More people are becoming aware that their data on social media platforms are used by technology companies for different purposes that are in most cases enshrouded in secrecy. Some of these companies – especially the ones focused on social media applications – collect, store, or mine user data for multiple revenue-based and non-financial causes. The overwhelming response to this seeming “unethical and unauthorized” use of personal data can be seen in how the public, advocacy groups, and governments globally demand stricter data privacy laws and protection. The general action is to compel companies and organizations to recognize the crucial role of individual or group users in making decisions on how their data should be collected or used on different online platforms. While these legal stipulations are necessary for ensuring more transparent and ethical use of collected user data, there are limited opportunities for individuals who are interested in selling their data for monetary or other benefits, to enter contractual agreements with technology companies – in this case, social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, etc. This category of individuals is different from those who already benefit from the marketing or advertising utility available on social media platforms. The focus is on the average user with no interest in using social media to advance business goals. On the other hand, most of the existing data privacy laws are not designed to support such transactional (data) relationships between online companies and users. Perhaps in the future, there will be policy considerations for the direct sale of user data on social media platforms. For this research, the emphasis is on learning more about people’s interest in selling their data directly to social media companies (Facebook or Twitter) and how reward systems could improve their trust and confidence in social media companies. As mentioned earlier, the target audience is those with no business intentions in their use of social media in the past. In terms of focus population and demographics, I will limit my research efforts to anyone who is a current resident in the state of Massachusetts, U.S. In conducting this research, I am interested in exploring the possibility that technology companies may be able to improve user perception and trust using reward incentives as they become more transparent on what and how they use individual or group data for revenue purposes. So, assuming there is ample evidence to show that social media platform like Facebook sells user data to other companies, platform users (individuals or groups) should be able to track what their data was used for and secondly, there should be the option for people to choose whether to be compensated or not. The reality is that technology companies – most importantly, social media companies – rely heavily on available or collected user data and so, taking proactive steps to mitigate increasing disillusionment and mistrust across multiple social media user segments and populations works in the best interest of every relevant stakeholder. Perhaps, if more people get compensated anytime their data is directly or indirectly used to generate revenue, the value proposition of social media companies will become more attractive to people who hitherto had limited or no interest in signing up for a social media membership. I am not sure how social media companies will be able to determine how to compensate users for using their data. This is not within the purview of this research work as my orientation for this effort is more from the social media user’s perspective. Based on the target user description for this research work, I will investigate potential relationships between financial rewards (or other non-monetary benefits) and consent to use personal data for revenue generation (direct or indirect) vis-à-vis social media companies. I will review existing US (or other countries) regulations, government memos, or policies on the transactional use of personal data by online companies and consumer data privacy laws. I will also review research publications and journals with relevant information. Lastly, I plan to interview different user populations from popular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. I would also explore the use of online surveys in situations where it becomes difficult to conduct interviews. I am confident that these sources of information will provide useful insights on people’s perception of how their collected (online) data should be used and to assess their openness to a reward system for the use of their data by social media companies. By reviewing existing regulations or policy suggestions, I will be able to analyze the implications of transactional use of personal data for profits and the rights of social media companies and users within the US legal framework. I will use information from relevant published materials to track, compare and analyze similar efforts where people are paid to sell their data directly to online companies. Data available from my primary research will be pivotal for my overall research efforts. I plan to analyze the information provided by interviewees and survey respondents and use them as supporting evidence for my hypothesis
