Mechanisms of Trust in Facebook

The present study aims to investigate mechanisms of trust among Iranian users of Facebook social network. Theoretically, the researchers used Efe and Fuchs’s model for intervention of social trust in Iranian users’ action. As the research method, we employed combined data method. So that, using a survey method, two samples were chosen in two stages: first 2437 Iranian internet users, and second, 288 students at Payame Noor University of Tehran. The quantitative data were collected from these two samples. Moreover, through direct and participatory observation and structured interview, we gathered the qualitative data of the research.
The results show that the Iranian users of Facebook via visibility rule and reciprocal self-disclosure regulate their interactions with relatives and friends and for trusting foreigners they apply trust strategies of evidence finding. These strategies include finding mutual friends, transparency (creating new profiles with actual identity, visiting others’ profiles before accepting their invitation and self-exposure, reducing the risk of trust (using the visibility rule for limiting access to data or removing non-trustable friends. Also, the findings revealed that being a user of Facebook increases the users’ trust.