Race, Trust, and Privacy: Online Social Networking and Academic Goals

Abstract

This paper draws on semi-strucutured interviews with 80 College students, investigating how and why they use online social networking to meet their academic goals. Interview data indicate that ideas of trust, safe space, the privacy paradox, and isolation, along with issues concerning racial identification impact how students communicate with each other and share information. Additionally, participants’ observations reveal a particular frustration with their official course management tool and that face-to-face remains the common preferred means of communication with their academic peers and professors, despite using online social networking more frequently.