Social Privacy on Facebook

Social privacy originates from the user’s knowledge and strategies to control their personal information shared on social network sites. Social network sites have changed the patterns of disclosure and dissemination practices of personal information. Being aware of social privacy is a condition that has became significant in our lives, along with the ubiquitous presence of social network sites. Social privacy consists of any set of circumstances involving the control of personal information disclosed on social network sites over exercises of surveillance happening between individuals. Recent studies illustrate that social privacy is a great concern for the majority of social network site users. The aim of this thesis is to examine the extent of social privacy awareness among university students in the Netherlands, along with the questions of what students disclose on their Facebook profiles and to which audience they disclose. The use of personal information disclosure and visibility strategies has been examined in detail using a quantitative approach. A cross-sectional survey is conducted through random sampling of the students studying in the Netherlands (N = 176). The results showed that social privacy awareness has a strong association with negative social network site experiences and a less strong association with the use of technological privacy tools and intensity of Facebook use. Contrary to general expectations, undesired visibility and surveillance are a great privacy concern for most students. After all, the university students in the Netherlands are aware of social privacy to various extents, depending on other variables; the associations with default privacy settings and negative experiences are found to be substantial. Future research is recommended to assess the in-depth relationship between personal information disclosure and social surveillance by way of individualized items and consistent questions. This will need to examine information sharing motivations and the concerns of surveillance practices.