IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2018 - 45

the reasons focused on the fact that Facebook is the
most convenient means of communication that exists
today, with great features and values that simply cannot
be ignored. In addition, they mentioned that Facebook is
one of the main channels for information seeking. Other
respondents focused their reasoning on the fear of a
potential loss of friends, not being able to entirely delete
Facebook account, the joy Facebook provides to them,
virtual addiction, the use of Facebook as a platform to
express opinions, and the non-existence of a better alternative as perceived by the respondents.
In this study, the majority of respondents were female
(70%), and respondents ethnicity is mainly Middle Eastern. More research is needed to examine the impact of
culture on user concerns about Facebook with a more
balanced gender distribution. In addition, further studies
are needed to understand if users' concerns about Facebook could change over time.

Author Information
Ons Al-Shamaileh is an Assistant Professor in the College of Computer and Information Technology, American University in the Emirates, Dubai, U.A.E. Email:
ons.shamaileh@aue.ae.

References
[1] A.N. Joinson, "Looking at, looking up or keeping up with people?: Motives and use of Facebook," in Proc. 2008 SIGCHI Conf.
Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2008.
[2] P.B. Brandtzæg and J. Heim, "Why people use social networking
sites," in Proc. 2009 Int. Conf. Online Communities and Social
Computing. Springer, 2009.
[3] T.D. Baruah, "Effectiveness of social media as a tool of communication and its potential for technology enabled connections: A
micro-level study," Int. J. Scientific and Research Publications, vol.
2, no. 5, pp. 1-10, 2012.
[4] M.N. Hajli, "A study of the impact of social media on consumers," Int. J. Market Research, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 387-404, 2014.
[5] A.J.Y. Zaidieh, "The use of social networking in education: Challenges and opportunities," World of Computer Science and Information
Technology J. (WCSIT), vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 18-21, 2012.
[6] S.L. Black, and A.F. Johnson, "Employers' use of social networking sites in the selection process," J. Social Media in Society, vol. 1,
no. 1, 2012.
[7] A. Lella, "Which social networks have the most engaged audience?," comScore.com, Apr. 2, 2015; https://www.comscore.com/
Insights/Blog/Which-Social-Networks-Have-the-Most-EngagedAudience.
[8] GWI Social Summary: Global WebIndex's Quarterly Report on
the Latest Trends in Social Networking, globalwebindex.net, 2015;
https://www.globalwebindex.net/hs-fs/hub/304927/file-2812772150pdf/Reports/GWI_Social_Summary_Report_Q1_2015.pdf.
[9] N. Shi et al., "The continuance of online social networks: How
to keep people using Facebook?," in Proc. 2010 43rd IEEE Hawaii
Int. Conf. System Sciences (HICSS), 2010.
[10] J.J. Al-Menayes, "Motivations for using social media: An exploratory
factor analysis," Int. J. Psychological Studies, vol. 7, no. 1 p. 43, 2015.
[11] A. Deuker, "Friend-to-friend privacy protection on social networking sites: A grounded theory study," in Proc. AMCIS, 2012.
[12] S. Stieger et al., "Who commits virtual identity suicide? Differences in privacy concerns, internet addiction, and personality
between Facebook users and quitters," Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, vol. 16, no. 9, pp. 629-634, 2013.

JUNE 2018

∕

[13] E.P. Baumer et al., "Limiting, leaving, and (re) lapsing: An
exploration of facebook non-use practices and experiences, in
Proc. 2013 SIGCHI Conf. Human Factors in Computing Systems.
ACM, 2013.
[14] J. Fox and J.J. Moreland, "The dark side of social networking
sites: An exploration of the relational and psychological stressors
associated with Facebook use and affordances," Computers in
Human Behavior, vol. 45, pp. 168-176, 2015.
[15] E. Christofides, A. Muise, and S. Desmarais, "Information disclosure and control on Facebook: Are they two sides of the same coin
or two different processes?," CyberPsychology & Behavior, vol.
12, no. 3, pp. 341-345, 2009.
[16] L. Bilge et al., "All your contacts are belong to us: Automated
identity theft attacks on social networks," in Proc. 18th Int. Conf.
World Wide Web. ACM, 2009.
[17] Rasmussen Reports, "69% of Facebook users concerned about
security of personal information," Rassussenreports.com, 2010;
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_
lifestyle/may_2010/69_of_facebook_users_concerned_about_security_
of_personal_information.
[18] A. Acar et al., "Qualitative analysis of Facebook quitters in
Japan," in Proc. Eight Int. Conf. eLearning for Knowledge-based
Society, 2012.
[19] E. Zheleva and L. Getoor, "To join or not to join: The illusion
of privacy in social networks with mixed public and private user
profiles," in Proc. 18th Int. Conf. World Wide Web (Madrid, Spain),
2009.
[20] N.K. Lankton and D.H. McKnight, "Do people trust Facebook as
a technology or as a "person"? Distinguishing technology trust from
interpersonal trust," in Proc. 2008 AMCIS. 2008, p. 375.
[21] A.K. Shelton and P. Skalski, "Blinded by the light: Illuminating
the dark side of social network use through content analysis," Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 33, p. 339-348, 2014.
[22] K. Butler, "Tweeting your own horn," District Administration,
vol. 46. no. 2, pp. 41-44, 2010.
[23] M.F. Catanzaro, "Indirect aggression, Bullying and female teen
victimization: A literature review," Pastoral Care in Education, vol.
29, no. 2, pp. 83-101, 2011.
[24] L. Rainie, A. Smith, and M. Duggan, Coming and Going on
Facebook. Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project,
2013.
[25] C. Sagioglou and T. Greitemeyer, "Facebook's emotional consequences: Why Facebook causes a decrease in mood and why
people still use it," Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 35, pp.
359-363, 2014.
[26] Y. Wang et al., "From Facebook regrets to Facebook privacy
nudges," Ohio St. Law J., vol. 74, p. 1307, 2013.
[27] E. Morgan, "Is Facebook suffering because of usability
issues?," usabilitygeek.com, 2012; https://usabilitygeek.com/
facebook-usability-issues/.
[28] J. Li, C. Snow, and C. White, "Teen culture, technology and
literacy instruction: Urban adolescent students' perspectives,"
Canadian J. Learning and Technology/La revue canadienne de
l'apprentissage et de la technologie, vol. 41, no. 3, 2015.
[29] C.M. Hoadley et al., "Privacy as information access and illusory control: The case of the Facebook News Feed privacy outcry,"
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, vol. 9, no. 1, pp.
50-60, 2010.
[30] M.B. Miles, A.M. Huberman, and J. Saldana, Qualitative Data
Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook, 3rd ed. SAGE, 2014.
[31] Y Modi and I. Gandhi, "Internet sociology: Impact of Facebook
addiction on the lifestyle and other recreational activities of the
Indian youth," in SHS Web of Conferences. EDP Sciences, 2014.
[32] Y. Al-Saggaf, "Saudi females on Facebook: An ethnographic
study," Int. J. Emerging Technologies and Society, vol. 9, no. 1, p.
1, 2011.
[33] Center, F.H. How do I permanently delete my account? 2017
[cited 2017 2/ January]; Available: https://www.facebook.com/help/224
562897555674?helpref=related.

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

45

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/ http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/may_2010/69_of_facebook_users_concerned_about_security_of_personal_information http://www.usabilitygeek.com https://usabilitygeek.com/facebook-usability-issues https://usabilitygeek.com/facebook-usability-issues http://www.comScore.com https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Blog/Which-Social-Networks-Have-the-Most-Engaged-Audience https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Blog/Which-Social-Networks-Have-the-Most-Engaged-Audience http://www.globalwebindex.net https://www.globalwebindex.net/hs-fs/hub/304927/file-2812772150-pdf/Reports/GWI_Social_Summary_Report_Q1_2015.pdf https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674?helpref=related

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2018