Revealing the commercialized and compliant Facebook user
| Published date | 11 May 2012 |
| Pages | 82-92 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14779961211226994 |
| Date | 11 May 2012 |
| Author | Stephen Lilley,Frances S. Grodzinsky,Andra Gumbus |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Revealing the commercialized
and compliant Facebook user
Stephen Lilley
Department of Sociology, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA
Frances S. Grodzinsky
Department of Computer Science/Information Technology,
Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA, and
Andra Gumbus
Department of Management, Sacred Heart University,
Fairfield, Connecticut, USA
Abstract
Purpose – Facebook users are both producers and consumers (i.e. “prosumers”), in the sense that
they produce the disclosures that allow for Facebook’s business success and they consume services.
The purpose of this paper is to examine how best to characterize the commercialized and compliant
members. The authors question the Facebook assertion that members knowingly and willingly
approve of personal and commercial transparency and argue, instead, that complicity is engineered.
Design/methodology/approach – A survey of Facebook users was conducted between December
2010 and April 2011 at one private and four public universities. Respondents were questioned about:
the level of their consumer activity on Facebook; their knowledge of Facebook advertiser data sharing
practices and their attitude toward such; their use of sharing restrictions and the groups targeted; and
their assessment of transparency benefits versus reputation and consumer risks.
Findings – No evidence was found to support the Facebook account of happy prosumers. Members
reported that they avoided advertisements as much as possible and opposed data sharing/selling
practices. However, many respondents were found to be relatively uneducated and passive prosumers,
and those expressing a high concern for privacy were no exception.
Research limitations/implications – Due to the nonprobability sampling method, the results may
lack generalizability.
Practical implications – To avoid unwanted commercialization, users of social networking sites
must become more aware of data mining and privacy protocols, demand more protections, or switch to
more prosumer-friendly platforms.
Originality/value – The paper reports empirical findings on Facebook members’ prosumption
patterns and attitudes.
Keywords Social networkingsites, Consumer behaviour, Privacy,Social capital, Facebook
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Facebook has approximately 600 million members with 150 million from the USA
(Socialbakers, 2011). According to Rosen (2010, p. 31), Facebook users in 2010
represented 22 percent of all Internet users and they spent over 500 bill ion minutes a
month on the site each sharing roughly 70 pieces of content a month. Mark Zuckerberg,
co-founder and CEO/president, asserts that Facebook exists to provide a communal
service and this is succinctly stated on the home page: “Facebook helps you connect
and share with the people in your life.”
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1477-996X.htm
JICES
10,2
82
Received 22 January 2012
Revised 10 February 2012
Accepted 10 February 2012
Journal of Information,
Communication and Ethics in Society
Vol. 10 No. 2, 2012
pp. 82-92
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/14779961211226994
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