THE AUDIENCE IS THE KEY, DATA IS NOT: ANALYZING USERS’ CONCERNS AND EXPERTS’ REFLECTIONS REGARDING PRIVACY POLICIES OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Abstract

The constantly evolving world and the advent of social media gave birth to excessive digitalized human interaction enhancing connectivity among users. These new modes of interaction added to the excitement of sharing, but at the same time it has placed some concerns about the excessive sharing of personal information on digital platforms. The boundaries of subsequent privacy violations are critical concerns in the advance of the technological age. Pakistan is a country with an enormously growing number of internet users, from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds and the platforms are used for distinctive reasons, resulting in millions of posts every minute of the day. A qualitative approach of in-depth interviews was used for the study. Considering the qualitative nature of the study interviews was conducted based on the semi- structured questionnaire. The sample using a purposive sampling technique included users for the sake of highlighting the privacy concerns and experts like media academics, psychologists, lawyers, representatives from the cyber-crime wing of FIA, and the country representatives of social media platforms for understanding the approaches to bridge the gaps regarding those concerns. Social media representatives ensured users' sense of security as a priority of social platforms. Users' inferences and privacy awareness were also gauged which showed concerns about the layout of privacy policies. The privacy calculus approach helped understand the user’s psyche of disclosure while having privacy concerns. Keywords: Social Media, Privacy concerns, Self Disclosure, Privacy Calculus, Privacy policies, Awareness.