Role of Social Media on Cyber Stalking - Case Study Example

Role of Social Media on Cyber Stalking Table of Contents Abstract 2 Role of Social Media on Cyber Stalking 3 Interview of the victims 3 Case Study: Facebook Stalking 4 Case Study: Tracking and Broadcasting 5 Conclusion 6 Abstract Cyber stalking is an illegal activity that is interpersonal in nature, it has to include at least two people who have to represent both a victim and him offender. In the modern day, many people create their profiles on the social network sites like Facebook, Twitter accounts and Instagram against the background of the audience. During the study, cyber stalking was carefully monitored, how it occurs and the effects of people who engage in it. Social media contributes a lot to the collapse of social context and social role thus complicating boundary work but facilitating cyberstalking. Participants strategically disclose private information so as to create connections with others that further have impacts on their relationships. The individuals who are highly connected through social media view this as normal parts of the day to day life. Individuals must, therefore, protect their privacy, and it is also important for the law enforcement officers to apply their investigative skills to solve cyber crimes Role of Social Media on Cyber Stalking The study explains the concept of cyber stalking in greater theoretical depth and uses qualitative data to examine the practice and effects of individuals surveying each other using social media sites. The study also monitors the theory of social media in promoting and facilitating stalking in the modern society. On the last section of the study, I focus on examples of discourse to show how cyber stalking is carried out in the day to day life. What motivates people to engage in it and the impacts on participants? The qualitative data of this research study draws from the use of social media and modern technologies like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The quotes in this paper are representatives of the attitudes and the practices among the participants in technologically mediated social lives and using social media to monitor others. Interview of the victims During the study, three hundred undergraduate students were interviewed during a preliminary examination of causes of broken relationships. Ninety percent of the responses were emotions, unwanted courting that lead to termination of relationships thus extending to cyber stalking. Most of them upload photos and videos of other people making cyber stalking occur in both non-consensual and sexual fashions, and this leads to invasion of the individual’s privacy. They encroach on the private, virtual space or other people's timeline on social media leading to sexual harassment. It is an unwelcome form of Cyberstalking as it resembles sexual harassment undertaken in a clandestine way (Easttom, & Taylor, 2011). During an interview, two different victims had the following to say: How often are people stalked and who participates? First respondent: I am not trying to make anybody paranoid, but people are hunted every day on the internet by people who have broken up with their partners. Second respondent: I am a victim of it; disgruntled ex-employees who are unstable are the perpetrators. It is clear that social crime is reciprocal. People post content with high expectations that others will view it. Some go to an extent of editing their self-presentation to entice an audience, or they do something controversial to seek attention. The users monitor other people’s information to help them create the best context. One of the Twitter users admitted that by understanding over 500 Twitter followers, she can decide whether or not they want to know about her friend. The more the users learn, the more likely is to achieve the visibility he needs. One of the respondents said that he stalks his classmates in order to boost his social status though he said most of his peers suffered from broken relationships (Easttom, & Taylor, 2011). Case Study: Facebook Stalking Facebook Stalking is a term that can be defined using the example below: Person X: I was Facebook stalking John for two hours last night Person Y: Really? Person X: Exactly, he uploaded photos from his birthday party, and he tagged Jane in two of the pictures. The same Jane attended another party with Peter, who updated his status to be having a date last night. But according relationship status he isn't single. In this discussion, person X is trying to formulate Peter's actions based on the information that John uploaded on Facebook. Facebook stalking is only browsing pictures, and status updates to discover more about them thus resulting to cyber stalking. In an application of social software to learn information about the others, Facebook stalks enable users to assert power over others. (Marsh, & Melville, 2014). It is by gaining a greater picture of their actions and identities thus promoting breakages in most relationships, even though, some information might be inaccurate. However, by participating in other people’s social contribution, the users appreciate the significance and visibility of their peers (Goel, 2007). Case Study: Tracking and Broadcasting Other criminals track others personal information and broadcast it to a network. The combination of tracking and broadcasting produce a stream of information about an individual. People expose themselves so as to attract other who finally falls into the trap (Goel, 2007). Most of those who do this are the ones seeking for revenge after a fallen relationship and are mostly female characters. Juliet, a 19-year-old from the city, revealed a number of things he does on in relation to broadcasting other people's information on Facebook. Interviewer: Have you ever put staff on social sites that are exactly the private information. Juliet: Definitely Interviewer: Like what? Juliet: Tracking men’s pictures that they have taken by themselves and broadcasting it to a network. Interviewer: Why do you do that? Juliet: To avoid psychological and emotional trauma since our relationship fall apart. So I do this to show my ex-man that he isn’t the only one. From the above conversation, Juliet is frustrated and is mainly cyber stalking to seek revenge. However, when you submit your personal information you agree that your personal information may is accessible to the public and the information can be transferred. The victims are to some extent responsible for their problems. A simple way to guard against cyberstalking is to stay anonymous rather than identifiable presence online. You can also accept only the people you trust to be your friends in Facebook, followers in Twitter and Instagram. The most effective action for the victims is to report the offenders to their particular internet providers. Alternatively, one can change the online names and block the offenders (Newburn, 2013). Conclusion From the study, most of the respondents blamed cyber stalking on broken relationships, and it highly affects both emotionally and psychologically. As much as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram let others connect and share ideas socially through technology, cyberstalking is treated as a crime because the victims feel intimidated and insecure by the actions of the perpetrators. Modern humans are constantly looking for what they can say to each other and very resourceful at giving information from digital resources to create a bigger picture of social activities and at the same time undermine their fellows. However, social media has some of the positive effects as it provides ambient awareness of others and also gives the developments of the digital intimacy. References Easttom, C., & Taylor, J. (2011). Computer crime, investigation, and the law. Boston, MA: Course Technology. Goel, H. (2007). Cybercrime. New Delhi, India: Rajat Publications. Hess, K., Orthmann, C., & Cho, H. (2014). Police operations. Clifton Park, N.Y.: Delmar. Marsh, I., & Melville, G. (2014). Crime, Justice and the Media. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Newburn, T. (2013). Criminology. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Read More