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Risk Perceptions on Social Media Use in Norway

Author

Listed:
  • Philip Nyblom

    (Department of Information Security and Communication Technology, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, NTNU–Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2815 Gjøvik, Norway
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Gaute Wangen

    (IT Division, Digital Security Section, NTNU–Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2815 Gjøvik, Norway
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Vasileios Gkioulos

    (Department of Information Security and Communication Technology, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, NTNU–Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2815 Gjøvik, Norway)

Abstract

Social media are getting more and more ingrained into everybody’s lives. With people’s more substantial presence on social media, threat actors exploit the platforms and the information that people share there to deploy and execute various types of attacks. This paper focuses on the Norwegian population, exploring how people perceive risks arising from the use of social media, focusing on the analysis of specific indicators such as age, sexes and differences among the users of distinct social media platforms. For data collection, a questionnaire was structured and deployed towards the users of multiple social media platforms (total n = 329). The analysis compares risk perceptions of using the social media platforms Facebook (n = 288), Twitter (n = 134), Reddit (n = 189) and Snapchat (n = 267). Furthermore, the paper analyses the differences between the sexes and between the digital natives and non-natives. Our sample also includes sufferers of ID theft (n = 50). We analyse how account compromise occurs and how suffering ID theft changes behaviour and perception. The results show significant discrepancies in the risk perception among the social media platform users across the examined indicators, but also explicit variations on how this affects the associated usage patterns. Based on the results, we propose a generic risk ranking of social media platforms, activities, sharing and a threat model for SoMe users. The results show the lack of a unified perception of risk on social media, indicating the need for targeted security awareness enhancement mechanisms focusing on this topic.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip Nyblom & Gaute Wangen & Vasileios Gkioulos, 2020. "Risk Perceptions on Social Media Use in Norway," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-40, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jftint:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:211-:d:451722
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laura Studen & Victor Tiberius, 2020. "Social Media, Quo Vadis? Prospective Development and Implications," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-22, August.
    2. Vasileios Gkioulos & Gaute Wangen & Sokratis K. Katsikas, 2017. "User Modelling Validation over the Security Awareness of Digital Natives," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-16, July.
    3. Paul Slovic & Melissa L. Finucane & Ellen Peters & Donald G. MacGregor, 2004. "Risk as Analysis and Risk as Feelings: Some Thoughts about Affect, Reason, Risk, and Rationality," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(2), pages 311-322, April.
    4. Per E. Gustafsod, 1998. "Gender Differences in Risk Perception: Theoretical and Methodological erspectives," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(6), pages 805-811, December.
    5. Ali Siddiq Alhakami & Paul Slovic, 1994. "A Psychological Study of the Inverse Relationship Between Perceived Risk and Perceived Benefit," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(6), pages 1085-1096, December.
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    1. Abdulelah A. Alghamdi & Margaret Plunkett, 2021. "The Perceived Impact of Social Networking Sites and Apps on the Social Capital of Saudi Postgraduate Students: A Case Study," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-23, January.

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