Understanding User Perspectives on Data Privacy in Social Media: Awareness, Concerns, and Behaviours

With the increase in social media platforms over the years, consumers are becoming more aware of data privacy. We investigate user awareness and attitudes towards data privacy in social media settings, focusing on how users perceive and react to data collection, sharing and security practices. Even with greater media attention and more high-profile data breaches, many people still hand over personal information without fully understanding what it means for their privacy.
The research adopts a mixed-methods design using surveys to quantify user understanding of data privacy policies and the level of concern for potential data misuse, as well as interviews to gain in-depth qualitative insights regarding these topics. This paper studies factors such as age, formal education and the frequency of use of social media to understand how these can influence user behaviour and attitudes.
In our preliminary findings, we observed a very high level of concern among the subjects but a complete disconnect between this and what they actually do (or much to protect their privacy). There is also a significant lack of the knowledge on what platform-specific privacy policies and TOS agreements mean. The study concludes with the observation that there is scope for relaxed judgements if not more transparent and user-friendly privacy policies along with better educational tools to improve user’s involvement in configuring their preferences from amongst those available.
The implications of the study are such that if people became more aware, then an increase in data security for individuals would occur and a better privacy culture may develop in digital environments.