IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/idt/journl/cs8805.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Online Privacy in Social Media: A Conceptual Exploration of Empowerment and Vulnerability

Author

Listed:
  • Jo PIERSON

    (iMinds SMIT Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

Abstract

Current transitions in the media and technology landscape go together with a shift from mass media and personal media to media for 'mass self-communication'. This is illustrated by the way that Web 2.0 or social media (like social network sites and micro-blogging) are becoming commercially engrained in Western everyday life, and the belief that the user is in the driver's seat of socio-technical innovation. However we observe a paradox. On the one hand the instruments and means for empowering users through social media are proliferating, reinforcing the idea of users effectively becoming empowered. On the other hand we find that empirical evidence about what user empowerment really consists of is too a large extent missing and that a risk of denial of the empowerment downside exists. After all if we indeed find opportunities for user empowerment, also the counterpart of disempowerment is at stake. The latter is particularly visible in the relation between social media, empowerment and privacy. In this paper we take a closer look at how people's disempowerment and vulnerability is being reconfigured within the changing media landscape of mass self-communication. To illustrate these transitions, we focus on issues of privacy in relation to social media. In particular we take a critical view on how vulnerability takes shape in online consumer privacy. For this we first discuss the notions of mass self-communication, empowerment and privacy more generally. Next we highlight to what extent privacy for consumers using social media is different and how their vulnerability changes from an external and internal perspective. The transition from the classic view on privacy to online privacy to online consumer privacy illustrates that the notion 'privacy' needs to be rethought. The paper is based on a literature review to deconstruct and explore the key concepts empowerment, disempowerment, vulnerability and privacy in relation to mass self-communication and social media.

Suggested Citation

  • Jo PIERSON, 2012. "Online Privacy in Social Media: A Conceptual Exploration of Empowerment and Vulnerability," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(88), pages 99-120, 4th quart.
    • Handle: RePEc:idt:journl:cs8805
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.idate.org/RePEc/idt/journl/CS8805/CS88_PIERSON.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alessandro Acquisti & Curtis Taylor & Liad Wagman, 2016. "The Economics of Privacy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(2), pages 442-492, June.
    2. Kirsti Maria Ala-Mutka & David Broster & Romina Cachia & Isabel Clara Centeno Mediavilla & Claudio Feijoo & Alexandra Hache & Stefano Kluzer & Sven Lindmark & Wainer Lusoli & Gianluca Misuraca & Corin, 2009. "The Impact of Social Computing on the EU Information Society and Economy," JRC Research Reports JRC54327, Joint Research Centre.
    3. Martin Hand & Elizabeth Shove & Dale Southerton, 2005. "Explaining Showering: A Discussion of the Material, Conventional, and Temporal Dimensions of Practice," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 10(2), pages 101-113, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cecere, Grazia & Rochelandet, Fabrice, 2013. "Privacy intrusiveness and web audiences: Empirical evidence," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 1004-1014.
    2. Kerr, Aphra & Musiani, Francesca & Pohle, Julia, 2019. "Editorial – Communication and internet policy: a critical rights-based history and future," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-16.
    3. Malik, Akanksha & Sinha, Shuchi & Goel, Sanjay, 2022. "Coping with workplace sexual harassment: Social media as an empowered outcome," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 165-178.
    4. Kerr, Aphra & Musiani, Francesca & Pohle, Julia, 2019. "Editorial – Communication and internet policy: a critical rights-based history and future," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 8(1), pages 1-16.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J. K. Pappalardo, 2022. "Economics of Consumer Protection: Contributions and Challenges in Estimating Consumer Injury and Evaluating Consumer Protection Policy," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 201-238, June.
    2. Luigi Zingales, 2022. "Regulating big tech," BIS Working Papers 1063, Bank for International Settlements.
    3. Yanwen Wang & Chunhua Wu & Ting Zhu, 2019. "Mobile Hailing Technology and Taxi Driving Behaviors," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(5), pages 734-755, September.
    4. Jacopo Arpetti & Antonio Iovanella, 2019. "Towards more effective consumer steering via network analysis," Papers 1903.11469, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2019.
    5. Ronen Gradwohl, 2018. "Privacy in implementation," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 50(3), pages 547-580, March.
    6. Kuerbis, Brenden & Mueller, Milton, 2023. "Exploring the role of data enclosure in the digital political economy," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8).
    7. John M. Abowd & Ian M. Schmutte & William Sexton & Lars Vilhuber, 2019. "Suboptimal Provision of Privacy and Statistical Accuracy When They are Public Goods," Papers 1906.09353, arXiv.org.
    8. Sharma, Priyanka & Wagman, Liad, 2020. "Advertising and Voter Data in Asymmetric Political Contests," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    9. Anna Fielder & Riina Vuorikari & Nuria Rodriguez-Priego & Yves Punie, 2016. "Background Review for Developing the Digital Competence Framework for Consumers: A snapshot of hot-button issues and recent literature," JRC Research Reports JRC103332, Joint Research Centre.
    10. Christa N. Gibbs & Benedict Guttman-Kenney & Donghoon Lee & Scott Nelson & Wilbert Van der Klaauw & Jialan Wang, 2024. "Consumer Credit Reporting Data," Staff Reports 1114, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    11. Yuteng Cheng & Ryuichiro Izumi, 2024. "Monetary Policy Transmission Through Shadow and Traditional Banks," Staff Working Papers 24-9, Bank of Canada.
    12. Dengler, Sebastian & Prüfer, Jens, 2021. "Consumers' privacy choices in the era of big data," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 499-520.
    13. Long Chen & Yadong Huang & Shumiao Ouyang & Wei Xiong, 2021. "The Data Privacy Paradox and Digital Demand," Working Papers 2021-47, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    14. Omid Rafieian & Hema Yoganarasimhan, 2021. "Targeting and Privacy in Mobile Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(2), pages 193-218, March.
    15. Gemmo, Irina & Browne, Mark J. & Gründl, Helmut, 2017. "Transparency aversion and insurance market equilibria," ICIR Working Paper Series 25/17, Goethe University Frankfurt, International Center for Insurance Regulation (ICIR).
    16. Daron Acemoglu & Ali Makhdoumi & Azarakhsh Malekian & Asu Ozdaglar, 2022. "Too Much Data: Prices and Inefficiencies in Data Markets," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 218-256, November.
    17. Alireza Fallah & Michael I. Jordan & Ali Makhdoumi & Azarakhsh Malekian, 2024. "The Limits of Price Discrimination Under Privacy Constraints," Papers 2402.08223, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2024.
    18. Mert Demirer & Diego Jimenez-Hernandez & Dean Li & Sida Peng, 2024. "Data, Privacy Laws and Firm Production: Evidence from the GDPR," Working Paper Series WP 2024-02, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    19. Chu Ping Lo, 2024. "Digitalization, AI Intensity, and International Trade," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 25(1), pages 251-273, May.
    20. Matveenko, Andrei & Starkov, Egor, 2023. "Sparking curiosity or tipping the scales? Targeted advertising with consumer learning," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 172-192.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    social media; privacy; surveillance; empowerment; vulnerability.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:idt:journl:cs8805. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: BLAVIER Thomas (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/idatefr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.