Use Of Online Social Networks Research Articles

Impact of Reciprocity in Information Spreading Using Epidemic Model Variants

The use of online social networks has become a standard medium of social interactions and information spreading. Due to the significant amount of data available online, social network analysis has become apropos to the researchers of diverse domains to study and analyse innovative patterns, friendships, and relationships. Message dissemination through these networks is a complex and dynamic process. Moreover, the presence of reciprocal links intensify the whole process of propagation and expand the chances of reaching to the target node. We therefore empirically investigated the relative importance of reciprocal relationships in the directed social networks affecting information spreading. Since the dynamics of the information diffusion has considerable qualitative similarities with the spread of infections, we analysed six different variants of the Susceptible–Infected (SI) epidemic spreading model to evaluate the effect of reciprocity. By analysing three different directed networks on different network metrics using these variants, we establish the dominance of reciprocal links as compared to the non-reciprocal links. This study also contributes towards a closer examination of the subtleties responsible for maintaining the network connectivity.

Data science: Identifying influencers in social networks

Data science is a concept to unify statistics, data analysis and their related methods in order to understand and analyze actual phenomena with data. The common use of Online Social Networks (OSN)[2] for networking communication which authorizes real-time multimedia capturing and sharing, have led to enormous amounts of user-generated content in online, and made publicly available for analysis and mining. The efforts have been made for more privacy awareness to protect personal data against privacy threats. The principal idea in designing different marketing strategies is to identify the influencers in the network communication. The individuals influential induce “word-of-mouth” that effects in the network are responsible for causing particular action of influence that convinces their peers (followers) to perform a similar action in buying a product. Targeting these influencers usually leads to a vast spread of the information across the network. Hence it is important to identify such individuals in a network, we use centrality measures to identify assign an influence score to each user. The user with higher score is considered as a better influencer.

Perceptions about the usefulness of online social networks in the workplace

The use of online social networks in the workplace environment has grown exponentially. Based on social exchange theory, the goal of this research is to identify possible associations between job satisfaction and motivation, perceived organizational support and the perception of employees regarding the use of social networks in the working environment. We used a survey that was applied to 294 employees for manufacturing companies located in the northwest borderline between Mexico and the United States. The findings suggest that the use of online social networks in the workplace has a positive effect regarding job satisfaction becoming useful for the organization.

Hate speech review in the context of online social networks

Advances in Internet Technologies (ITs) and online social networks have made more benefits to humanity. At the same time, the dark side of this growth/benefit has led to increased hate speech and terrorism as most common and powerful threats globally. Hate speech is an offensive kind of communication mechanism that expresses an ideology of hate using stereotypes. Hate speech targets different protected characteristics such as gender, religion, race, and disability. Control of hate speech can be made using different national and international legal frameworks. Any intentional act directed against life or related entities causing a common danger is known as terrorism. There is a common practice of discussing or debating hate speech and terrorism separately. In the recent past, most of the research articles have discussed either hate speech or terrorism. Hate speech is a type of terrorism and follows an incident or trigger event of terrorism. Online social networks are the result of ITs and evolved rapidly through the popularity among youth. As both the activities are near to close and makes use of online social networks, the collective discussion is appropriate. Therefore we have a review on hate speech with different classes and terrorism with cyber use in the framework of online social networks. With the help of combined effort from the government, the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and online social networks, the proper policies can be framed to counter both hate speech and terrorism efficiently and effectively.

Information privacy in online social networks: Uses and gratification perspective

This research investigates privacy attitudes and behaviors in online social networks (OSN). For this purpose, two separate studies were conducted. Study 1 employed the theory of uses and gratifications to identify the motives for using OSN. Surveying 918 OSN users and employing the content analysis method, the predominant motives for using OSN were identified as: 1-relationship maintenance; 2-entertainment; 3-relationship building; and 4-information seeking. Study 2, inspired by the framework of Smith, Dinev, & Xu’s (2011), investigates both the antecedents to and outcomes of privacy concerns. Survey data were collected from 521 OSN users. The results of regression analysis suggested that the motives for OSN use do not serve as antecedents of privacy concerns. Minimal impact of the motives on privacy concerns indicated that the degree of users’ concerns for privacy is not related to the reasons why people use OSN. The findings also showed that privacy concerns did not inhibit self-disclosure, whereas the motives fostered it. No dichotomy was observed between privacy concerns and the use of privacy protective measures. Overall, the findings regarding the outcomes of privacy concerns indicated that privacy concerns align with privacy behaviors; therefore a privacy paradox or inconsistency between privacy attitudes and behavior was not supported.

Problematic internet use as an age-related multifaceted problem: Evidence from a two-site survey

Background and aimsProblematic internet use (PIU; otherwise known as Internet Addiction) is a growing problem in modern societies. There is scarce knowledge of the demographic variables and specific internet activities associated with PIU and a limited understanding of how PIU should be conceptualized. Our aim was to identify specific internet activities associated with PIU and explore the moderating role of age and gender in those associations. MethodsWe recruited 1749 participants aged 18 and above via media advertisements in an Internet-based survey at two sites, one in the US, and one in South Africa; we utilized Lasso regression for the analysis. ResultsSpecific internet activities were associated with higher problematic internet use scores, including general surfing (lasso β: 2.1), internet gaming (β: 0.6), online shopping (β: 1.4), use of online auction websites (β: 0.027), social networking (β: 0.46) and use of online pornography (β: 1.0). Age moderated the relationship between PIU and role-playing-games (β: 0.33), online gambling (β: 0.15), use of auction websites (β: 0.35) and streaming media (β: 0.35), with older age associated with higher levels of PIU. There was inconclusive evidence for gender and gender × internet activities being associated with problematic internet use scores. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and social anxiety disorder were associated with high PIU scores in young participants (age ≤ 25, β: 0.35 and 0.65 respectively), whereas generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) were associated with high PIU scores in the older participants (age > 55, β: 6.4 and 4.3 respectively). ConclusionsMany types of online behavior (e.g. shopping, pornography, general surfing) bear a stronger relationship with maladaptive use of the internet than gaming supporting the diagnostic classification of problematic internet use as a multifaceted disorder. Furthermore, internet activities and psychiatric diagnoses associated with problematic internet use vary with age, with public health implications.

Barriers and Challenges Experienced by Seniors in Using Online Social Networks: A Phenomenological Study

Background: Many studies have indicated that the use of social networks and online communication by seniors can improve their general health and social welfare as well as promote the quality of their lives. However, problems with the use of online social networks may prevent them from using the networks. This study aims to explain the experiences of older adults when facing barriers and challenges of using social networks. Methods: This qualitative study takes a phenomenological approach and was carried out in 2016 using purposive sampling. We collected the in-depth semi-structured interviews with 9 seniors) 3 males and 6 females) with an average age of 68.3 years. Subjects confirmed to be active members in at least 1 of the online social networks. The data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s 7-step method. Results: Two main themes of “preconditions of use” and “individual concerns” were extracted from the data analysis. A total of 6 relevant subthemes were as follows: “need for equipment and facilities,” “adequate income”, “need for technical knowledge”, “trust in information”, “trust in other users”, and “security and privacy”. Conclusions: People of older age reported barriers and difficulties using online social networks. It seems that the elderly can be encouraged to use these social networks and improve the quality of their lives through educational planning.

Public university students’ use of smartphone-based online social network and family relationship

Public university students’ use of smartphone-based online social network and family relationship

Workshop Synthesis: Use of social media, social networks and qualitative approaches as innovative ways to collect and enrich travel data

Abstract Transportation Planning and Analysis is living a new era in terms of new data sources. Traditional survey data is being enriched with information generated by the use of smartphones, smartcards, online social media and social networks, etc. However, these new data sources require the use of specific techniques to extract valuable information, and the use of inferring methods to be useful in the transportation context. This workshop reviewed advantages and drawbacks of innovative travel data sources related to the use of online Social Media and Social Networks.

Variations in consumers’ use of brand online social networking: A uses and gratifications approach

The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to identify consumers’ motivations to participate in brand online social networking (BOSN); (2) to examine the effects of BOSN motives on relational outcomes within a community (i.e., BOSN commitment) and at an extended level (i.e., brand attachment); and (3) to examine variations in uses and gratifications of BOSN among diverse groups of BOSN participants. The data were collected by means of a self-administered web-based survey, and samples were drawn from participants of Facebook brand pages. Findings identified information, incentives, entertainment, and connectedness as major BOSN motives. The results showed that gratifications of BOSN participants’ need for entertainment and connectedness predict BOSN commitment, which, in turn, strengthens brand attachment. The results confirmed variations among different groups of participants based on their gender and business types. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Saving face on Facebook: privacy concerns, social benefits, and impression management

ABSTRACTThe nearly ubiquitous use of online social networks generally entails substantial personal disclosure and elicits significant privacy concerns. This research uses Social Exchange Theory and the impression management (IM) literature to examine how privacy concerns can be counterbalanced by the perceived social benefits afforded by a social network’s ability to support IM. We frame social network use as an attempt to engage in IM, and we highlight the importance of a social network’s IM affordances in predicting social benefits from, and disclosure through, a social network. We test our model with a sample of 244 Facebook users, finding support for the proposed relationships and yielding the following contributions. First, this research provides a novel positioning of perceived IM affordances as a primary driver of both perceived social benefits and IM disclosure propensity. Second, this research illuminates that trust in both the social network provider and social network peers influences privacy concerns, social benefits, and perceived IM affordances. Our theory has important implications for researchers and practitioners interested in privacy issues within social networks.

Fear of Missing Out, online social networking and mobile phone addiction: A latent profile approach

Background and aims: Fear of missing out (FoMO) is described as a pervasive unpleasant sensation that others might be having rewarding experiences of which one is not part, as well as the desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing. It has shown to play an important mediating role in predicting negative outcomes of heavy use of these networks. The aim of the present study was to analyze the different profiles found among users. Methods: 5,280 Spanish speaking social media users from Latin America replied in an online survey to the Spanish version of the FoMO scale, to a short set of questionnaires on online social network use (frequency, intensity and type of access) and indicators of mobile phone addiction. Results: FoMO correlated with the number of different networks used and with all indicators of social network use and mobile phone addiction. Using a Latent Profile Analysis, four classes of users were identified: low-engagement light users, high-engagement heavy users, high-engagement low-risk users, and high-engagement high-risk users; individuals from the fourth class can be considered at risk for developing addiction to online social networks (7.6 % of the sample). Discussion: Accessing the social networks via the mobile phone and presenting addictive behavior seem to be important correlates of FoMO.

Security and privacy in online social networking: Risk perceptions and precautionary behaviour

A quantitative behavioural online study examined a set of hazards that correspond with security- and privacy settings of the major global online social network (Facebook). These settings concern access to a user's account and access to the user's shared information (both security) as well as regulation of the user's information-sharing and user's regulation of others' information-sharing in relation to the user (both privacy). We measured 201 non-student UK users' perceptions of risk and other risk dimensions, and precautionary behaviour. First, perceptions of risk and dread were highest and precautionary behaviour was most common for hazards related to users' regulation of information-sharing. Other hazards were perceived as less risky and less precaution was taken against these, even though they can lead to breaches of users' security or privacy. Second, consistent with existing theory, significant predictors of perceived risk were attitude towards sharing information on Facebook, dread, voluntariness, catastrophic potential and Internet experience; and significant predictors of precautionary behaviour were perceived risk, control, voluntariness and Internet experience. Methodological implications emphasise the need for non-aggregated analysis and practical implications emphasise interventions to promote safe online social-network use.

62.1 When You're Not Invited to the Party: Fear of Missing Out and Authenticity for Youth Online

The purpose of this session is to review research on the “fear of missing out” (FOMO) as a new concept in adolescent use of online social networks as it impacts their mental health. We consider how the competing pressures of needing to keep up appearances with the desire to be authentic can affect youth with mental health difficulties.

Modeling geo-homopholy in online social networks for population distribution projection

PurposeProjecting the population distribution in geographical regions is important for many applications such as launching marketing campaigns or enhancing the public safety in certain densely populated areas. Conventional studies require the collection of people’s trajectory data through offline means, which is limited in terms of cost and data availability. The wide use of online social network (OSN) apps over smartphones has provided the opportunities of devising a lightweight approach of conducting the study using the online data of smartphone apps. This paper aims to reveal the relationship between the online social networks and the offline communities, as well as to project the population distribution by modeling geo-homophily in the online social networks.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the authors propose the concept of geo-homophily in OSNs to determine how much the data of an OSN can help project the population distribution in a given division of geographical regions. Specifically, the authors establish a three-layered theoretic framework that first maps the online message diffusion among friends in the OSN to the offline population distribution over a given division of regions via a Dirichlet process and then projects the floating population across the regions.FindingsBy experiments over large-scale OSN data sets, the authors show that the proposed prediction models have a high prediction accuracy in characterizing the process of how the population distribution forms and how the floating population changes over time.Originality/valueThis paper tries to project population distribution by modeling geo-homophily in OSNs.

Privacy and pleasure: A paradox of the hedonic use of computer-mediated social networks

Despite legitimate privacy concerns regarding their use, hundreds of millions of people still visit online social network sites every day. Although people state that they are concerned about their privacy, they engage in online behaviors that are contrary to this stated belief. This study draws from social capital and social exchange theories to provide a hedonic explanation for this seemingly contradictory stated beliefs and actual behavior. This study proposes that the enjoyment derived from computer-mediated social network (CMSN) sites serves as an incentive for individuals to ignore privacy concerns. Results of our study help explain how people exchange their privacy concerns for hedonic benefits. We found that the enjoyment derived from this social exchange is sufficient to override users' privacy concerns. This reduction in privacy concerns is proposed to explain continued use of online social networks.

A prospective examination of online social network dynamics and smoking cessation.

IntroductionUse of online social networks for smoking cessation has been associated with abstinence. Little is known about the mechanisms through which the formation of social ties in an online network may influence smoking behavior. Using dynamic social network analysis, we investigated how temporal changes of an individual’s number of social network ties are prospectively related to abstinence in an online social network for cessation. In a network where quitting is normative and is the focus of communications among members, we predicted that an increasing number of ties would be positively associated with abstinence.MethodParticipants were N = 2,657 adult smokers recruited to a randomized cessation treatment trial following enrollment on BecomeAnEX.org, a longstanding Internet cessation program with a large and mature online social network. At 3-months post-randomization, 30-day point prevalence abstinence was assessed and website engagement metrics were extracted. The social network was constructed with clickstream data to capture the flow of information among members. Two network centrality metrics were calculated at weekly intervals over 3 months: 1) in-degree, defined as the number of members whose posts a participant read; and 2) out-degree-aware, defined as the number of members who read a participant’s post and commented, which was subsequently viewed by the participant. Three groups of users were identified based on social network engagement patterns: non-users (N = 1,362), passive users (N = 812), and active users (N = 483). Logistic regression modeled 3-month abstinence by group as a function of baseline variables, website utilization, and network centrality metrics.ResultsAbstinence rates varied by group (non-users = 7.7%, passive users = 10.7%, active users = 20.7%). Significant baseline predictors of abstinence were age, nicotine dependence, confidence to quit, and smoking temptations in social situations among passive users (ps < .05); age and confidence to quit among active users. Among centrality metrics, positive associations with abstinence were observed for in-degree increases from Week 2 to Week 12 among passive and active users, and for out-degree-aware increases from Week 2 to Week 12 among active users (ps < .05).ConclusionsThis study is the first to demonstrate that increased tie formation among members of an online social network for smoking cessation is prospectively associated with abstinence. It also highlights the value of using individuals’ activities in online social networks to predict their offline health behaviors.

SOS: A multimedia recommender System for Online Social networks

The use of Online Social Networks has been rapidly increased over the last years. In particular, Social Media Networks allow people to communicate, share, comment and observe different types of multimedia content. This phenomenon produces a huge amount of data showing Big Data features, mainly due to their high change rate, large volume and intrinsic heterogeneity. In this perspective, in the last decade Recommender Systems have been introduced to support the browsing of such data collections, assisting users to find “what they really need” within this ocean of information. In this research work, we propose and describe a novel recommending system for big data applications able to provide recommendations on the base of the interactions among users and the generated multimedia contents in one or more social media networks. The proposed system relies on a “user-centered” approach. An experimental campaign, using data coming from many social media networks, has been performed in order to assess the proposed approach also showing how it can obtain very promising results.

The Effect of Belongingness on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in the Use of Online Social Networks

Online social networks (OSNs) continue to have a transformative influence on how people socialize, partially because they help facilitate social contact that is crucial to fulfilling an innate need to belong. However, there is increasing evidence that some users suffer from OSN addiction, expressed as OSN obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Using the need-to-belong theory as our foundation, we seek a deeper understanding of the relationship between OSN belongingness and OSN OCD by examining the effects that OSN-specific uses and gratifications (U&Gs) and negative emotions have on it. We find that OSN belongingness is positively associated with use of the OSN to gratify needs for purposive value, self-discovery, maintaining interpersonal interconnectivity, social enhancement, and entertainment value. However, gratification of only the purposive value and social enhancement needs increases the likelihood of OSN OCD. Furthermore, we find that while OSN belongingness decreases the likelihood of OSN envy and anxiety, it slightly increases the likelihood of OSN fear of missing out; notably, all three of these negative emotions drive OSN OCD. Our findings indicate that healthy socialization use by well-adjusted individuals decreases OSN OCD risks, but those experiencing unstable emotional responses or unhealthy socialization on the OSN should avoid use.

Positive and negative behavioral analysis in social networks

Use of online social networks has grown dramatically since the first Web 2.0 technologies were deployed in the early 2000s. Our ability to capture user data, in particular behavioral data has grown in concert with increased use of these social systems. In this study, we survey methods for modeling and analyzing online user behavior. We focus on negative behaviors (social spamming and cyberbullying) and mitigation techniques for these behaviors. We also provide information on the interplay between privacy and deception in social networks and conclude by looking at trending and cascading models in social media. WIREs Data Mining Knowl Discov 2017, 7:e1203. doi: 10.1002/widm.1203This article is categorized under: Commercial, Legal, and Ethical Issues &gt; Social Considerations