Understanding the role of users’ socio-location attributes and their privacy implications on social media

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to establish reciprocity among socio-location attributes while underlining the additional users’ privacy implications on social media (SM). Design/methodology/approach Digital identity theories, social software engineering theory and the Privacy Safeguard (PriS) methodology were considered while reviewing 32 papers for identifying users’ SM attributes. After proposing interrelations among socio-location attributes, the PriS method was used to match social aspects of privacy in designing case studies to illustrate the associations through potential users’ privacy implications. Findings Eighteen users’ SM attributes were collected and correlated to the Face, Frame, Activity, Time and Stage (FFrATS) 4 W (socio-location attributes), which provoke further privacy implications due to the notions of self-determination and self-disclosure on SM. The authors draw on the PriS methodology to address privacy’s multidimensionality while creating case studies to examine privacy issues arising due to socio-location attribute disclosure and users’ trajectories and normativity lines. Research limitations/implications Supplementary case studies and research are needed to enable the design of a socio-spatially and privacy-aware designing methodology. Practical implications Designing proper methodologies and techniques to address users’ privacy implications deriving from socio-location attributes can provide designers with a technical solution to SM platforms. Social implications Socio-location attribute disclosure constructs representative SM profiles; however, the revelation of attributes and their interrelations create additional privacy implications for SM users. Originality/value Deepening the understanding of disclosing socio-location attributes on SM while bridging the socio-technical gap will provide the necessary background for proposing technical solutions to protecting users’ privacy.