In what ways do the social network websites such as facebook violate the privacy of ingenuous teenagers ?
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In what ways do the social network websites such as facebook violate the privacy of ingenuous teenagers ?
I like your topic but I think the wording is a bit unfocused. I think that you should focus just on Facebook (or any other specific social network) instead of saying “social network websites such as facebook” because that leaves room to discuss other social networks aside from facebook. This is an easy way of narrowing down your research topic.
I like your topic, my research question also has to do with the privacy policies of facebook. This question is just a bit confusing and is really broad at the moment. I feel as though the term “ingenuous teenagers” makes your question a bit confusing and too specific, ingenuous teens only applies to a certain category of teens, those that are straightforward and open. I feel that this will make it hard to find research on the topic because it limits your search to not only people that are open and not reserved but to only teenagers as well.
Dinora’s advice is well worth taking. Do consider focusing on just one social network. Jessica is right, too, that “ingenous teenagers” may not be the best phrasing and restricts you too much. I’d also like to add that the “in what ways” approach to doing a research question is problematic. Basically, your research would just end up being a report listing all the ways that privacy is compromised in a given social network. That’s not an interesting enough question. Most people recognize that a lot of privacy is given up when you join and participate in a social networking site; that is not news to anyone. I think you’ll want to think a bit harder (and maybe do some more background reading) to get a research that does try to address a question that is news to everyone.
You might think about things like why do teenagers knowing participate in online social networks when they are aware of the privacy tradeoffs? Or maybe you might research whether teens today are better informed today than than 4-5 years ago when the social networking phenomenon was newer? Have efforts to make teens more aware of the privacy problems in social networking sites had any notable effect in the past 4-5 years? How have social networks tried to address the privacy issues of teens (and the parents of those teens)? As you can imagine, there a lots of more narrowly focused research questions that could be spun off from your overly broad question. I suggest reading some articles about Facebook and privacy and teens to get some more ideas about what you really want to focus on.