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Disclosing Personal Data Socially — An Empirical Study on Facebook Users' Privacy Awareness

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  • Olli Pitkänen
  • Virpi Kristiina Tuunainen

Abstract

Maintaining existing relationships and present oneself to others is easy and inexpensive in social network services, such as Facebook. Nevertheless, the ever-increasing amount of personal data in these online services gives a rise to privacy concerns and risks. In an attempt to understand the factors, especially privacy awareness, that influence users to disclose or hide information in online environment, we view privacy behavior from the perspectives of privacy protection and information disclosing.Our survey of 210 Facebook users indicates, that most active users of this social network service disclose a considerable amount of private information. Contrary to their own beliefs, they are not too well aware of the visibility of their information to people they do not necessarily know. Furthermore, Facebook's privacy policy and the terms of use are largely either not known or understood. With the proliferation of different social media tools and services and the increased interest and involvement of companies and other organizations, understanding users' privacy attitudes and behavior becomes of paramount importance.

Suggested Citation

  • Olli Pitkänen & Virpi Kristiina Tuunainen, 2012. "Disclosing Personal Data Socially — An Empirical Study on Facebook Users' Privacy Awareness," Journal of Information Privacy and Security, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 3-29, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:uipsxx:v:8:y:2012:i:1:p:3-29
    DOI: 10.1080/15536548.2012.11082759
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