An Analysis of Implemented and Desirable Settings for Identity Management on Social Networking Sites

To address privacy threats stemming from interacting with other users on Social Networking Sites (SNS), effective Social Identity Management (SIdM) is a key requirement. SIdM refers to the deliberate and targeted disclosure of personal attribute values to a subset of one´s contacts on SNS. While a variety of privacy-enhancing approaches have been proposed, these are often isolated solutions that lack integration into a reference framework that states the requirements for successfully managing one´s identity. In this paper, a reference framework of existing and desired SIdM settings is derived from identity theory, literature analysis, and existing SNS. Based thereupon, we examine the SIdM capabilities of prevalent SNS and highlight possible improvements.