The cost of (anti-) social networks: Identity, agency and neo-luddites

Author(s):  
Ryan Bigge

The media coverage and resultant discourse surrounding social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Friendster contain narratives of inevitability and technological determinism that require careful explication. Borrowing a tactic from the Russian Futurists, this paper attempts to make strange (that is, to defamiliarize) social network sites and their associated discourses by drawing upon an eclectic but interrelated set of metaphors and theoretical approaches, including: the digital enclosure, network sociality, socio-technical capital and Steven Jones’s recent examination of neo-Luddites. Whenever appropriate, this paper will integrate relevant magazine and newspaper journalism about social networking sites.

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-37
Author(s):  
N. Veerasamy ◽  
W. A. Labuschagne

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.


Author(s):  
Daniel B. Lee ◽  
Jessica Goede ◽  
Rebecca Shryock

Social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook depend on familiar social resources, including language, reading/writing and established semantic constructs such as personhood, privacy and friends. However, the use of computers, the Web 2.0 platform, and the latest networking software are revolutionising how “personhood” and “friendship” are produced by communication. We refer to the media theory of Niklas Luhmann to identify specific differences in how communication is organised and reproduced on networking sites. The electronic medium appears to be changing the way participants selectively construct and bind expectations of personhood and communicative ties to themselves and others. Using software available on the Web, users confront each other as digital bodies, as participants in communication, available for friendship within a new “ether of interactivity”.


2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1411-1413
Author(s):  
Nader Yahya Alkeinay ◽  
Norita Md Norwawi ◽  
Fauziah Abdul Wahid ◽  
Roesnita Ismail ◽  
Najwa Hayaati Mohd Alwi

Social network is term used to refer to the social structure that is made up of a set of social actors. The social actors in this case include organizations or individuals. Social networks allow people to interact and socialize as they get to learn and know each other. Through social networking sites, people from different parts of a country or the world also get to meet and interact. However, there have been issues with regards to social network privacy for those who use the internet to use social network sites. This paper will look at some of the factors that affect trust of the users as well as the privacy issues related to social networks (Fernandez, 2009).


2013 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 899-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilie Schou Andreassen ◽  
Ståle Pallesen

Our recent paper about a new Facebook addiction scale has stimulated an interesting and very welcome debate among researchers concerning the assessment of excessive use of social networking sites. The critique put forward by Griffiths (2012) is mainly built on the conception of “Facebook” as too narrow of a concept, and that assessment of addiction to social network sites in general would be more appropriate. We argue that the concept of “social network site” is not more specific than “Facebook,” so “Facebook addiction” rather than “social network addiction” is defensible. We acknowledge that more research in this area is needed and point specifically to new and important directions for future research that can shed light on the mechanism of addiction to social network sites.


Author(s):  
Mark D. Griffiths

Research indicates that compared to the general population, teenagers and students make the most use of social networking sites (SNSs). Although SNSs were originally developed to foster online communication between individuals, they now have the capability for other types of behaviour to be engaged in such as gambling and gaming. The present paper focuses on gambling and the playing of gambling-type games via SNSs and comprises a selective narrative overview of some of the main concerns and issues that have been voiced concerning gambling and gambling-type games played via social network sites. Overall, there is little empirical evidence relating to the psychosocial impact of adolescents engaging in gambling and gambling-type activities on SNSs, and the evidence that does exist does not allow definitive conclusions to be made. However, it is recommended that stricter age verification measures should be adopted for social games via SNSs particularly where children and adolescents are permitted to engage in gambling-related content, even where real money is not involved.


2017 ◽  
Vol SED2017 (01) ◽  
pp. 11-13
Author(s):  
Archana Tiwari

The last decade witnessed an explosion of social networks such as Facebook, twitter, Instagram etc, which added a new social dimension to the web. While such networks have made people, communities and groups with shared interests stay more “connected”. Internet addiction and surfing so many social network sites on internet is an addiction and moreover this particular also started being recognized as psychological disorders all over the world. While several 90′s studies focused on Internet addiction, the next decade saw the growth of a new addiction related to all manner of social networking sites, especially the current king of the jungle: Facebook. This study investigated the existence of Internet addiction among youth and how users are becoming addicted to the Internet in much that same way that others became addicted to drugs or alcohol which resulted in academic and what are the advantages and disadvantages of social networking sites.


Author(s):  
Liqiong Liu ◽  
Liyi Zhang ◽  
Pinghao Ye ◽  
Qihua Liu

This paper explores the influencing factors of Chinese university students in accepting and using social networking sites (SNS) to propose measures and recommendations that can guide and help these students correctly use SNS. In addition, this paper aims to provide theoretical support in increasing user loyalty for the SNS service providers and attract new users. The correlation and multiple regression analyses showed that perceived value, enjoyment, and influence positively influence the intention of individuals to use SNS.


Author(s):  
Rawan T. Khasawneh

During the fast growth of social media, the ways companies usually use in their marketing are changed; social networks became a great approach for companies to improve their communication with customers. The wide usage of social networking sites and tools by individuals makes companies want to think carefully on how they can benefit from such usage in rebuilding their relationship with customers and increasing their engagement level. Such companies found that social media marketing is the solution through which companies and their customers will become much closer. This chapter covers three main sections where traditional marketing and electronic marketing concepts are reviewed in the first section. Then a detailed exploration of social networks and their distinct features is presented in the second section. Finally a discussion of social network marketing tools and its related technologies is explored in the third section.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Rana AlShoaibi ◽  
Nadia Shukri

The major aim of this study is to better understand the university students’ perceptions and attitudes towards using social network sites for learning English as well as to identify if there is a difference between male and female university students in terms of using social networking sites for learning English inside and outside the classroom. The study also attempts to identify the social networking sites that are most frequently used by male and female university students in order to learn English. The participants of this study were 20 female and male foundation year students at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The tool of the study was a questionnaire. The finding of this study showed that male students had positive perceptions and attitudes toward using social network sites for learning English more than female students who had negative perceptions and attitudes. The results also showed that YouTube website was the most frequently used social network site for learning English by male students while the majority of the female students did not have any favorite social network sites because they did not use social network sites for learning English.


2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 94-100
Author(s):  
D Veerasamy

Social networks have become a way of life for many people who use them to connect and communicate with the world at large. Social media is defined as any tool or service that uses the Internet to facilitate conversations. Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites (SNSs) and has a total of 55 million active users worldwide with an average of 250000 new registrations per day. After Yahoo, MySpace and Google, Facebook is also the fourth most popular SNS in South Africa. The purpose of the paper was to determine whether social networks have an influence on higher education students’ lifestyles and behaviour. This research was descriptive and quantitative in nature. The sample comprised 386 students studying at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). The results indicated that the majority of the respondents preferred Facebook as their social network of choice. More than half of the respondents indicated that they access their preferred social network five times or more per day. The majority of the respondents agreed that social networks allow for global interaction and that maintaining relationships has become easier with social networking,


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