Study Shows That Facebook Users Are Becoming More Private

There’s no question that Facebook has done more to facilitate sociability and connectivity than most other companies out there. With Facebook you are never more than a click away from both your closest and most distant of friends. You can communicate, share information with the world, look at your colleague’s vacation pictures, and much much more.
This incredible amount of connectivity has bred a backlash of sorts. Privacy concerns have resulted in FTC settlements, investors scrutinizing the upcoming initial public offering have been wondering if the social network has ballooned beyond its means, and a growing number of early Facebook users have decided to deactivate their accounts. Facebook may have surpassed a staggering 800 million users, but it’s quite clear that privacy is a key concern and that connectivity may have its limits.
A recent study has confirmed this belief. In a report recently-released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, an examination of Facebook users has found that people have become more private and cautious about their online presence over time. Rare only a few years ago, users are now taking concerted steps to prevent personal information from being viewed by colleagues, bosses, family members, distant friends, and, of course, the general public.
Some of the main findings: almost two-thirds of respondents said they had deleted friends and 44 percent reported that they had removed comments from their profile. These figures reflect increases from the 2009 study, which found the numbers to be 56 percent and 36 percent, respectively. Users furthermore reported untagging pictures at a higher rate (37 percent versus 30 percent in 2009). The percentage of respondents who have a fully-private profile (58%) was also at its highest level ever.
Facebook users reported utilizing a range of methods to monitor the privacy settings on their profile. In addition to making their page private, deleting unwanted posts and friends, and untagging pictures, users also ask friends to delete images and comments, remove geographical data from their information tab, and alter their name so as to make them difficult to track down. These measures have been shown to be effective.
The Pew study also broke down respondents by demographic to further assess privacy trends. It found that women were more private than men but that no single age group was statistically more restrictive than another. It also concluded, based upon deleting comments, that people tend to make fewer regrettable comments as they grow older.
The study was conducted in a phone survey of 2,277 adults this spring. It has a margin of error of two percentage points.

Source :  http://www.thetechupdate.com