Friends only: examining a privacy-enhancing behavior in facebook

  • Authors:
  • Fred Stutzman;Jacob Kramer-Duffield

  • Affiliations:
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA;University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

Privacy practices in social network sites often appear paradoxical, as content-sharing behavior stands in conflict with the need to reduce disclosure-related harms. In this study we explore privacy in social network sites as a contextual information practice, managed by a process of boundary regulation. Drawing on a sample survey of undergraduate Facebook users, we examine a particular privacy-enhancing practice: having a friends-only Facebook profile. Particularly, we look at the association between network composition, expectancy violations, interpersonal privacy practices and having a friends-only profile. We find that expectancy violations by weak ties and increased levels of interpersonal privacy management are positively associated with having a friends-only profile. We conclude with a discussion of how these findings may be integrated into the design of systems to facilitate interaction while enhancing individual privacy.