Soc528 Spring 2013 Group Assignment 1 - Privacy and Identity in Social Media

Answer these questions about the social media site assigned to your group. Groups will meet to integrate their individual parts of the assignmnent during class on Wednesday January 30. A 3-5 page written report (basically one or two good paragraphs per item) is due Monday, February 11. Your report should be printed and list the contributing members of your group on a cover page.

1. Identity: Does this site have a real names policy? Or require you to sign up with an authenticated email address? Or use a credit card? Does it place restrictions on usernames?
2. Property: Who owns your tweets/posts/uploads? Do you have to give the site permission to use your property? What property rights to use your stuff are claimed by the site?
3. Social Control: What content/speech/behavior is not allowed? How is this enforced?
4. Economics: What is the business model of this site? How was it started/financed? Are they making any money from you?
5. Privacy: Are you allowed to encrypt conversations or content? Can you choose who can access your content? Are you subject to moderation/surveillance? Can you remove your content? Can you close your account?
6. Code: Is the underlying code proprietary or open source? Patented? Can developers use it's APIs?
7. Power: How are different forms of power exercised in social interactions on this site?

Cite your sources.