AR2: To Facebook or Not to Facebook...Is that a Question?

What are problems related to conducting research on Facebook use? And more importantly, "How is  Facebook affecting relationships among groups and individuals?"
 
   Some of the problems with using Facebook as a way to conduct research are that some social researches will end up "profiling" their subjects. Many people do not put their information on Facebook with the knowledge that it may be used as material for social researchers.(http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/34088_Chapter4.pdf) In the long run this can create major ethical issues since it bring up the questions of whether this type of research is a breach of privacy, and whether there is any informed consent.
      There are three different ways that Facebook is affecting the interactions between groups and individuals. The three ways are: company and customer, faculty and student, and employer and potential employees. There is also a very broad overview of the affects of Facebook on the individual in that as more and more of one person's different social spheres start to merge on Facebook the person in question learns to self-censor themselves. What I mean is that the person will either monitor what they say and post, or utilize the privacy settings that Facebook provides for each post. These privacy settings include excluding certain people or groups from being able to see particular posts.
      In regards to companies and their consumers using Facebook is a way of interacting in a mutually beneficial relationship. Through Facebook companies can let their consumers have a voice. Customers can comment on what the company is doing well, what they think that they should change, and it also works as a word-of-mouth service for the company as most people will like what their friends like.
     The interaction between faculty and student is not like the previous relationship. The main concern was that many people felt that faculty conversing with their students would be seen as "creepy" for lack of a better term. This problem was averted however when research showed that most students didn't even think to add their teachers to their Facebook friends list.
    The interaction between employer and employee is relatively new. With the access to so much information via the internet now many employers are looking up information about their potential employees before they are even interviewed. Because of the way that Facebook works this could lead to discrimination lawsuits. This would be due to the fact that employers now have access to details about their potential employees that they don't need to have before hiring them (marital status, age, etc.).

References:

Wilson, R. E., Gosling, S. D., & Graham,  L. T. (2012). A review of  Facebook research in the social sciences. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(3), 203-220. doi:10.1177/1745691612442904

How Do New Technologies in Social Research Impact the Practice of Ethical Research?. (n.d.). The Ethics of Social Research. Retrieved September 10, 2013, from www.sagepub.com/upm-data/34088_Chapter4.pdf