Abstract:

As social media has become an intensive part of human lives, the concept of privacy has become an actual question again. Due to security measures, it has become the norm to be monitored by surveillance cameras at many moments of life or to collect private information in data stores. Such normalization has facilitated the adaptation of the network society to the transparent, visible, public lifestyle offered by social media, and despite the violation of privacy, posting a status is implemented. The influence of every new technological device on human life is a reality that has been observed throughout history. Mobile smartphones, which have become a part of everyday life with the network society, and social media applications that can be used through these phones regardless of time and place have created new behavioral patterns in their users. Special situations, hidden from strangers in society and met with sanctions such as shaming, condemnation, and exclusion, because their disclosure is not welcomed, have become easily presented to the public eye. This shows that privacy has expanded among social media users, who constitute a large part of society. From this point of view, in this study, whether WhatsApp status-sharing feature, which allows sharing photos and short videos, transforms privacy, and creates new behavioral patterns for its users, was examined with a relational screening model. Academic studies on the impact of social media on the understanding of privacy have recently gained intensity, but research has yet to be found on the WhatsApp status-sharing feature, which makes this research important. The study aims to participate in the discussions in the literature on the concept of privacy and social media, which has become an actual question again, and to contribute to the literature by addressing the discussion in the context of the WhatsApp status-sharing feature. From the analysis results, it was concluded that new behavioral patterns merged in users, the understanding of privacy changed, and the scope of the concept expanded.

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