Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Xinming (Simon) Ou / Facebook is a social networking service launched in February of 2004, currently having 600 million active users. Users can create a personal profile, add other friends, and exchange messages and notifications when they change their profile. Facebook has the highest usage among all social networks worldwide. It's most valuable asset is access to the personal data of all its users, making the security of such data a primary concern. User's data can be accessed by Facebook and third parties using Applications(Applications are web applications that are loaded in the context of Facebook. Building an application on Facebook will allow integration with many aspects like the user's profile information, news feed, notifications etc). "On profile" advertisement in Facebook is a classic example of how Facebook tailors the advertisements a user can see, based on the information in his profile. Having prioritzed user friendlines and ease of use of the Applications over the security of the user's data, serious questions about privacy are raised. We provide here an in-depth view of the Facebook's Application Authetication and Authorization architecture. We have included what, in our opinion, are the positives and negetives and suggested improvements. This document takes on the role of the User, the Application and Facebook server at appropriate points.

Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) are using Social Media (SM) to promote their destinations, attract tourists and communicate with the destination stakeholders. This study sought to understand how DMOs use SM, how DMOs adopt SM, what the desired outcomes from SM use are and how SM outcomes are evaluated. Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory guided this study and a mixed-methods research design was used to address the research questions. The two major research questions were; Firstly, how do DMOs use SM? Secondly, what outcomes do DMOs hope will result from SM use? / May 2016

The purpose of the thesis is to understand how users of Facebook relate to what they publish and to who has access to it. This is analyzed from the perspective of social networking sites as arenas for participatory surveillance, drawing on the Foucauldian notion of power/knowledge as the basis for surveillance. The empirical material consists of four qualitative interviews with users of Facebook. In summary, the users of the site think of it as a natural part of everyday life within the framework of Facebook as a mediated public. The surveillance is not hierarchical in a traditional sense, based on formal power relations, but still shapes the use of the site.

Web 2.0 is now used to describe a second generation of web-based services and tools, which allow their users to communicate, work together and share information. Corporate blogs, wikis, social networks, colaborative services, social bookmarking: there is a plenty of web 2.0 tools, they are constantly evolving and can be integrated into business. In the past few years there's been a significant process of adoption of web 2.0 and social technologies by businesses. Web 2.0 changes the way user interacts with another users and this enforces a change in the way business communicate with customers. As equally significant Web 2.0 changes a processes of internal collaboration. The object of my diploma work is an analysis of web 2.0 tools and services and possible benefits of their integration into business processes and information systems of the organizations. I will concentrate primarily on possibilities how to make business processes more effective, lower business costs, get new customers etc., not on advertising on social networks. I will also try to describe some latest relevant web 2.0 trends. The final goal of my work is to analyse an existing organisation and create an concept for web 2.0 tools and services adoption and integration. Readers will be able to find a latest trends and motivation for business inovations in my diploma work.

This research project explores the use of virtual support groups by women diagnosed with breast cancer in South Africa. Through a content analysis of the online forums and eight in-depth interviews with women of various backgrounds (age, race and socio-economic status) it becomes evident that women use these virtual spaces for information exchange, sense of belonging, search for meaning and most significantly support. Various factors within the illness experience of breast cancer influence the initial use, continuation, breaks and withdrawal from of these online forums. The analysis of online forums is framed around concepts of lay consultation, gender, adaptation theory and social capital to conceptualise and make sense of these virtual interactions. The virtual groups allow women to read and write on breast cancer according to their perceptions and experiences, thereby lessening the dominant medical power to create space for their personal voices. The interactions on the forums foster a sense of empowerment, social support and social engagement critical to their wellbeing and adaptation to the condition. This study also brings attention to the lack of studies about virtual groups within the South African context which is increasingly becoming significant as more and more individuals use virtual groups as part of health lay interaction and consultation.

Thesis advisor: Sara Moorman / With the increasing digitalization of society, the line between private and public has blurred. Social network sites (SNSs) like Facebook and Instagram facilitate such a process, with users utilizing the sites for public displays of private emotions or events. What was once intimate conversation between two individuals or personal experience shared only with those in one’s physical company have become public conversations and shared experiences for networks of Friends and Followers to comment on, like, share, and survey. Consequently, social media has allowed for heightened expressions of grief, a formerly private experience, online through the use of images, words, and reactions. The current study uses survey and interview data to understand who uses social media to grieve the loss of a family member (a particularly private loss), why an individual might do this, and how such posting influences the grieving process for the social media user. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.

Thesis advisor: Sergio Alvarez / The recent explosion of online social networking through sites like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook has millions of users spending hours a day sorting through information on their friends, coworkers and other contacts. These networks also house massive amounts of user activity information that is often used for advertising purposes but can be utilized for other activities as well. Facebook, now the most popular in terms of registered users, active users and page rank, has a sparse offering of built-in filtering and predictive tools such as ``suggesting a friend'' or the ``Top News'' feed filter. However these basic tools seem to underutilize the information that Facebook stores on all of its users. This paper explores how to better use available Facebook data to create more useful tools to assist users in sorting through their activities on Facebook. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Computer Science Honors Program. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Computer Science.

Orientador: Ana Silvia Lopes Davi Médola / Banca: Maria Eugenia Porem / Banca: Alan Cesar Belo Angeluci / Resumo: Um dos principais desafios da TV Unesp, emissora da Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho" - Unesp, é ser vista por diferentes segmentos de públicos para além da cidade de Bauru/SP, local onde opera em sistema de TV aberta. Considerando que a Unesp é uma instituição multicampi, as ações voltadas a dar visibilidade aos conteúdos da emissora encontram nos sites de redes sociais importantes ferramentas de divulgação. Partindo da compreensão da trajetória das TVs universitárias no Brasil, das especificidades da TV Unesp e dos desafios da busca pela audiência deste segmento no ecossistema midiático contemporâneo, marcado por novas possibilidades advindas da digitalização, buscou-se analisar de que modo um site de rede social como o Facebook constitui um efetivo aliado neste propósito. Sob o olhar da sociossemiótica, abordagem teórico-metodológica para análise das estratégias de visibilidade adotadas pela TV Unesp, foi possível identificar como a emissora tem atuado frente a públicos segmentados num processo de ajustamento, nos termos propostos por Eric Landowski (2014). Adotando-se o critério de efetividade das publicações analisadas, observouse que embora a emissora utilize o Facebook para promover e divulgar seus conteúdos televisivos, as estratégias e ações realizadas não configuram um planejamento que direcione com clareza a busca de posicionamento frente aos seus públicos de interesse no contexto midiático. / Abstract: One of the main challenges for the Unesp TV, Unesp - Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho" 's network, is to be seen by different public segments beyond the city of Bauru/SP, place where it operates in an open broadcast TV system. Considering that Unesp is a multi-campus institution, the actions towards giving visibility to the contents of the network are found in social networks websites which are important promoting tools. Using as a start point the comprehension of the Universities TV's trajectory in Brazil, the specificities of UNESP TV and the challenges in search for audience in this segment of the contemporary mediatic ecosystem, it is marked by new possibilities deriving from digitalization, it was seeked to analyze how a social network website like Facebook constitutes an effective ally in this purpose. Through the view of social semiotics, a theoretic-methodologic approach for the visibility strategies analysis taken by UNESP TV, it was possible to identify how the network has faced the segmented publics in an adjustment process, in the terms proposed by Eric Landowski (2014). Taking the publications analyzed effectiveness criteria, it was observed that although the network uses Facebook to promote and diffuse its television's content, the strategies and actions made don't meet a planning that directs with clarity the search of positioning with their interest publics in the mediatic context. / Mestre

Social network sites are now ubiquitous and self-presentation on these sites is, for many people, a major part of everyday life. The sites provide a novel context for impression management in which presentations can be viewed simultaneously, 24 hours a day, by multiple audiences with heterogeneous expectations. The argument outlined here is that this situation can increase the chances of social anxiety and regulatory behaviour when these expectations are not met. Through four studies including two experiments, a survey and a collection of semi-structured interviews, this thesis examines the process by which users regulate their actions both on- and offline with respect to multiple audiences online. A model is created out of intrapsychic theories grounded on Carver and Scheier’s (2001) selfregulatory process, in order to explain impression management in this context. Research is split into two phases and addressing young users aged predominately aged from 18-24; the first aiming to provide support for different components within the model and the second, to test the process as a whole. Phase 1 finds strong support for the model by providing evidence, first for the assumptions underlying the multiple audience problem and second, that public self-focus increases when engaged with the technology. A third contribution of Phase 1 is its categorisation of preventive and reactive regulatory behaviours. Phase 2 supports the process in the model, showing that self-focus leads to comparison between what is presented and the standards of multiple audiences, resulting in self-regulation mediated by anxiety.

As social networking websites continue to rise in popularity, their role as a communications tool for academic institutions raises intriguing questions. This is especially true of Facebook, which was originally begun as an exclusively college-based social network. Facebook potentially represents an opportunity to cost-effectively communicate with students, faculty and other members of the college community. The goals of this study were to provide descriptive statistics that might aid in better understanding if students currently do or do not visit academic Facebook pages and why they visit those pages, what is most likely to cause them to visit academic Facebook pages, and how universities might best utilize this tool as a means of communication. The implications of that data could be extremely useful, especially in regards to resource allocation and future university communications.