Data Privacy and social media: What do social media users think and how do they feel about GDPR?
/Data privacy
Internet has changed the way we shop, communicate and socialize. It made the world fit into the screen of our computer and opened avenues of communication that did not exist previously. Social media sites are especially popular. They created a way of communicating with friends and family on a daily basis, in a way that did not exist, by sharing photographs, anecdotes and media. They also created a way of advertising services and promoting business and bringing people together based on some shared element (e.g. opinions, likes and dislikes), all of which made the world a smaller place. But living our lives online has also presented some challenges, primarily how the data we share is used and by whom and how this data is stored and treated by organisations we trust with our data.
What is data privacy? In a nutshell, data privacy concerns collection and dissemination of personal data. The laws around data privacy and data protection often differ country to country, therefore the implementation of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) aimed to simplify data protection law for online users by creating a regulation that deals with data protection and privacy within European Union and European Economic area. This regulation also addressed the import of users’ personal data outside this given area and aimed to give customers and users more power over their data. One facet of GDPR is to do with empowering users when it comes to their data, primarily the regulation of disclosure of data collection, its retainment and use and if the users’ data is shared with third parties or outside the area of jurisdiction. Under this regulation, users and customers have been given the right to request to see data held on them by organisations they are dealing with.
But what do users actually think about this and generally, how important is privacy to people who use social media sites where they may share more data about themselves than on other sites (e.g. shopping). The insights in this report are based on results of a short survey looking into users’ attitudes and behaviour regarding data privacy.
Methodology
Survey was used to capture people’s opinion regarding the privacy on social media sites and how this will be affected by GDPR. Participants were also asked to leave qualitative comments and elaborate on questions, to better understand their wishes and preferences.
Who are the users?
A total of 50 social media users participated in this survey, consisting of 32 women and
17 men between ages of 18 and 67.
It’s important to have a clear picture of users’ wishes, opinions and behaviours.
In order to better understand participants in this survey, short user profiles were created to illustrate different personalities in this survey.
Many participants reported sharing either only a little amount of data on social media (43%) or a moderate amount (33%) and only small number admitted to sharing a great deal (4%).
How important is data privacy to social media users?
Many people report that data privacy on social media sites is important to them, but end up not protecting the data they share on such sites.
However, many also reported sharing a lot of personal information online (63%), with location and family photographs being the most shared data on social media. Some users also reported sharing date of birth (33%), phone number (20%), information about hobbies and activities and work related things and even intimate details (13%).
When asked what they do to safeguard their data, some users admitted they don’t do much to safeguard their data. This may be due to the fact that users don’t always know how to safeguard their data online. Often they don’t understand or know about all the privacy settings available to them or they simply are not aware how privacy can be compromised and data used for nefarious purposes, such as to commit fraud.
Following other people’s behaviour
Although majority of users are aware that sharing contests and prizes online can be risky, some reported only doing it if their friends do it too. Seeing others, and especially our friends, do something is like ‘word of mouth’ and therefore, it is likely to lower risk and lead to less caution (social proof), while attaining followers and likes is how fraudsters enhance credibility online. Asking for shares on social media may also help advertise fraudulent activities.
Those that report safeguarding their data cited not sharing too much personal information, checking privacy settings, having strong passwords, not commenting on public posts or adding unknown people as friends on Facebook, removing location tracking and using 2 factor authentication.
Control over data
To many users, it was very important to have control over who sees their data or things they choose to share or that their data is not shared with advertisers or third parties without their knowledge. One user commented that they would like a percentage of funds paid to organisations by third parties or advertisers in order to get users’ data.
Having robust systems in place to safeguard data against cybercrime was also highly important to users, as many reported not being confident that social media accounts effectively protect their data (76%).
What are the most important privacy related features to users?
Privacy features that users find the most important to them were controls over who sees what they post and that their data is not shared with third parties. Good data protection, such as robust cybersecurity was also important.
Requesting own data
Under the GDPR, any customer or user is able to request to see the data held on them by any organisation and question its retainment and use. But how useful is this to users and what do users hope to gain by asking to see this data.
Many users reported this feature to be of great importance to them (41%) but many also reported being undecided on the issue (37%). Small percentage felt that this wasn’t something that was important to them (22%). When asked to elaborate on their answers and verbalize why requesting own data would be important to them, many provided important insights.
Many participants reported wanting this data for self-reflexion, in order to see if they are inadvertently sharing too much information about themselves online, and if this information may be used to harm them in some way. Some felt the ability to legally request to see this data without being refused would lead to more transparency and force organisations to treat users’ and customers’ data more responsibly.
“Because I feel like big companies have a tendency to be deceptive when obtaining permissions. For example, they may word things differently than the consumer expects so that data falls under the criteria without the consumer realising it. Allowing the consumer to see what is being shared allows transparency and for making informed decisions.”
Summary
Users want to feel more secure on social media sites especially with regards to targeted advertising and third party sharing. This indicates that for many users, customers or consumers, data privacy is important. So is being able to request own data from organisations, because it offers an opportunity to examine own behaviour online and serve as a learning curve. In addition, this may also offer desired transparency on how personal data is collected, retained and used and reassure users that are concerned about privacy, that their data is used according to their wishes.