New SNS Privacy Statistics
Posted 10/04/2006 08:12:00 AM |
The survey examines how much time we spend on social networks and how much information we share on social networks (and how we limit access/privacy). Additionally, it looks at our awareness of the possibility of our SNS data becoming public, and how we deal with things like unsolicited contacts.The unsolicited contact stats are quite interesting, especially when broken down by age. The survey clearly shows that the younger groups are less likely to respond to unsolicited contacts. If this survey had a 13-18 age group, I'm almost certain the percentage of non-response to unsolicited contacts would be even higher than the 18-34. The notion that youths commonly respond to unsolicited contacts in social networks is clearly unfounded.
There are some other findings in the study that will be useful for SNS researchers, particularly with regards to use and disclosure behaviors. Additional statistics on parental monitoring will be useful as well. The NCSA oriented this study towards cyber-crime in SNS, which ultimately leaves me wishing they explored some of the more complex issues in SNS. The NCSA is also guilty of hyping the fear/moral panic issue on their press release, declaring that "51 percent of parents aware of their children social networking do not restrict their children's profiles so only friends can view, leaving their child's profiles unrestricted to potential predators."
Link to the survey (ppt) here. I've uploaded a pdf version if you'd like that instead.
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1 Comments: (Post a Comment)
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At October 04, 2006 10:32 AM,
jkd said...
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"The notion that youths commonly respond to unsolicited contacts in social networks is clearly unfounded."
And as this whole sickening business with former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) goes to show, the real threat faced by kids and teens is not from strangers on the Internet (who, as this shows, most kids are savvy enough to be skeezed out by) but from predators who know them and are in positions of power over them - a threat that is greatly magnified when other adults cover up for those predators, as apparently Republicans did from as early as 1995, when Foley first took office.
But good luck changing the Moral Panic media narrative with something as incidental as facts or evidence.
