An Exploratory Qualitative Study on People’s Attitudes towards Offline and Online Social Networks: A Case Study at a Brazilian University

Authors

  • Maria Lucia B. Villela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri
  • Simone I. R. Xavier Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
  • Raquel Oliveira Prates Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
  • Marcos O. Prates Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
  • Antonio A. P. Prates Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
  • Alexandre A. Cardoso Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Keywords:

Social Networks, privacy, qualitative study, Brazil, online x offline, physical x virtual, contrast

Abstract

Social networks have emerged as a new medium for sharing and exchanging information. As such, it brings new possibilities and challenges to people’s interaction. In this work, we have investigated through a qualitative study one of these challenges: how people perceive and deal with privacy in online networks, as opposed to the physical world. Our findings from interviewing Facebook users show that although they perceive the online and offline worlds as connected, there is a significant discrepancy between their attitudes towards privacy in online and offline social networks, as well as strategies developed to deal with some of the experienced issues. Based on these findings, we discuss how design decisions are related to privacy issues identified through the interviews and considerations for the design and evaluation of online social networks.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2015-10-09

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2015)

Section

Special Issue - IHC 2014

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors maintain the author's rights, under de Brazilian legal system, and retain copyright of the work. Authors license the work under a Creative Commons Attribution License. The authors grant the SBC Journal on Interactive Systems the right of its long term archiving and publication under this same licence, without restrictions of time and media, as well to make the required transformations to maintain the work archivable, accessible and of open access.
     
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
     
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).