Facebook is a social media platform with the goal of making the world more open and connected, with over billions of active users worldwide. However, the information we post on Facebook no longer only belongs to us, chipping away at our personal privacy. Our privacy can be affected through the information we post on social media platforms such as Facebook and from the web in general.
My research project will be focused on answering the question:
“How do young people perceive the privacy of Facebook?”
The reason I selected this question is to discover different individuals experiences of Facebook. I will be focused on discovering the relationship between different Facebook users, through a comparison of the findings. I believe it will be interesting to find out when different individuals first began using the platform, and how they feel it has affected their privacy.
I will be focusing on University students, and will conduct surveys with open-ended questions, in which qualitative data will be obtained from. The surveys will focus on discovering at what age students first began using Facebook, and whether they use it at all. It will also focus on discovering the reason why they began using it at this age.
Conclusions will be drawn from the data gathered, such as whether the age Facebook users first began using the platform has impacted or changed the way they perceive the social platform, and if its changed the way they interact with it. I will focus on establishing whether there is a visible pattern noticed from different students responses, and whether they have a different relationship with the platform due to the age they began using it.
The survey will focus on gathering information such as whether students perceive their privacy has been invaded or, affected in any form due to their use of Facebook. It will also focus on acquiring information, such as whether the students are actively engaged with any other social media platform.
The survey participants will be asked to make a small timeline, of their interaction with Facebook. The timeline should include information such as, when they were first connected with Facebook, if they ever took a break from using it and when they reconnected Facebook. Around 20 individuals will be asked to participate in the survey, in order to be able to compare and contrast the connections between different users.
I will take into thought ethical considerations when gathering data, ensuring that it is reliable and not bias.
I hope to achieve that my research project helps show University students and myself, as I am a daily Facebook user, how others perceive the social platform.
Dejana Ristic 