studiVZ: social networking in the surveillance society

Abstract

This paper presents some results of a case study of the usage of the social networking platform studiVZ by students in Salzburg, Austria. The topic is framed by the context of electronic surveillance. An online survey that was based on questionnaire that consisted of 35 (single and multiple) choice questions, 3 open-ended questions, and 5 interval-scaled questions, was carried out (N = 674). The knowledge that students have in general was assessed with by calculating a surveillance knowledge index, the critical awareness towards surveillance by calculating a surveillance critique index. Knowledge about studiVZ as well as information behaviour on the platform were analyzed and related to the surveillance parameters. The results show that public information and discussion about surveillance and social networking platforms is important for activating critical information behaviour. In the case of studiVZ, a change of the terms of use in 2008 that brought about the possibility of targeted personalized advertising, was the subject of public discussions that influenced students' knowledge and information behaviour.

Bastard Culture! How User Participation Transforms Cultural Production

“…Another branch of critique emphasizes the violation of privacy in online services (e.g. Zimmer 2007Zimmer , 2008Fuchs 2009) and the power structures facilitating means of control and regulation (e.g. Galloway 2004;Chun 2006;Deibert et al 2008;Zittrain 2008).…”

The Perks and Downsides of Being a Digital Prosumer: Optimistic and Pessimistic Approaches to Digital Prosumption

“…In addition to the abovementioned critical aspects of digital prosumption, scholars call into question the commodification of privacy on the Internet, namely the economic-practical commodification of personal data and its problems [41], [42], and the power structures that facilitate control and regulation [43]. They claim that dominant online business models conflict structurally with users" need for privacy and call for strategies to face legal and technical implications of ICT usage [44].…”

“…In this case, even if we consider the less pessimistic approaches, the main topics are: prosumers" alienation [29], [47], prosumer-management [26], prosumers unawareness of being exploited [3], economic-practical commodification of personal data [41], [42], control and regulation [43], and extraction of unpaid labor [38]- [40]. Evidently, a different and more heterogeneous audience is considered by these approaches.…”

Algorithmic Ideology: How Capitalist Society Shapes Search Engines

“…'I do get Google's value isn't in its algorithms anymore, it's in its databases, its consumer data' (search engine scholar). Google is particularly successful with its business model, but other search engines -Microsoft's Bing was dominantly mentioned in the interviews -and social networking platforms have adopted similar modes of exploitation (Fuchs 2010b). I discuss below how both website providers and users comply with and stabilize search engines and their 'service-for-profile' model in their practices.…”