Social Networking Sites Case Study

2. Security/Privacy
Privacy is one of the most important and often discussed ethical issues of information technology and the media in general (Smith et al., 1996). Trust and privacy concern within Social Networking Sites is a topical subject. Moreover, the fact that millions of users are on these sites leads to the assumption that certain amount of trust is involved. Dwyer et al. (2007) found that Facebook users have a greater amount of trust and share more information. But what is about companies? Do they trust Social Networking Sites? Since security/privacy is an important issue in the area of information technology, it is taken into consideration in this study. Security/privacy involves the degree to which the user believes that the site
It is characterized by delivering relevant, updated and easy-to-understand information (Lee & Kozar, 2006). Lee and Kozar stated that the higher the quality of the information, the higher the number of online customers would be. Referring this to Social Networking Sites, the higher the quality of information of Social Networking Sites is, the higher will be the number of users. As mentioned before, information quality scored highly in the study of Lee and Kozar and hence, it is an important factor for this study. Believability, the amount of information and the completeness of information are relevant indicators of information quality (Lee et al., 2001). Applied to the current study, the information quality of Social Networking Sites is referred to the information on applicants’ sites. For recruiters, it is important that the information about the applicants fulfills these certain criteria in order to create a complete picture of the person. As mentioned before, Social Networking Sites have become part of the recruitment landscape and receive a high rating in companies. Ease of navigation, security/privacy and information quality represents main qualities of Social Networking Sites. But what are other important factors? Social Networking Sites are a special type of site as they are dynamic and interactive. Therefore, these two factors are relevant for this new field of web technologies.
Chu et al. (2004) wrote that “a high popularity usually means that the information provided by the website is useful or attractive for its visitors” (p. 4095). Referring this to Social Networking Sites and recruitment, it means the more people make use of Social Networking Sites, the higher the chance is for getting the best candidates. In this study, popularity among applicants is measured by registered users of the Social Networking Sites and the reputation of these sites. Reputation of the site is measured by an estimation of the respondent about the popularity of the site among the applicants and whether the site is often discussed in the media or