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The Social Media Dilemma: Millennials Dealing with Data Tracking in a Mediatized Society

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The Social Media Dilemma: Millennials Dealing with Data Tracking in a Mediatized Society Department of Informatics and Media Master’s Programme in Social Sciences, Digital Media and Society specialization Two-year Master’s Thesis The Social Media Dilemma: Millennials Dealing With Data Tracking in a Mediatized Society Hannah Volman June 2021 Abstract Through its growing popularity, social media platforms have become influential in our society. Data tracking allows social media platforms to continue providing free and personalized services. Scholars and professionals have argued that data tracking can be harmful to individual privacy and can be used to change peoples’ behaviour without them being aware of this. This thesis focusses on how millennials deal with data tracking dilemmas in their social media use. As digital natives, millennials have grown up in a digital society, and therefor are often suggested to have a unique perspective on issues such as data tracking. This study is focused on why millennials use social media platforms, what dilemmas they identify regarding data tracking, how millennials act upon these dilemmas and how millennials reflect on their own behaviour compared to that of other generations. Based on 16 semi-structured interviews and 4 focus groups, this thesis relates the behaviour of Dutch millennials regarding data tracking and social media use to theories such as mediatization, platformization, the privacy paradox and media generations. This thesis finds that besides communication, entertainment and social engagement are also deeply shaped by mediatization and platformization. The participants identified three interrelated aspects of the privacy dilemma: the filter bubble, monetization and power. In acting upon these dilemmas, the behaviour of some participants confirms the notion of the privacy paradox. However, another group of participants indicated that they do not experience the dilemmas as such, and therefore do not act upon them. A last group of participants shared that they have found multiple ways in which to act upon the dilemmas they identify. This study thus concludes that the privacy paradox seems more nuanced than its conceptualization, because the participants find ways to deal with the dilemmas they identify. Keywords: social media, data tracking, privacy paradox, media dilemmas, millennials 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank a few people who have supported me during the process of writing this thesis. First of all, I would like to thank the participants for their continuous cooperation. Their insights, experiences and stories have made this thesis what it is. I enjoyed both the interviews and the focus groups very much. Secondly, I would like to thank my parents Monique and Yolant for their continued support and encouragement and my partner Lisanne for her incredible patience and making the many hours spend writing a more fun. Thirdly, I would like to thank my friends both in the Netherlands and in Sweden, for listening to my struggles and providing some much-needed distractions and advice. Lastly, I would also like to thank Peter Jakobson for his advice and guidance the past four months. I would also like to thank the Digital Media and Society class of 2021. Although time together was cut short due to a global pandemic, I enjoyed getting to know everyone and the classes we shared. I hope that in different times we find each other in the same country once more. 3 Table of contents Chapter 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 6 Chapter 2. Context .......................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Data Tracking ..................................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Historical Context ............................................................................................................................. 10 2.3 Profiling and Algorithms .................................................................................................................. 11 2.4 Social Media ...................................................................................................................................... 12 2.5 The GDPR ......................................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 3. Literature Review ....................................................................................................................... 14 3.1 Millennials and Social Media Use .................................................................................................... 14 3.2 Social Media and Privacy ................................................................................................................. 16 3.3 The Privacy Paradox ......................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 4 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................... 19 4.1 Mediatization .................................................................................................................................... 19 4.1.1 Mediatization Conceptualized .................................................................................................... 20 4.1.2 Platformization ............................................................................................................................ 22 4.2 Privacy Dilemmas.............................................................................................................................. 24 4.2.1 Mediatization of privacy ............................................................................................................. 25 4.2.2 Privacy and Data tracking .......................................................................................................... 27 4.2.3 The Privacy Paradox Theorized................................................................................................. 31 4.4 Media generations ............................................................................................................................. 33 4.3.1 Generations and generational theory ........................................................................................ 33 4.3.2 Millennials and Digital Technology ........................................................................................... 34 Chapter 5. Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 36 5.1 Research Design ................................................................................................................................ 36 5.2 Participants........................................................................................................................................ 38 5.3 Data Collection .................................................................................................................................. 39 5.4 Reliability and Validity ...................................................................................................................... 40 5.5 Limitations and Ethics ...................................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 6. Analysis of Results ...................................................................................................................... 42 6.1 Social media platforms ...................................................................................................................... 43 6.1.1 Communication ........................................................................................................................... 44 6.1.2 Entertainment .............................................................................................................................. 47 6.1.3 Societal Engagement ................................................................................................................... 48 6.1.4 Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 50 6.2 Dilemmas regarding data tracking ................................................................................................... 51 6.2.1 Privacy .......................................................................................................................................... 51 6.2.2 The Filter Bubble ........................................................................................................................ 52 6.2.3 The Revenue Model ..................................................................................................................... 54 6.2.4 Power ............................................................................................................................................ 56 6.2.5 Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 58 4 6.3.1 Trapped in a Paradox ................................................................................................................. 59 6.3.2 What Paradox? ...........................................................................................................................
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