But also critic, because people would want to have richer communication
channels or would not want to switch.
First studies showed that citizens have more contact with the government, but use a variation of
channels, even in one service delivery process.
Pieterson’s 2 decision strategies:
1. Based on reasoning in order to achieve a match between task and channel.
2. Based on unconscious habitual action and experiences.
The decision which one to follow is dependent on 4 determinants:
 Task characteristics
 Channel characteristics
 Personality characteristics
 Situational characteristics
Channel Management Strategies:
1. Parallel: Free choice, everything available everywhere
2. Replacement: Channels are superior or inferior to
each other, so one channel can replace
another.
3. Supplemental: Each channel has its own characteristics,
so government should offer services via
the best suited for every service. But
only certain channels for certain services.
4. Integrated: All channel are being used, but citizens are
being guided to the one whose characteristics are the most fitting to the situation.
They seamlessly refer to each other.
The following figure gives a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of different channels.
Problems in the favoured (integrated) positioning could become lack of information about citizen
behaviour, synchronous data providing and seamless coordination between different units.
Perspectives on Internet Use: Access, Involvement and Interaction
Mostly based on U.S. numbers and figures.
Access:
Pessimistic: People who do not have access are mostly from groups who already have economical
disadvantages. Internet favours white men who are higher educated, have a higher income and
already experience with computers. Thus, the other fall behind and existing gaps become bigger.
The most popular reasons are lack of skill, no access to computers or networks, unattractive usage
style and no interest.
Optimistic: According to some studies, racial and gender do not influence access. Also, there has
been a lot of effort to make it possible for people with disabilities to use the internet. With growing
technological possibilities, this becomes steadily easier.
Civic and political involvement:
Pessimistic: The most popular tendency in internet conservations and homepage is the right wing.
Internet could support free speech, but because of an overflow of information, these statements will
not be notices. In addition to that, the removal of gatekeepers could create problems, as e.g. wrong
information. Only the already politically engaged people will use it in effective ways. Because of
selection of information, people will become reinforced in their positions.
Optimistic: People expect themselves to be more interested in politics when using the internet and
say they would use it to inform themselves. Internet can cause a change in control because of six
characteristics:
- Many-to-many interactivity
- Flexible storage, use and manipulation
- Design as network
- Lack of Gatekeepers
- Broadband capacity
Yet to be achieved.
- Universal access
Up to now, internet has given politicians a better view about what to expect, how to advertise, and
how things should be coordinated.
Community involvement:
Pessimistic: Internet communities consist of secondary relationships, people know each other just in
a few dimensions. Because of that, people can not be trusted and they will not be as honest and
reliable as in primary relationships. In addition to that, there are three other phenomenons:
- Overpersonalization: Adopting messages to people’s needs and wishes, also
selectivity in information searching.
- Disintermediation: Lack of gatekeepers.
- Relying on market-based solutions.
Parasocial interaction: Illusion of intimate relation.
Internet reinforces certain kinds of roles, statuses and social networks. Organic communities are
based on several interests, thus more heterogeneous that virtual communities.
Optimistic: People can use the internet to bypass barriers, even time and space. Status, class and
social roles can differ on the internet. It brings strangers closer together. Internet can create
communities for minorities.
Social interaction and forms of expression:
Pessimistic: Internet less reliable, people can fake gender, age, appearance and so on. Everything on
the purpose of self-displaying. Lack of censorship or gatekeepers can lead to mobbing, unethical
behavior or wrong information.
Optimistic: Internet is mostly social- and affect-oriented. Hyperpersonal conservations can occur
because people can focus on the content and are ready to talk about things they would not talk
about face-to-face. There are more social isolates amongst non-users than under users. Internet
more an addition to already existing offline relationships.
Internet at Home and in School: N-Gen (2-27 in 1997) grow/grew up with pc’s. Internet users think it
had made them better students because of language training and availability of information
regarding their homework. It is also used to maintain relationships with family as well as friends.
Other media: Replacement primarily for informational purposes. Also overall decline in other media
use because of internet. Internet users use more and more different media than non-users. Also
replacement for face-to-face communication when users were to shy.
Increasing diversity of voices: Internet especially effective for people who have difficulties finding
friends. These relationships can also change into face-to-face. It can also support minorities through
organizing and letting them find each other.
Potential transformations: Internet as social capital, with all positive aspects of social networks,
shared knowledge and collaboration.
Multichannel marketing: An experiment on guiding citizens to the
electronic channels
How can a personal letter be used to lead citizens to the web for governmental services?
Channel marketing:
-
Communication instruments: mass media, personal, public relations…
Legal or restrictive instruments: rules, regulations and restrictions
Economic instruments: increasing or reducing cost of using particular channels
Service instruments: Support, speed, reliability…
Communication instrument: Spreading information and awareness. Important aspects to consider:
Need for building trust, quality of services, citizen characteristics (demographic, experience…). Thus,
three strategies:
1. Comparing advantages and disadvantages
2. Compelling story, e.g. usage of testimonials
3. Linkage to situation when services are needed
Experiment: 2 groups of people who got a child. One received a letter with a form, one a letter with
instructions to complete this form via internet. Both channels were available for both groups.
Experimental = letter with internet
The form itself was seen as a little more nonpersonal in the experimental group. The procedure was
seen as faster, easier to use, more nonpersonal, more effective, less cumbersome and more
pleasant. However, there was not a difference in satisfaction with the procedure. Almost everyone
who used the website expects to do the same the following time. As expected, men were more likely
to use the website and there were also more higher educated persons than low educated.
Increase of adoption through: well-functioning service, increasing awareness, showing that the other
channel provides more value, establishing trust.
The most popular reasons not to submit form via website in experimental group have been: lack of
access, trust in themselves or internet, technical problems.
Tie Strength and the Impact of New Media
Strong tie: High level of intimacy, self-disclosure, more frequent interaction for different purposes
via different media. Adapt ones media use to support exchange. Will come together to a
communication solution.
Weak tie: Engage in fewer, less intimate exchanges, share fewer types of information. Depend on
media and protocols to communicate. Very fragile through changes in the media (sometimes just
one) they use to communicate.
It is assumed that mediated (online) ties have the same characteristics than offline ties.
Users extend leaner media to support their relationships; they make them richer (e.g. emoticons in
text-based communication). They adapt media to what they need. So, new patterns and ways of
usage are being created.
Which medium fits the best for weak ties is dependent on local situations. Users can resist
regulations and force organizations to go back to the communication form they assume would be the
best for them.
Strong ties try to adapt media or go to others which are better suited for their needs.
When a new medium is getting adopted in an organization, this can lead to a shift from latent (not
yet existing) ties to weak ties.
Adoption
Innovativeness and Adopter Categories
Point of time to adopt a new invention mostly dependent on innovativeness.
Innovativeness: Indicates overt behavioural change.
Rogers’ ”Diffusion of Innovation Theory” was a
turning point for the diffusion research. This Sshaped curve is just logical, because the human
traits are also mostly normally distributed. So, this is
a consequence. Information exchange takes mostly
place via interpersonal networks. Barriers to access
can influence the innovation.
Organizations follow the same pattern as individuals.
Adopter Categories as Ideal Types:
-
-
Innovators: Interest in new ideas, more cosmopolite social relationships.
Prerequisites: Enough money, ability to understand and apply complex technical
knowledge and to cope with high degree of uncertainty. Can be summarized as
venturesome and curious. Not always respected, but important role as
gatekeeper.
Early adopters: Highest degree of opinion leadership. Potential adopters look to
them for advice and information, serve as role model.
Early majority: Adopts just before the average. Almost no opinion leadership, but
important because of position as link and its mass. Do not want to risk too much.
Late majority: Adoption sometimes an economic or social necessity. Weigh of
system norms & peer pressure are very important aspects.
Laggards: Many social isolates belong to this group, very bound to the past.
Sceptical and suspicious. Sometimes late adoption because they can not risk
anything.
GENERALIZATIONS!
Socioeconomic characteristics: Earlier adopters: no difference in age, higher education, higher social
status, greater degree of upward social mobility, larger size-units
Personality variables: Earlier adopters: greater empathy, less dogmatic, greater ability to deal with
abstractions, more rational, more intelligent, more favourable attitude towards change, can better
cope with uncertainty and risk, less fatalistic, higher ambitions
Communication behavior: more social participation, highly interconnected through interpersonal
networks, more cosmopolite, more mass media consume, seek information more actively, greater
knowledge of innovations, more opinion leadership
The socioeconomically lower classes of the community are also mostly the last one to adopt an
innovation. This happens because they are on the one hand not as good informed as others, but also
because government focuses on a target group which is easier to persuade. Having earlier adopters
in ones interpersonal network can facilitate the adoption of innovations.
How Users and Non-Users Matter
People might use technologies in many different ways, not just what it was constructed for.
SCOT (Social Construction of Technology) Approach: Technology is shaped by human action. This
cannot be understood without embedding it into the social context. Interpretative flexibility means
that each group or individual has its own meaning and interpretation of such a technology.
Feminist Approach: Different perceptions of technology dependent on gender of user. Focusing on
the social context and networks. Users are active participants, not passive consumers.
Semiotic Approach: Constructors have to design a machine so that users will end up using it the way
it was meant. Therefore, they have to define these users and forecast their thoughts and actions.
Cultural Approach: Emphasizes social networks and peer pressure. Groups can create their own ways
of usage. Domestication means the integration of technology into ones social life and home.
Summary: Multiplicity and diversity of users, co-construction is being emphasized.
The adoption of Web 2.0 services: An empirical investigation
Three determinants of individual choices of technology adoption:
-
Adopters characteristics: demographics, innovativeness, experience
Social environment: interpersonal influence, network effects
Technological features: perceptions vary per user
Innovations have to fulfil different requirements, according to the “Diffusion of Innovation Theory”:
-
Relative advantage
Complexity
Compatibility
Trialability
Observability
According to new studies, perceived risk also has to be included
The “Technology Acceptance Model” focuses on different aspects:
Experiment: Factors associated with adoption and intensity of usage of video sharing websites, social
networks and social bookmarking.
Video sharing is most popular, followed by social networks. Most users started adopting these
services for fun. Use was most dependent on ease of use, usefulness and tool experience.
Different determinants for different services.
To be honest, this research belongs to the category “Researchers live in their very own reality”. The
more difficult a video sharing website is, the more it will be appreciated? In addition to that, 80%
MySpace against 55% Facebook? We live in 2011!
New Communications Approaches in Marketing: Issues and Research
Directions
Changes in Marketing:
-
TV commercials less effective with coming of digital video recorders
More interactivity with customers, so organizations have to produce experiences
instead of one-way-communication.
Breakdown into age groups not very useful anymore
Making messages more personal
Key characteristics of these new media are: Interactivity and digital.
Intrusive marketing
Internet advertising: Buttons, banners, Pop-ups…
Product placement: used e.g. in video games or web games
M-commerce: sending messages or commercials to people via cell phone
Non-intrusive marketing
Internet advertising: user has to activate advertisement or communication by himself, e.g. video
stream
Social networks: profiles on these sites to create awareness, communicate or let users create
customer generated media (CGM)
Podcasts: Like TV-commercials
Viral marketing: Word-of-mouth (WOM), tries to create buzz, let people hear about company or
product from friends/family
User-generated marketing:
Blogs: either from a person or an organization
Video sites: share content, upload self-created or recorded content
Ratings/recommendations: e.g. on Amazon or eBay
Major issues
Metrics and measurement: what is the real effect of online marketing? Awareness, actual purchases
or image? This is also quite hard to measure, because it influences many areas and is so intertwined.
Planning and budgeting: hard to plan because of fast changes and great number of possibilities. Also,
it is quite difficult to decide where to invest and why.
Consumer behavior/brand control: change of locus of control, people can be heard, how to deal
with that?
Possible, interestering research issues:
Non-Users also matter: the construction of users and non-users of the
Internet
Most emphasized aspects:
-
Internet is not as fast growing as it has been
Not everyone wants to become a user
People who used it also decide to stop (Drop-outs)
On a global view, internet not as successful as many people think
Overall, this source does not provide anything new or interesting. The fact that it is from 2003 makes
me think this source is even more worthless than I thought before.
Network Ethnography and the Hypermedia Organization: New Media, New
Organizations, New Methods
Hypermedia organizations: using new communication technology to overcome time & space
problem. More interaction, knowledge-sharing, faster.
Ethnography as a method to research organizations. But also common problems of this research
method, as e.g. subjectivity, time consuming.
Another possibility is social network analysis. Structure, relations and positions have to be
researched for this method.
Network ethnography: Combination of these two research methods above.
1. Researcher has to choose a specific community or unit and specific nodes herein.
2. Choosing a sample method
3. Chart community change
Can be extended.
The early bird catches the news: Nine things you should know about microblogging
Three factors that make microblogs successful:
Ambient awareness: Because of many little messages, one can paint a surprisingly accurate picture
about other persons and their (social) life’s.
Push-push-pull communication: Reduce of effort to read someone’s messages through following.
Also, everything is public by default. Other users can also answer or distribute it further. At last, there
is also the possibility to expand ones messages by providing a URL to further information or similar
strategies.
Virtual exhibitionism: Many people like to present themselves in ways they seem interesting.
Microblogs are a very suited communication technology. Even more like to observe others. In both
cases, microblogs offer a good opportunity to fulfill these wishes.
How microblogs can be valuable for organizations:
Marketing research: researching what people like and getting an overall view of the target group can
be done very easily.
Marketing communications: advertising, updating, informing, connecting with clients…
Customer services: Word-of-mouth, communicating with clients
Rules for successful microblogging:
Relevance: organizations should not spread too many messages, they also should be interesting
Respect: using appropriate language, setting up guidelines, should not try to outsmart users
Return: social media mostly does not pay out in hard dollars. One should be aware of the fact that it
provides many advantages but these cannot be seen from the surface.
Dialogic communication in 140 characters or less: How Fortune 500
companies engage stakeholders using Twitter
Dialogic communication style: “any negotiated exchange of ideas and opinions” , in this case it is
being used for organizations who use twitter to communicate with clients, to interact and to
promote their products (61% of all organizations).
The most important advantage compared to a non-dialogic communication style is that it creates
more interactivity between user and client.
The most popular features in profile sites were links to the company website, a brief biography and
who actually is sending the messages.
The most popular dialogical features were an organizational response to a user’s post, news from the
information and attempting to stimulate discussions.
Design
Methods to support human-centred design
Advantages of a usable site or system: more productivity, less human errors, less training & support,
improved acceptance & reputation
Key principles of Human Centered Design:
- Active involvement of users who can understand the
site in context
- Division of labor between people and machines
- Iterative feedback from scratch on
- Heterogeneous design-teams
HCD Development Cycle:
- Planning of process
- Understanding and specifying context of use
- Defining user & organizational requirements
- Producing solutions & prototypes
- Evaluating
Planning
Context of use
User & organizational requirements
Produce design solutions
Evaluating design against requirements
System release: Emphasizing installation and support. Without it, a usable system can become
unusable or rejected.
System supplier taks:
-
Assisting installation and training the user
Provision of technical support
Providing of documentation
Customer management tasks:
-
Increasing awareness of coming system
Involving the users
Provision of training & a working environment
Capturing feedback
Managing organizational change (e.g. dealing with resistance)
Online Trust: State of the Art, New frontiers, and Research Potential
Trust on the internet grows, even to pay via internet. Trust is being described as integrity,
competence and goodwill. When trust is being established, consumers will accept vulnerability, e.g.
providing their credit card credentials.
How online trust works:
The most important aspects for online trust are privacy and security, but also the organization
behind the site and past experiences.
How to build trust:
-
giving consumer control over personal information
opt-in/opt-out policies
perceived size & reputation influence trust
unbiased information & transparency
virtual advisors
peer reviews
links to and from other sites
web site investment
service quality
Research ideas:
-
longitudinal trust information
standard trust scales
effects of consumer rating and trust
third party vs. company sites
multichannel trust
trust and industrial online selling
privacy and personalization
Problems: trust is dependent on more aspects than just the website, also new media are constantly
changing, so research which is done today could be uninteresting tomorrow.
Privacy and Disclosure on Facebook: Youth and Adults’ Information
Disclosure and Perceptions of Privacy Risks
Nonymousity: Although online social network users have some level of privacy, the information
posted by them is linked to their real identities.
On these sites, people show each other about themselves. Identity is thus a social product. This can
be in contrast with the identity they want to have in other groups, e.g. their parents or at their work.
A majority of the users is aware of privacy settings and knows how to use them, but less people are
actually using them. This could be related to the fact that people think that the positive effects of this
information disclosure strategy would overweigh the negative outcomes.
At the group of younger people, the age was a significant aspect. The older a person was, the more
likely it was that he was using the privacy settings. Other aspects, both your youth as adults, were
need for popularity and awareness of the consequences (strongest predictor). Also, bad experiences
were causing the youth to change their privacy settings.
Recommendations for education:
-
Providing parents with more knowledge about this topic to enable them to
monitor and guide their children.
-
Focus on increasing awareness.
Education campaign for youth to prevent and manage negative situations.
Let users see how their profile looks like to other users.
Recommendations for policy:
-
Understandable also for the youngest users.
Let users have more control over information other post about them.
Privacy by Design. The 7 Foundational Principles. Implementation and
Mapping of Fair Information Practices
1. Proactive instead of reactive; Preventive, not remedial: Instead of waiting for complaints or
a reason to act, an organization should have clear, high standards about privacy and publish
these.
2. Privacy as the default setting: No action should be required to ensure the highest degree of
privacy protection from beginning on. It is opt-in instead of opt-out.
3. Privacy embedded into design: Privacy should be integrated into technology from the start
on and should not be added afterwards.
4. Privacy should not hinder full functionality: When one decides to make his settings as
private as possible, this should not keep away any functions from him. Full functionality has
to be ensured for everyone, not depending on the privacy settings.
5. Security: All data released should be stored secure from begin of the process until the end
where they are being deleted.
6. Visibility and transparency: Organizations should be open about what they do with the data.
Everyone should be able to see what is being published or stored every time.
7. User-centric privacy: The design of the privacy settings and warnings should be built around
the needs of the user.
The Global Privacy Standard:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Consent of users
Accountability for user data
Inform about purposes
Amount of collected information should be limited
Use and time of use should be limited to a minimum
Personal information should be accurate
These information must be protected
It should be transparent what is being collected
Everyone should get access to his stored information
Complaint and redress mechanisms
Leveraging Trust and Privacy Concerns in Online Social Networks: An
Empirical Study
Social networks offer possibility to manage ones identity. They promote self-presentation and
control of the image they project. It allows maintaining relationships and creates social capital. Basis
of the commercial success is personalized advertising. Because of that, high privacy contradicts the
commercial basis.
Distributive justice: “Internet users perceived fairness of the outcome that they receive from online
companies in return for releasing their personal information”, thus online social networks should
offer users benefits. This happens through connecting them and supporting their communication.
Procedural justice: released information may not be used unfairly and may not bring any negative
consequences. The individual must have control over being access and information use.
Interactional justice: Transparency, warning and goodwill about privacy concerns. Informing users
about the ways their data will be collected and used.
Research shows that users primarily need
control over what information will be used to
establish trust in the social network provider
and diminish their privacy concerns. Also,
increasing awareness about what information
will be collected in which way could support
the process of establishing trust in the social
network provider.
Mapping conversations about new media: the Theoretical Field of Digital
Communication