Social Network - Facebook - Research Proposal Example

It represents the realization of the concept known as citizen journalism which allows anybody to become a mass communicator. In doing this, there are a number of ethical issues on its implementation, more often than not people lie a lot about themselves and the posts they make on Facebook, which is a feature that is of great concern on the information that people consume on such social platforms. Furthermore, these platforms provide the perfect infrastructure for impersonation and other forms of social vices.

Besides the numerous ethical concerns about the use of the social media, this platform has also enhanced the forms of cybercrimes. Cybercrime is also a new term in security, which infers to the use of the internet to commit crimes. Facebook provides a perfect platform for intensified interaction, which enables criminals to observe the activities of their victims. It further forms a perfect platform for blackmail and a means of extortion from the unsuspecting public. Impersonation is a trending feature on Facebook, one in which people run fake accounts for public figures such as politicians and other celebrities.

Some of such users are unscrupulous enough to extort money from their users in the disguise for favors associated with the real names of celebrities. The ability to maintain a high level of anonymity allows these users the privilege of staying unidentified. The internet introduced a number of online payment mechanisms which therefore make possible the cyber crimes and the numerous extortion schemes. The research further investigates the forms of cybercrime on this social platform and the possible targets of such criminal acts.

The literature review is a mandatory segment in researches. In this part, the researcher analyzes preexisting knowledge on the topic. Facebook and social network are two new terminologies following the advent of the internet. The growth of social media has been significant over the years (Aggarwal, 2011). However, the two have attracted a substantial attention from researchers resulting in adequate literature addressing their usage and the ethical concerns they present. Cyber crimes have been in existence since the 1980s following the invention of the internet.

This implies that the topic has adequate literature material describing its uniqueness and the mode of societal infiltration. An effective analysis of the literature develops a background on which the research runs (Goddard & Melville, 2001). This research seeks to analyse the ethical concerns that arise on the use of this global social platform. Vices such as cybersex are common (Stenzel and Melissa, 2011). In doing this, the research uses a unique structure of data collection and analysis. Facebook, just as any other social network, is availed on any internet network.

This implies that it enjoys the features of the internet such as unlimited access, interactivity, and multimodality among others. With the employment of these features, it becomes very convenient carrying out the research. The research employs a unique data collection strategy referred to as content analysis. This is used in conjunction with the other traditional data collection strategies such as the use of interviews, observations, and using questionnaires. Content analysis is a data collection method in which the researcher simply analyses the Facebook accounts and profiles of friends and other available users (Goddard & Melville, 2001).

Facebook allows anybody to view any page provided the owners make the pages public. This thus gives the research methodology the convenience of conducting the research from the confines of one’