Facebook Use

(And Abuse)

Definitions*

• ORI—repeated, unwanted pursuit and invasion of one’s sense of physical or symbolic privacy by another person, either stranger or acquaintance, who desires or presumes an intimate relationship

• o-ORI (Facebook stalking)—obsessively monitoring the social information presented on Facebook by friends, acquaintances, or virtual strangers who are Facebook “friends”

• Creeping—when using the site as intended leads to the prolonged scrutiny of other’s information

ORI Behaviors

• Following you around• Monitoring you and/or your behavior• Covertly obtaining private information• Leaving unwanted gifts• Engaging in regulatory harassment• Leaving or sending you threatening

objects• Making exaggerated displays of affection

Benign o-ORI Behaviors

• Leaving unwanted gifts

• Involvement in activities in unwanted ways

Potentially Dangerous o-ORI Behaviors

• Leaving unwanted messages• Making exaggerated displays of affection• Following• Intruding uninvited into interactions• Intruding upon friends, family and coworkers• Monotoring• Covertly obtaining information• Showing up at Places

Definitely Dangerous o-ORI Behaviors

• Engaging in regulatory harassment

• Leaving or sending threatening objects

Frequency of Uses

Ex-intimates• Looking at posted

photos 82%• Sending person

messages 63%• Reading person’s wall

conversations 60%• Using Facebook to

“keep tabs” on the person 31%

Acquaintances• Looking at posted

photos 97%• Sending person

messages 91%• Reading person’s wall

conversations 81%• Using Facebook to

“keep tabs” on the person 28%

Conclusion

Facebook promotes obsessive disclosure, monitoring and/or surveillance as appropriate strategies for relationship

development and maintenance

Facebook Survey

• How many “friends” have you added without actually knowing who they are?

• Are you okay with family, classmates and/or strangers looking at your profile?

• What have you revealed in your Facebook account?

• What type of applications have you added to your account?

Facebook and Social Networking

• What do you use Facebook for?• In the past 3 months, how many strangers have

you initiated to add as friends?• Would you accept strangers who added you as

friends on Facebook?• When adding or accepting new friends, what

criteria do you look at?

A Study of Facebook Use in Canada

• How often do you check your Facebook account?

• How much information do you share online?• If a noteworthy event happened within your

circle of friends, how are you most likely to hear about it?

Consequences

• Blurring of lines between “public” and “private.”

• Facebook normalizes “creeping” and “Facebook stalking.”

• Lack of sympathy for victims of o-ORI (i.e., people who do not monitor privacy settings).