Anthropology of Social Networking Websites - Research Paper Example

Before going to discuss the anthropology of social networking sites and their influence on privacy, kinship, and other relationships, let us get an awareness of what social networking sites actually are. As Shin states, “social network services (SNS) focus on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others” (428). Some of the widely used social networking websites include Twitter, Facebook, and Orkut. Social networking websites provide many benefits to people, such as, developing kinship and other relationships, information sharing, social interaction with people from different societies, and facility to find old friends. Along with these considerable benefits, there also exist some big concerns regarding these websites. In this paper, we will talk about how social network websites influence privacy and relationships from anthropological point of view. What is Anthropology of Kinship? Talking from anthropological perspective, one can say that the system of kinship includes people who have blood relationship between them or those who are living as a family. People usually create their own definitions of family. They can make a decision on adding or not adding people to their social networks depending on whether they trust them or not. In this way, they usually do not define kinship as blood relationships and add such relationships to the definition of family that may influence their lives at some point of time without having any blood relationship with them. Therefore, we can say that social networking websites have changed the dimensions of actual anthropology of kinship in today’s world of digital media. People have forgotten that real life is different from what we feel it in internet’s social networks (Acar 63). Concerns Regarding Social Networking Services Negative Affect on Families Socio-cultural anthropologists believe that although there are many positive effects of social networking websites on the development of relationships within extended families, there also exist some concerns for nuclear families. For example, some people, especially children, make excessive use of social networking websites, which results in less face-to-face interactions between them and their family members living under the same roof. People usually send comments and messages to friends and ignore their actual relations. Such changes in behaviors of people decrease affection and care that people normally have for their closest family members living under the same roof. Anthropologists have a concern over this issue, as they believe that such behaviors harm the actual family structure and give rise to social isolation in an unobservable way. Privacy Concern Socio-cultural anthropologists seem to be worried about the social change that includes excessive and improper use of social networking websites. They believe that such websites harm the privacy of individuals and cause many problems for the society. If we observe people who make excessive use of such websites, we can find that some of them reveal very personal information to their internet friends with whom they do not have any direct relationship. We have also seen such cases in which people have cheated others to get their personal information pretending to be their relatives or close friends. The fact is that such websites are open to everyone and not every person is well skilled in setting highest level of privacy for his/her account. “Users of social network sites (SNS) often state that they are concerned about their privacy, yet they often disclose detailed personal information on their profiles” (Utz and Kramer 1). Even if someone has ensured maximum privacy, he/she can be deceived by someone who pretends to be his/her lover or a true friend. Adolescents are the main users of social websites (Subrahmanyam and Greenfield 119). I personally have heard cases of sexual assaults of children by their internet friends. Criminal-minded people trap children on such websites and exploit them sexually after becoming their fake internet friends. In a research, Ybarra and Mitchell found that in 2008, nearly thirty-three percent of youth reported an online harassment from which 9% reported their incidents on social networking websites. Therefore, we can say that privacy is one of the main concerns regarding excessive use of social networking websites. Illegal Relationships If we talk from anthropological perspective or analyze the changes in social patterns and practices across different cultures that have occurred because of social networking websites, we can say that those changes are not in favor of any society. The reason is that social networking sites, in some cases, have proved to be dangerous for marital relationships. The point is that some people develop illegal sex relationships with others, which result in harming their lawful marital relationships. We have often seen such cases in which a husband or a wife develops an illegal relationship on social websites and hides that relationship from his/her legal partner. Such situations harm marital relationships as people start taking interest in their new partners/internet friends more than they care for their actual life partners. Anthropologists believe that trust is the foundation of a marital relationship. If trust breaks due to illegal relationship of one partner, the foundations of the marital relationship shatter. Social networking websites provide people with the opportunity to develop relationships with others. However, it depends on people whether they build up open and healthy relationships or they go for developing unrealistic and illegal relationships. Illegal relationships are harmful for marital relationships, which really puts a question mark on all benefits associated with such websites. My personal point of view regarding this issue is that although social networking is not the only factor that, in some cases, plays it role in damaging marital relationships, but we can say that they have proved to be a main factor that can be added to the list of many other factors. Conclusion Summing it up, social networking websites affect kinship and other relationships both positively and negatively. In one way, such websites help people develop long-term relationships that may prove beneficial for them. On the other hand, use of such websites has also proved to be harmful for kinship and other relationships. Examining the changes in social practices across cultures, I personally believe that although such websites have provided a way for people to establish long-term relationships and gain communication benefits, but they have also proved to be harmful for real kinship and relationships of people. Works Cited Acar, Adam. “Antecedents and Consequences of Online Social Networking Behavior: The Case of Facebook.” Journal of Website Promotion 3.1-2 (2008): 62-83. Shin, Dong-Hee. “The effects of trust, security and privacy in social networking: A security-based approach to understand the pattern of adoption.” Interacting with Compuers 22.5 (2010): 428-438. Subrahmanyam, Kaveri, and Patricia Greenfield. “Online Communication and Adolescent Relationships.” The Future of Children 18.1 (2008): 119-146. Utz, Sonja, and Nicole Kramer. “The privacy paradox on social network sites revisited: The role of individual characteristics and group norms.” Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace 3.2 (2009). Ybarra, Michele, and Kimberley Mitchell. “How Risky Are Social Networking Sites? A Comparison of Places Online Where Youth Sexual Solicitation and Harassment Occurs.” PEDIATRICS 121.2 (2008): 350-357. Annotated Bibliography Source 1: Acar, Adam. “Antecedents and Consequences of Online Social Networking Behavior: The Case of Facebook.” Journal of Website Promotion 3.1-2 (2008): 62-83. Summary: Regardless of the current fame of online social networks, few accessible studies explain the differences between internet social networks and real life. Authoritative information about social networking websites’ results is even little. In order to reduce the gap between literature, this study found that and real life relationships and social websites are notably different. The results reveal that extroversion and gender are main predictors of both time spent for online social networking and the size of social networks. The results also reveal the negative impact on individual privacy on addition of strangers in online social networks. Source 2: Shin, Dong-Hee. “The effects of trust, security and privacy in social networking: A security-based approach to understand the pattern of adoption.” Interacting with Compuers 22.5 (2010): 428-438. Summary: This study about social networking websites examines trust, security, and privacy concerns related to social networking websites among their users using both measures and reliable scales. The study proposes a social networking acceptance model by integrating affective as well as cognitive attitudes as main influencing factors, driven by perceived privacy, underlying beliefs, attitude, trust, and intention. The social networking acceptance model shows outstanding measurement properties and reveals that perceived privacy restrains the outcome of perceived privacy for the element of trust. Source 3: Subrahmanyam, Kaveri, and Patricia Greenfield. “Online Communication and Adolescent Relationships.” The Future of Children 18.1 (2008): 119-146. Summary: This article focuses on the relationships that adolescents establish through online social networking websites. The article also focuses on the negative and positive outcomes of such relationships and makes children aware of the consequences of relationships with strangers. The authors found that although children can get valuable information through social networking websites but their relationships with strangers can prove detrimental for them. The authors also found that schools are playing their role in making children aware of the consequences of establishing relationships with strangers through online media. Source 4: Utz, Sonja, and Nicole Kramer. “The privacy paradox on social network sites revisited: The role of individual characteristics and group norms.” Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace 3.2 (2009). Summary: The article discusses that the users of social networking websites are usually concerned about their privacy. However, they do not set proper privacy settings because they are unaware of the measures. They usually reveal detailed private information on their profiles. This article addresses the privacy settings of users of two main social websites. The article looked at the role of two dispositional variables, which are narcissism and trust. The authors found that a large number of users protect just some parts of their profile, but make all other information public which provides harmful for them at times. Source 5: Ybarra, Michele, and Kimberley Mitchell. “How Risky Are Social Networking Sites? A Comparison of Places Online Where Youth Sexual Solicitation and Harassment Occurs.” PEDIATRICS 121.2 (2008): 350-357. Summary: This study focuses on the likelihood that social networking websites are being used to exploit the underage youth sexually. The research findings prove that a large number of children experience sexual exploitation by making contacts with online strangers. The authors found that prevention measures can have a greater impact if they center their attention towards psychosocial problems of children instead of preventing children from using social websites because social websites also help children gain confidence and develop long-term useful relationships. Read More