Research report of a three year panel study on privacy behavior published [02.12.13]
Although users of social network sites increasingly communicate personal content online, they also report an increasing need for privacy. This and other empirical findings can be found in the department of media psychology’s current research report “Privacy, self-disclosure, social support and social network site use. Research report of a three year panel study”, which was published in November 2013.
In the last years, online privacy behaviors have changed tremendously: Respondents of the survey indicated that they have posted an increasing amount of personal information over the last three years and that they were able to generate more social support and profound social relationships online. The more users were able to build close social relationships online, the more they were satisfied with the general support they received in their lives. Surprisingly, also the need for privacy changed significantly over the last years. Users with a strong need for privacy were less satisfied both with their social support and their entire lives.
These and further findings stem from a three year longitudinal study with 327 users of social network sites. The study was supported by the DFG (the German research foundation) and can be downloaded for free.
