Socialization in the social web: A longitudinal study
The disclosure of private, partly intimate information is a common phenomenon in the web 2.0. Especially for user of weblogs and social network sites, the disclosure of personal information about their lives and friends is a prominent gratification. What does privacy mean to the "Generation Social Web" and what psychological uses or costs does the infinite availability of private information in the internet have?
Contact Person
Prof. Dr. Sabine Trepte
E-Mail: sabine.trepte@uni-hohenheim.de
Short Description
These questions have been addressed by Prof. Dr. Sabine Trepte (University of Hohenheim) and Prof. Dr. Leonard Reinecke (University of Mainz) in the context of the DFG-project "Socialization in the social web: A longitudinal study on the effect of the social web on the significance of privacy and self-disclosure". Preliminary studies of the research team (Reinecke & Trepte 2008; Trepte & Reinecke 2009) prove the importance of research on privacy concerning the reception in the web 2.0. An online-survey with 702 internet users has shown that intensive users have a stronger willingness to disclose personal information than less affine web 2.0 users. Whereas this study suggests the importance of willingness to disclose private information online during the selection of the social web, the possible effect of permanent availability of private information in the social web in terms of habitualization or socialization was widely unexplored at the time the project started. With the project users of the social web were surveyed in a longitudinal study over 1,5 years and asked about their need of privacy and their willingness to disclose intimate information and thus to comprehend the effects of the use of the social web on the importance of privacy.
Run-time of the project
1st April 2009 until 30th June 2011.
Related publications
Reinecke, L. & Trepte, S. (2014). Authenticity and well-being on social network sites: A two-wave longitudinal study on the effects of online-authenticity and the positivity bias in SNS communication. Computers in Human Behavior,30, 95-102. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.07.030
Trepte, S. & Dienlin, T. (2014). Privatsphäre im Internet. In T. Porsch & S. Pieschl (Hrsg.), Neue Medien und deren Schatten. Mediennutzung, Medienwirkung, Medienkompetenz (S. 53-80). Göttingen: Hogrefe. (Link zum PDF)
Trepte, S., Dienlin, T., & Reinecke, L. (2014). Risky behaviors: How online experiences influence privacy behaviors. In B. Stark, O. Quiring, & N. Jackob (Eds.), Von der Gutenberg-Galaxis zur Google-Galaxis. From the Gutenberg Galaxy to the Google Galaxy. Surveying old and new frontiers after 50 years of DGPuK (S. 225-246). UVK: Wiesbaden. (Link zum PDF)
Trepte, S., Dienlin, T., & Reinecke, L. (2013). Privacy, self-disclosure, social support, and social network site use. Research report of a three-year panel study. Stuttgart, Germany: University of Hohenheim. (Link zum PDF)
Trepte, S. & Reinecke, L. (2013). The reciprocal effects of social network site use and the disposition for self-disclosure: A longitudinal study. Computers in Human Behavior, 29 (3), 1102-1112. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.10.002
Trepte, S. & Reinecke, L. (Eds.) (2011). Privacy Online: Perspectives on Privacy and Self-Disclosure in the Social Web. Springer: NewYork.
Trepte, S. & Reinecke, L. (2009). Sozialisation im Social Web: Eine Forschungsagenda zu den Wirkungen des Web 2.0. Zeitschrift für Kommunikationsökologie und Medienethik, 11 (1). (PDF, 544 kb)
Reinecke, L., & Trepte, S. (2008). Privatsphäre 2.0: Konzepte von Privatheit, Intimsphäre und Werten im Umgang mit 'user-generated-content'. In A. Zerfaß, M. Welker & J. Schmidt (Eds.), Kommunikation, Partizipation und Wirkungen im Social Web. Band 1: Grundlagen und Methoden: Von der Gesellschaft zum Individuum (pp. 205-228). Köln: Herbert von HalemVerlag. (PDF, 595 kb)
Trepte, S., Reinecke, L., & Behr, K.-M. (2008). Qualitätserwartungen und ethischer Anspruch bei der Lektüre von Blogs und von Tageszeitungen. Publizistik, 53(4), 509-534.