Aliases, creeping, and wall cleaning: Understanding privacy in the age of Facebook

Authors

  • Kate Raynes-Goldie Curtin University of Technology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v15i1.2775

Keywords:

facebook, social media, social network sites

Abstract

This paper explores how 20-something Facebook users understand and navigate privacy concerns. Based on a year long ethnographic study in Toronto, Canada, this paper looks at how - contrary to many mainstream accounts - younger users do indeed care about protecting and controlling their personal information. However, their concerns revolve around what I call social privacy, rather than the more conventional institutional privacy. This paper also examines the somewhat subversive practices which users engaged in to enhance their own social privacy, and in some cases, violate that of others. Finally, this paper examines some of the reasons that users may continue using the site, despite privacy concerns.

Author Biography

Kate Raynes-Goldie, Curtin University of Technology

Kate Raynes-Goldie is a PhD candidate in the Internet Studies program at Curtin University of Technology in Australia. Her thesis examines identity, privacy and sociality in the age of Facebook.

Downloads

Published

2010-01-02

How to Cite

Raynes-Goldie, K. (2010). Aliases, creeping, and wall cleaning: Understanding privacy in the age of Facebook. First Monday, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v15i1.2775