Personal Privacy Issue from Social Big Data Perspective: Educated and Urban Social Network Users' Privacy Approaches in Turkey

Abstract

The role and influence of social media on daily life is increasing day by day. It also brings about the change of the privacy concept in terms of meaning and role. The personal information that is being shared via social media content is analyzed in a big data pool and is used by various sectors. In this context it is also discussed whether individuals have information about the privacy policies they approve while using social networks. In this study it is aimed to evaluate individuals' perspectives on privacy in social media big data and privacy issues from the perspective of communication privacy management theory. For this aim a qualitative research design and an in-dept interview technique was used in the study. In-dept interviews were conducted between November 2019 and December 2019 with 18 social media users who were selected by purposive sampling which is one of the non-probable sampling methods. The data was evaluated by the Miles & Huberman (1994) model. As a result it was understood that the participants mostly paid attention to the privacy of their private lives on social media and benefited from the privacy settings offered to them. On the other hand it was understood that the participants didn't read the privacy policies published by social media platforms and they approved those policies as they wanted to be members of those platforms. Even if they are worried about sharing their personal information it seems that they continue to sharein this context it can be interpreted as the participants' desire to be on a platfrom and to express themselves through sharing is suppressing their privacy concerns.