The concept of privacy in online social networks (OSNs) is a challenge, especially for teenagers. Previous works deal with teaching about privacy using educational online content, and media literacy. However, these tools do not necessarily promote less risky behaviors, and do not allow the assessment of users’ behavior after the learning period. Moreover, few research studies about the effects of social gamification have been performed for this population segment (i.e., teenagers). To address this problem in this article, we propose the use of gamification in an OSN called Pesedia to facilitate the teaching/learning process, and assess its effectiveness in promoting suitable privacy behaviors. We tested our proposal comparing teenagers’ performance in two editions of a course about social networks, and privacy (with, and without gamification) for one month. We measured the impact of gamification in the participants’ behaviors toward privacy concepts as a consequence of the privacy teaching/learning process, and the participants’ engagement in the educational process. The results show that there are significant differences in participants’ behavior regarding privacy, and engagement in the gamified social network. Moreover, there is also a significant difference in participants’ engagement for the gamified male participants. The gamified social network proposed in this article may be relevant, and useful for educators who wish to develop, and enhance teenagers’ privacy skills, or for a broader base of aspects related to the development of digital competences, and technology in education.

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评估游戏化社交网络应用隐私概念的有效性：对青少年的实证研究

在线社交网络（OSN）中的隐私概念是一个挑战，特别是对于青少年而言。以前的作品使用教育性在线内容和媒体素养来处理有关隐私的教学。但是，这些工具不一定会促进风险较小的行为，并且不允许在学习期过后评估用户的行为。此外，针对这一人群（即青少年）的社交游戏化效果的研究很少。为了解决本文中的这个问题，我们建议在OSN中使用游戏化佩塞迪亚促进教学过程，并评估其在促进适当的隐私行为方面的有效性。我们在两个版本的有关社交网络和隐私（有游戏化和无游戏化）的课程中比较了青少年的表现，并测试了一个月的建议。由于隐私教学/学习过程以及参与者参与教育过程，我们测量了游戏化对参与者行为对隐私概念的影响。结果表明，参与者在隐私和参与游戏化社交网络方面的行为存在显着差异。此外，参加游戏的男性参与者的参与度也存在显着差异。本文提出的游戏化社交网络可能是相关的，