Towards Data Portability between Online Social Networks: a Conceptual Model of the Portable User Profile

The last decade has seen an increasing number of Online Social Network (OSN) users. As they grew more and more popular over the years, OSNs become also more and more profitable. Indeed, users share a considerable amount of personal information on these sites, both intentionally and unintentionally. And thanks to this enormous user base, social networks are able to generate recommendations; attract numerous advertisers; and sell the data to companies. This situation has sparked a lot of interest in the research community. Researchers have studied, among other topics, the issues of trust and privacy. Indeed, users grow more uncomfortable with the idea that they do not have full control over their own data. This paper addresses the notion of portable profile. The authors will discuss the advantages and drawbacks of a portable profile, from the perspective of the user and of the online social network. Secondly, the authors will propose a conceptual model for the data in this unified profile.