Usability and Security Aspects of Social Network Sites (SNS)

The rising level of Social Network Sites (SNS) is incredible. An SNS is a network system which offers quality services like connecting users and providing a platform to establish communications among the individuals of common interest. The paper aims at providing technical as well as social aspects akin to 'Security Vs Usability' in restricted user forums within a Social Network Site (SNS). As per surveys conducted in US, security of data plays a vital role in restricted user groups of SNS. Therefore authentication&security processing techniques become important to protect the data from unauthorized access into an SNS. However, as far as a common user is concerned, when security is given a higher priority by the system, the usability for the user itself is then affected. This has been observed from survey conducted in South India. Conducive user environment is preferred particularly for SNS. The paper presents security features, derived from technical study and usability issues, obtained from Social survey in restricted user forums of a selected SNS that has been experimented and validated. The paper also presents results obtained from social survey study that are based on feedback analysis conducted on security as well as usability issues from user respondents (based on purposive sampling).The results and the findings will be of immense use to SNS designers and researchers.