Privacy on Social Media

According to a study on privacy and social media by Pew Research Center, about two-thirds of internet users use social networking sites (SNS) and all the major metrics for profile management are up, compared to 2009. A majority of social network site users restrict access to their profiles and women are significantly more likely to choose private settings. More than half of social networking site users say their main profile is set to private so that only friends can see it. Women who use SNS are more likely than men to set the highest restrictions. Half of SNS users say they have some difficulty in managing privacy controls. Those with the most education report the most trouble. Male profile owners are almost twice as likely as female profile owners to profess regret for posting content.

Madden, M. (2012). Privacy management on social media sites: Most users choose restricted privacy settings while profile “pruning” and unfriending people is on the rise. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center. http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2012/PIP_Privacy_management_on_social_media_sites_022412.pdf