Social Media Giveth, Social Media Taketh Away: Facebook, Friendships, and APIs.
The early aughts saw an explosion of interest in social network sites. Many such sites, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter expanded to become "platforms," meaning they are both websites and distributors of data. These data would typically be distributed to third parties in privacy-sensitive w...
| Published in: | International Journal of Communication (19328036) Vol. 12; pp. 592 - 612 |
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| Format: | Article |
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University of Southern California, USC Annenberg Press
2018
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=139171426&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 139171426 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 19328036 3836 jtl: International Journal of Communication (19328036) issn: 19328036 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2018 vid: 12 pid: 16336 pub: University of Southern California, USC Annenberg Press artinfo: ui: 139171426 ppf: 592 ppct: 20 formats: tig: atl: Social Media Giveth, Social Media Taketh Away: Facebook, Friendships, and APIs. aug: au: HOGAN, BERNIE affil: University of Oxford, UK su: Facebook (Web resource) Social media Friendship Internet privacy Application program interfaces sug: subj: Social media Friendship Internet privacy Application program interfaces Facebook (Web resource) keyword: APIs privacy social networks visualization APIs privacy social networks visualization ab: The early aughts saw an explosion of interest in social network sites. Many such sites, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter expanded to become "platforms," meaning they are both websites and distributors of data. These data would typically be distributed to third parties in privacy-sensitive ways and regulated by the platform. Such access is based on balancing three issues: user privacy, generativity (i.e., capacity for novelty) for third parties, and control for platforms. Platforms appear to be seeking progressively more control at the cost of generativity by severely restricting third-party access to data about the user's friends. The reductions or outright lack of access means that the insights from our digital traces are no longer as knowable to either third parties or users. This article unpacks this shift by clarifying some of the technical issues involved (particularly APIs, the main means of external data access). The case study of social network visualization is used to exemplify how social network sites seek control at the expense of generativity. The article notes how this shift was done with little oversight. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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