Revisiting the Privacy Paradox of Social Media: An Analysis of the Privacy Practices Associated With Facebook and Twitter

Revisiting the Privacy Paradox of Social Media: An Analysis of the Privacy Practices Associated With Facebook and Twitter

                                                                        Part A         

The claim

A claim in research is an argument that defines the goal and the thesis of the research.  For instance, the claim presented by Mary Jane Kwok Choon in her research with the title Revisiting The Privacy Paradox Of Social Media: An Analysis Of The Privacy Practices Associated With Facebook And Twitter, is that since their emergence, social media sites have been at the center of privacy controversies. Individual users share some of their private information on social media sites, knowingly or unknowingly. The perceived value derived from social media usage is the major driver that pushes individuals into sharing their private information via these sites.

The Paradigm of knowing

The Paradigm of knowing that the researcher has employed in this research is the discovery paradigm of knowing. The researcher illustrates how the perception of a significant value obtained from social media sites drives individuals into giving away their private information whenever needed by these sites. Additionally, some other factors, such as lack of knowledge concerning institutional surveillance through social media sites, thin social trust, and perceived control over the publication of information, also contribute to the privacy paradox presented by social media (Choon,  2018). From these, it is evident that there is coloniality of knowledge as the majority of social media users lack adequate knowledge concerning how their personal information is being handled in social media sites.

The research method employed

The Research method employed by the researcher is a qualitative research method and specifically ethnographic research. Ethnographic research is a kind of research in which the researcher interacts with the participants in their real-life environment. The participants in this research are twenty young adults whom the researcher interacts with in their real-life environment to discern their privacy practices in social media sites (Choon, 2018).

If I were to conduct this research from a different paradigm of knowing, I would employ a critical Paradigm of knowing.  The research title would change to How Social Media Have Laid a Ground for Mishandling of Private Information. The claim I would make with this research is that social media sites have been the leading avenue for infringement of privacy rights in the contemporary world. The major aim I would want to achieve with this research is a cross-dimensional analysis of how social media infringes on individual users’ privacy rights.

Part B

Description of my research topic

The emergence of social media as a social pillar in the contemporary world impacts different aspects of life among individuals differently. One aspect that social media affects among individuals, especially those that fall in the age brackets of adolescents to young adults, is how they perceive different things. These may range from the way they perceive political issues to the way they perceive their personal life in regards to personality and dressing code, as well as how they interact with their environment. A befitting research topic in regards to this is “the Concept of the Self from the Perspective of Online Identity.”

The claim

The claim I wish to establish with this research topic is how the content from social media sites creates an illusionary misconception among individuals of who they are, which makes them run away from the reality concerning the actual person in them. The majority of individuals from this age bracket are so much consumed with social media posts by their role models in these sites. They would actually follow every opinion advanced by these role models as well as incorporate the manner in which these role models interact with their environment into their own. Through these, they forget their original identity and believe they are someone who in real sense, they are actually not.

Positionality

Technological advancements have resulted in globalization, which is facilitated by the functionality of social media. However, social media can be misleading to the young generation by creating an illusionary life that they see themselves living, a life that may be contradicting their actual life. This has an adverse effect on the society in terms of increased crime rates and other unaccepted conducts within the society.

The Paradigm of knowing and research method to be employed

The Paradigm of knowing that I will employ in this research is the critical Paradigm of knowing. Through this, I will analyze the criticality of social media content in influencing individuals’ behaviors, perceptions, and levels of understanding. Considering how social media has been dictating every proceeding in the contemporary world, it should be closely analyzed to discern the possible harm it is causing to the society, which can allow for viable solutions to some of these problems to be put in place.

I will also deploy a quantitative research method in this study in which the participants will be grouped into two groups which are the adolescents and young adults. The adolescents’ group will contain individuals aged between 12 years to 17 years, while participants in the young adult group will be aged between 18 years to 26 years. A longitudinal analysis technique will be used throughout the study.