Exploring privacy behaviours of social media users

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#SRAConf 2013

Exploring Privacy

Behaviours of

Social Media Users

Nicola Stanley Silver Dialogue Ltd

Privacy, Trust and Disclosure

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Introduction

• Silver Dialogue recruits and researches people using mixed-methods including through the use of social media.

• Recently we have noticed a change in the way people interact with us through social media. – In the past, people using social media preferred to send us private

messages to request further details about research projects. – More recently some people are instead posting messages on our public

facing pages and including personal and sometimes sensitive information about themselves.

• We were surprised to see this recent change in behaviour.– What is going on and how can we manage this increased disclosure of

personal and sensitive information on social media?

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Definition of Privacy - Oxford

• A state in which one is not observed or disturbed by other people

• The state of being free from public attention

Oxford Dictionaries

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Definition of Privacy - Wikipedia

• Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively.

• The boundaries and content of what is considered private differ among cultures and individuals, but share basic common themes.

• Privacy is sometimes related to anonymity, the wish to remain unnoticed or unidentified in the public realm.

• When something is private to a person, it usually means there is something within them that is considered inherently special or personally sensitive. The degree to which private information is exposed therefore depends on how the public will receive this information, which differs between places and over time.

• Privacy partially intersects security, including for instance the concepts of appropriate use, as well as protection of information.

Wikipedia

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Push & Pullcommunications

Consumer Brand• Marketing the brand• Creating awareness• Communicating the brand

credentials• Facilitating ‘fan’ participation

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Customer Brand• Customer centric – the customer

conversation • Building trust• Showing that they are responsive• Demonstrating that they care

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Participant Brand• Creating awareness• Educating the public• Building trust• Being serious & also having

fun• Controlled ‘fan’ participation• Aiming to recruit people to

take part in research either as interviewers or as respondents

Our social media strategy• Using Facebook to ‘Gather’• Using Twitter to ‘Hunt’• Explore advantages of Google+

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What we have foundThe social media effect on research

• Changing the ball game– When the boundaries blur between the

recruitment and research process– When a recruitment project becomes a

spontaneous focus group – When a recruitment project becomes an

auction

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Making too much private & sensitiveinformation publicly available?

• What is going on and how can we manage this increased disclosure of personal and sensitive information on social media?

• Should we be alarmed with this increased disclosure from potential research participants - particularly taking into account the recent launch of Fair Data principles by the MRS?

Silver Dialogue - Hi everyone who posted a comment here. We have now filled the places available on this project. Thank you all for your help. Just to say that some of you have said some very private things about yourself here and we take privacy very seriously, so please check the comments you made here to ensure that you are happy for them to remain here. If not please delete them - If you do decide to delete your comments please do 'like' our page so that you can be kept informed of future projects that might also be of interest to you.

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What is going on and how best to manage this level of disclosure?

• We decided to explore this phenomenon and undertook a study looking specifically into privacy attitudes and the reported privacy behaviours of social media users.

• Based on our original observations, we were expecting the findings to show that people had become less private since they had started using social media. That was our starting hypothesis!

• We used a multivariate analysis to develop a model for privacy behaviour and a segmentation of social media users.

• The web survey of 354 online panellists was undertaken in November 2012.

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Social media useOnline panellists

N=354 online panellists. Survey undertaken November 2012

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Social media usageOnline panellists

• For the purposes of the further analysis we categorised the respondents into two groups:

• We classified mainstream users as those who used at least one of the main social media sites of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or Google+.

Mainstream social media users – 73% of respondents

Light users/non-users of social media – 27% of respondents

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Socio-demographicsSignificant age effect

All Male Female Aged 18-34 Aged 35-50 Aged 51+0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

73% 72% 73%86%

73%61%

27% 28% 27%14%

27%39%

Light or Non-user of Social Media Mainstream Social Media User

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Reported privacy behavioursThe nine questions

• We asked respondents nine questions regarding their general privacy behaviours covering hard copy data, social media & online behaviours.

How likely would you be to…. % Likely (very likely or fairly likely)

Shred documents containing personal details (such as name and address etc.) before disposing of them. 61%

Set privacy settings to closed/private when opening an account on a social network. 53%Read the privacy statements before I sign up to social media or other membership websites. 49%

Provide personal details to a website that I know and trust. 37%

Contribute my personal opinion (which could be controversial) to an online forum. 24%

Post comments on an online forum under my real name. 20%Consent to my details being shared with third parties when I am providing them to an organisation known to me. 14%

Put my email address on a public forum. 10%

Publish items of a sensitive nature about myself or my family online. 6%

All respondents = 354

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Reported privacy behavioursThe headlines

• Generally 18-35 year olds reported less private behaviours, or that they were likely to ‘publish’ or share more information and opinions online than those in the older age categories.

• Females reported more private behaviours and that they were less likely to publish and share information and opinions than males.

• Mainstream social media users on the whole said they were more likely to publish and share personal information and opinions than light users/non-social media users.

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Privacy behavioural segmentationFactor analysis

F1 - Openly sharing personal data [variance=24%]

F2 - Openly sharing opinions [variance=16%]

F3 - Controlled online & offline privacy behaviours [variance=15%]F4 - Partially closed behaviours dependant on trust levels [variance=13%]

F5 - Controlled online privacy behaviours [variance=12%]

1 - Apprehensive passives (n=46) 2 - Confident cavaliers (n=112)3 - Controlling cautionaries (n=135) 4 - Savvy opinionators (n=61)

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Apprehensive passivesConfident cavaliersControlling cautionariesSavvy opinionators

x

x

x

x

Contributions to social mediaCluster analysis

Openly sharing personal data (variance=24%)

Ope

nly

shar

ing

opin

ions

(var

ianc

e=16

%)

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Most comfortable research methodsPercentage choosing as top choice

By email between yourself and the researcher

A face to face conversation between yourself and the researcher

1 to 1 private messages with a researcher via a social network/website that you use

A telephone conversation between yourself and the researcher

Online drop-in forum to see questions & people's comments, then add your feedback

Secret facebook group

A face to face group discussion with less than ten people

A live online discussion forum between a group of people at a fixed time

On a public facebook group

Twitter feed

28%

22%

10%

8%

7%

7%

6%

4%

4%

2%n = 354 online panellists

Imagine you have agreed to take part in some market research, led by a researcher.

How comfortable would you be contributing your personal opinions in the following situations?

Why did you select your top choice? (open response and coded by researcher)

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Apprehensive passives (cluster 1)Accounting for 13% of our 354 online panellists

F1 - Openly sharing data

F2 - Openly sharing opinions

F3 - Controlled online & offline privacy F4 - Partially controlled dependant on trust level

F5 - Controlled online privacy

Who they are Twice as likely to be light/non users of social media

(20%) versus mainstream media users (10% ). In fact a third of them don’t use social media at all.

Evenly split between men and women and across age groups.

Feel more comfortable with these methods because: Feel safe & secure (22%) Are 1 to 1 with no other witnesses or people listening

in or judging them (19%) Are private/less public/confidential (16%) Like to see/know who they are talking to so can

confirm identity (11%)

Most comfortable discussion-type research methods Email 1:1 with interviewer (30%) Face to face interview (26%) Private message 1:1 on website used (13%) Telephone interview (9%)

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Confident cavaliers (cluster 2)Accounting for 32% of our 354 online panellists





Who they are Accounting for a greater proportion of those aged

below 35 (40%) than those aged 35 or above (28%). Chances of being in this cluster tapers off with increasing age!

Evenly spread between men and women Evenly spread between mainstream social media

users and light/non-users

Feel more comfortable with these methods because: They like/enjoy (16%) Are private/less public/confidential (15%) Feels comfortable/feels right (13%)

Most comfortable discussion-type research methods Email 1:1 with interviewer (25%) Face to face interview (19%) Private message 1:1 on website used (11%) Telephone interview (9%)

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Controlled cautionaries (cluster 3)Accounting for 38% of our 354 online panellists





Who they are Close to half (46%) of the women in the survey

belong to this group compared to just over a quarter of the men (28%)

Evenly spread across the ages Evenly spread between mainstream social

media users and light/non-users

Feel more comfortable with these methods because: Are private/less public/confidential (23%) Like to know/see who they are talking to so can

confirm identity (12%)

Most comfortable discussion-type research methods Email 1:1 with interviewer (34%) Face to face interview (26%) Online drop-in forum (9%)

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Savvy opinionators (cluster 4)Accounting for 17% of our 354 online panellists





Who they are Men were more likely (at 22%) to belong to

this group than women (only 14%). Evenly spread across the ages. This group is more likely to include the

mainstream social media users (23%) than light/non-users (only 3%).

Feel more comfortable with these methods because: Are private/less public/confidential (26%) Feel safe and secure (13%) Easiest and most convenient (11%)

Most comfortable discussion-type research methods Email 1:1 with interviewer (21%) Face to face interview (18%) Private message 1:1 on website used (13%) Secret Facebook group (11%) Telephone interview (10%)

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Level of engagementOnline panel sample

2 - Confident cavaliers

(32% of respondents)

4 - Savvy opinionators


1 – Apprehensive passives


3 – Controlled cautionaries


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Increasing level of personal privacy control

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Building trust in data privacywww.fairdata.org.uk

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By becoming a Fair Data company you agree to adhere to ten core principles. The principles support and complement other standards such as ISOs, and the requirements of Data Protection legislation.

1. We will ensure that all personal data is collected with customers’ consent.2. We will not use personal data for any purpose other than that for which consent was given,

respecting customers' wishes about the use of their data.3. We will make sure that customers have access to their personal data that we hold, and that we

tell them how we use it.4. We will protect personal data and keep it secure and confidential.5. We will ensure staff understand that personal data is just that – personal – and ensure that it is

treated with respect.6. We will ensure that the vulnerable and under-age are properly protected by the processes we

use for data collection.7. We will manage our data supply chain to the same ethical standards we expect from other

suppliers.8. We will ensure that ethical best practice in personal data is integral to our procurement process.9. We will ensure that all staff who have access to personal data are properly trained in its use.10. We will not use personal data if there is uncertainty as to whether the Fair Data Principles have

been applied.

The Ten Principles

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Attitudinal shifts since using social media

Half with unchanged attitudes• Most (45%) of our social media users said they are just as

concerned about privacy now as they have ever been.• A few (6%) said they weren’t concerned in the past and aren’t

now.

Half with changed attitudes• More users reported they are more concerned (44%) than

those who are now less concerned (5%).

• Main reasons for increased concern were: ID theft and criminal activity, bad publicity and ‘all the stories you hear’, hacking and the number of people with access to information about you.

• Of those that were less concerned, their reasons cited were having fewer problems than expected and becoming accustomed to people seeing more about you.

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Building trust in the research processMethodology preferences

All1

Apprehensive passives

2

Confident cavaliers

3Controlled

cautionaries

4Savvy

opinionators

You know how your contact details were obtained 76% 78% 46% 93% 90%Comments you make remain anonymous 66% 70% 44% 82% 70%That you remain anonymous in group discussions 65% 67% 38% 87% 65%

That you remain anonymous in one to one discussions 60% 61% 41% 75% 62%

Conversation is carried out by an independent researcher 62% 68% 38% 68% 85%

Top Box Analysis % who said ‘very’ or ‘fairly important’

How important is it to you, when taking part in market research that…

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Conclusions & implications

– Social media changes the ball game and blurs the edges between the traditional recruitment and research process.

– Even in the era of social media there is still a role for anonymous and independent research. • This is not so important though for the Confident cavaliers,

accounting for a third of our online panellists.

– When researching internet panellists an online research solution isn’t always the most comfortable for them to contribute their personal opinions.• 1 to 1 discussions directly with the researcher either by email or

face to face are preferred.

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And what of our starting hypothesis?

YES! People have become less private since they have started using social

media. This is one reason that people are putting more sensitive and personal information about themselves on social media.

– Privacy is culturally dependent, personal and contextual– But also experience based!

But there could also be other key factors at play Perhaps we have built trust amongst our social media followers so

they are willing to disclose more to us. The mix of our audience might have changed with a larger

proportion caring much less about how much they say about themselves online e.g. Confident cavaliers.

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Going forward...

The Fair Data initiative is an excellent foundation on which to start to build trust and public understanding.

We also need to continue to think about:– Educating the public about privacy in research (both online & offline)

– Designing online research methods that are easy to use and understand in terms of privacy control settings

– Building trust with potential participants with the aim to move them all closer to being Savvy Opinionators.

…Be a Participant Brand!

Documents

Exploring privacy behaviours of social media users