1) The document summarizes research on users' awareness of privacy measures and use of privacy features on social networking sites. 2) A survey of 340 university students in Malaysia found that most were aware of privacy measures on social networking sites and used privacy features. There was a significant relationship between awareness and use of features. 3) The study also found that users who used privacy features had higher levels of information privacy concern than those who did not, suggesting features help protect privacy.

1. SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES – USERS’
AWARENESS OF PRIVACY MEASURES,
PRIVACY FEATURES USE AND INFORMATION
PRIVACY CONCERN
Norshidah Mohamed1
Ili Hawa Ahmad2
norshidah@ic.utm.my
http://www.ibs.utm.my
iIli_hawa@yahoo.com
1 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA Knowledge SPA
2 INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA IBS Seminar Series
8 Feb. 2012

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
• Overview
• Introduction
• Research questions
• Review of literature
• Gaps in the literature
• Methodology
• Findings
• Conclusions & limitation
2

3. Revealing Bank Account on Social
Networking Sites
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/6/30/nation/8996725&sec=nation (accessed on 12 Dec, 2011)
3

4. Recognise the threats in Social Networking
Sites and protect our information privacy!
http://techcentral.my/columns/industryviews/story.aspx?file=/2010/7/21/it_col_industryviews/20100721153614&sec=it_
col_industryviews (accessed on 12 Dec 2011) 4

5. INTRODUCTION
1. Social Networking Sites (SNS) are simple
Websites that allow users to create personal
profiles, list friends and browse through their
friends’ list (Aquisti and Gross, 2006). Emerge
out of Web 2.0 phenomenon.
2. Examples - Facebook, MySpace,
Friendster, Twitter etc.
3. Youths are the biggest SNS community
(ECAR Research Study, 2008).
5

6. INTRODUCTION ..CONT’
4. Facebook is the most popular SNS (ECAR
Research Study, 2008).
5. In December 2010, Facebook has more
that 500 million active users worldwide
(retrieved from Facebook Webpage, 2010).
Malaysia has the most Facebook users in
Southeast Asia (The Star, 2010).
6. Facebook is the most popular visited
Website in November 2010 as reported in
Malaysian Digital Association (MDA).
6

7. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. Is there a relationship between users’
awareness of privacy measures and
privacy features use in SNS?
2. Is there a significant difference in users’
information privacy concern with SNS
between those who use privacy
features in SNS and those who do
not?
7

8. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
1. Articles published between May 2010 and
July 2010 on SNS suggest privacy issue
dominates the discussion.
2. Privacy is defined as “the right to be left
alone”(Warren and Brandeis,1890).
3. Information privacy – ‘‘the ability of the
individual to personally control
information about one’s self’’ (Smith et al.,
2009) .
8

9. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
..CONT’
4. Personal information privacy is individual’s
ability to personally control his/her
information that includes birth registration
details, income, expenditure patterns, health
records etc. (Lim et al. 2009).
5. Younger respondents are likely to reveal
their personal information through SNS
(ECAR Research, 2008).
9

10. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
..CONT’
• Information privacy concerns refer to “the
extent to which an individual is concerned
about organisational practices related to
the collection and use of his or her
personal information” (Udo, 2011).
• Privacy features are “technical
implementation of privacy controls on
Websites that enable user friendly profile
control and set-up to encourage safe
participation”(Tuunainen et al. 2009).
10

11. GAPS IN THE
LITERATURE
• Not many prior studies linked
information privacy concern to SNS
• A lack of studies on SNS in the
Malaysian contexts although Malaysia
has the most Facebook users in S.E.A.
• Many prior studies had examined
information privacy concern in electronic
commerce environment – only in the last
two years SNS began to receive greater
attention
11

12. 12

13. METHODOLOGY
Cross-sectional survey research.
Target respondents - undergraduate students
from four Kulliyyahs in IIUM i.e. KICT, KIRKHS,
KENMS and KENG in the IIUM.
Cluster sampling technique. Selection of
elements based on class schedule of a
particular semester.
13

14. METHODOLOGY .. CONT’
A total of 413 questionnaires were distributed. A
total number of 345 respondents returned the
questionnaires and 340 were used for analysis.
SPSS Version 16 used for data analysis.
Data analysis used in this research:
• Descriptive analysis
• Cross-tabulation - chi-square test
• Independent samples t-test
14

15. FINDINGS
1. The first research question: Is there a relationship
between users’ awareness of privacy measures and
privacy features use in SNS?
TABLE 1: AWARENESS OF PRIVACY MEASURES
Aware? Frequency Percentage
No 26 7.6
Yes 314 92.4
Observation: There is a majority of users who are aware of privacy measures
TABLE 2: USE OF PRIVACY FEATURES IN SNS
Privacy features Frequency Percentage
use?
No 36 10.6
Yes 304 89.4
Observation: There is a majority of users who use privacy features in SNS.
15

16. FINDINGS ..CONT’
TABLE 3: PRIVACY MEASURES AWARENESS AND USE CONTINGENCY TABLE
TABLE 4. PRIVACY MEASURES AWARENESS AND USE CHI-SQUARE TEST
Asymp. Sig. Exact Sig. Exact Sig.
Value df (2-sided) (2-sided) (1-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 77.196a 1 .000
Continuity
71.479 1 .000
Correctionb
Likelihood Ratio 46.226 1 .000
Fisher's Exact Test .000 .000
Linear-by-Linear
76.969 1 .000
Association
N of Valid Casesb 340
16

17. FINDINGS .. CONT’
TABLE 5: PRIVACY MEASURES AWARENESS AND USE PHI (φ) TEST
φ
17

18. FINDINGS ..CONT’
1. Is there a relationship between users’
awareness of privacy measures and
privacy features use in SNS?
Users who were aware of the existence of
privacy measures in SNS would use the
privacy features to protect their privacy.
X2(1, N=340) = 77.196; p<0.05
Phi (φ) test value (Table 5) is 0.476
(p<0.05).
18

19. FINDINGS .. CONT’
2. The second research question: Is there a significant
difference in users’ information privacy concern
between those who use privacy setting measures in
SNS and those who do not?
TABLE 6: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS INFORMATION PRIVACY CONCERN MEASURES
Information Privacy Concern Items 1 2 3 4 5
I am concerned about submitting my personal information in 2 10 69 87 172
SNS because of what others might do with it. 0.6% 2.9% 20.3% 25.6% 50.6%
I am concerned about submitting my personal information in 3 6 64 103 164
SNS because it could be used in a way I did not foresee. 0.9% 1.8% 18.8% 30.3% 48.2%
When I am online through SNS, I have the feeling of being 7 35 115 122 61
watched. 2.1% 10.3% 33.8% 35.9 17.9%
When I am online through SNS, I have the feeling that all 2 37 110 109 81
my clicks and actions are being tracked and monitored. 0.6% 10.9% 32. 4% 32.1% 23.8%
1: Strongly Disagree 5: Strongly agree 19

20. FINDINGS .. CONT’
TABLE 7: INDEPENDENT SAMPLES T-TEST
Use N Mean Std S.E t- value df Sig. 2-
privacy IPC Dev mean tailed
features
No 35 3.59 0.62 0.10 -2.93 337 .004
Yes 304 3.97 0.73 0.04
2. The second research question: Is there a significant
difference in users’ information privacy concern
between those who use privacy features in SNS and
those who do not?
There is a significant difference in information privacy
concern between those who used privacy features and
those who did not use it in SNS. Users who were more
concerned with information privacy would use the privacy
features in SNS. 20

21. CONCLUSIONS &
LIMITATIONS
1. In terms of theory, the research has
contributed to knowledge on the
importance of creating awareness among
SNS users in privacy measures and, use
of privacy features in SNS. With
awareness, users will be more concerned
about their information privacy concern
and take the necessary actions to protect
it.
21

22. CONCLUSIONS &
LIMITATIONS .. CONT’
2. In terms of practice, computing
educational programs including basic
information technology courses need to
incorporate issues of privacy in SNS in its
curricula and means to mitigate risks of
losing information privacy through proper
user control. Lab curriculum design may
include practical aspects like the
application of SNS privacy features.
22

23. CONCLUSIONS &
LIMITATIONS .. CONT’
• The research used cross-sectional
approach. It did not capture temporal
aspect.
• Further, as only undergraduates from a
particular university participated in the
research, the findings may not be
generalised in the context of the entire
social networking sites users and thus
may have to be carefully interpreted.
23

24. CONCLUSIONS &
LIMITATIONS .. CONT’
• Future research may consider longitudinal
approach and other demographic
segment of social networking sites users
(school children, business operators etc.)
as research participants.
24