Privacy Attitudes within Social Media

1. Privacy Attitudes within Social Media Andrew Boyd, Kaven Williams, Ron Chin, Scott Densten, Diana Diamond, Chris Morgenthaler

2. Overview • Privacy, Security and Compliance • Current State of Research • IUIPC Model • Study Design • Initial Results • Implications of Findings • Future Directions for Research • Questions

3. Privacy, Security and Compliance • This topic sits at the intersection of: • Psychology • Management Theory and Corporate Governance • Economic Social Utility, Social Contract and Social Network Theory • Computer Science • It has an impact on: • Civil and Criminal Statutes • Economic Behaviour • Civil Rights and Freedoms • Systems Architecture and Development • The interplay between ‘Personal’ and ‘Public’ space

4. Current Research • Various historical models for online privacy attitudes • Many theoretical models- a dearth of empirical studies • Main empirical construct is IUIPC • Internet User Information privacy Concern • IUIPC draws upon Social Contract theory • Presents a theoretical framework based on attitudes and interdependencies towards: • Collection • Control • Awareness of personal information • These dimensions also form some of the principles behind many privacy statutes in North America and Europe.

5. IUIPC Model • Great for attitudes, not so good for demographics • May be biased towards overstating privacy concerns • Clearly highlights gap between attitudes and behaviours • Our research team extended IUIPC to include a wider range of demographic co-variants(as a precursor to establishing new models for attitudes and behaviours)

6. IUIPC Model Extensions

7. Study Design • IUIPC- Internet User’s Information Privacy Concerns • Multi-dimensional attitudinal survey scaled on a Seven Point Likert Scale • Mixed in with behavioural questions about social media membership and usage • Distributed via Pace email, and personal networks of team members • Ran March 1- April 30, 2009 • 481 respondents, 390 completed

8. Initial Results

9. Implications of Findings • Leveling of privacy attitudes across age groups • Ambiguities towards trust of social networking sites • Knowledge, experience and comfort lead to increased disclosure • Context Matters- Online Normative Behaviour

10. Future Directions for Research • Examine forces behind leveling of privacy concerns across age groups • Define ambiguities in trust attitudes towards social networking sites • Discover why ‘familiarity breeds nonchalance’ • Establish the role of context (normative behaviour) in online attitudes and behaviours

11. Slings and Arrows ?