New study on Facebook shows users are sharing more data than ever

How have privacy concerns over Facebook affected user engagement? Well not much, because users are sharing more than ever on the social networking site according to new seven year study conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. The research has looked at data from over 5,076 Facebook users who had just joined the website in 2005, when it all began to 2011. The research paper, titled, “Silent Listeners: The Evolution of Privacy and Disclosures on Facebook,” has been written by Alessandro Acquisti, Ralph Gross and Fred Stutzman. You can view the full paper here. The report notes that first, as time passed the Facebook users in their study, displayed increasingly privacy-seeking behaviour, shared less personal data publicly with those who were not their friends. [caption id=“attachment_651427” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. Getty Images[/caption] However design changes by Facebook did not always result in people sharing less information. The study also notes that the amount and scope of personal information that Facebook users revealed privately to their Facebook friends increased over time and that this ensured that ‘silent listeners’ on Facebook such as the site itself, third-party apps, and (indirectly) advertisers, also got access to more user information. The study also notes that in late 2009 and 2010, with users sharing more information publicly, which the researchers say was to due the changes introduced in Facebook’s privacy settings that could have been confusing to some users. As far as the Timeline is concerned, (introduced in 2011) people had a lot more fields to fill out about themselves such as personal history, life events like graduation, marriage etc once it was introduced, thus increasing the level and number of interactions. The report argues that Like a modern Sisyphus, some consumers strive to reach their chosen privacy spot" their desired balance between revealing and protecting only to be taken aback by the next privacy challenge. This is a classic trait of Facebook, once you think you’ve got the hand of privacy settings, they go ahead and change, leaving many people confused about what content is public and what is shared with friends only. The study is not funded by Facebook. Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in email to the Huffington Post “Independent research has verified that the vast majority of the people on Facebook are engaging with and using our straightforward and powerful privacy tools – allowing them to control what they’re sharing, and with whom they’re sharing. "