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Abstract

This explorative study aims to gain insight about which privacy settings and features on Facebook interfaces are commonly used by Facebook users, and how perceived benefits and privacy risks for personal information disclosure on Facebook influences privacy strategies used on the site. Online survey was used to gather user data. Analysis of the survey data revealed the privacy strategies on Facebook were most commonly used for managing profile visibility, networking boundaries, and privacy awareness. Using a point-biserial correlation analysis, the results demonstrated significant relations between the types of privacy strategies used on Facebook and the types of perceived benefits experienced from using Facebook. Significant relations were also observed between the types of privacy strategies and the types of concerns for privacy risks on Facebook. Hence, when the goal of Facebook is to empower users for protecting their privacy, it is important to understand how users make disclosure decisions with the help of these privacy settings and features on user interfaces. This paper concludes with remarks on the importance of understanding users attitudes in educating them about privacy protection in social applications.