Ascertaining Trust Indicators in Social Networking Sites
The use of social network sites has exploded with its multitude of functions which include posting pictures, interests, activities and establishing contacts. However, users may be unaware of the lurking dangers of threats originating from Social Networking Sites (SNS) which include malware or fake profiles. This paper investigates the indicators to arouse suspicion that a social networking account is invalid with a specific focus on Facebook as an illustrative example. The results from a survey on users’ opinions on social networks, is presented in the paper. This helps reveal some of the trust indicators that leads users to ascertaining whether a social networking profile is valid or not. Finally, indicators of potentially deceptive agents and profiles are given as a guideline to help users decide whether they should proceed with interaction with certain contacts.