Third, we base our findings on perceived measures (e.g., privacy concerns) and self-reported behavioral measures (e.g., participants logging in to their Facebook accounts). We did not have access to Facebook log data nor is this information (level of engagement with friends through apps and tagging) available through the Facebook API. We did a test to see whether participants’ perceived levels of app engagement with friends was significantly correlated to their
self-reported measure of how many apps they had used within the last 6 months (as reported from looking at their Facebook app activity). We found that app engagement and use were highly correlated (b = 0.46, t = 5.72), which is consistent with past research that has shown a high correlation between user self-reports and their actual behavior (Acquisti & Gross, 2006). Although perceived measures may serve as appropriate approximation for behavior in this
study, it would be interesting to capture observed behavioral measures to strengthen our current findings. Finally, additional studies may further enhance our findings by employing mixed or qualitative methods, such as direct observation, semistructured interviews, or questionnaires to gain deeper insights into users’ perceptions and the rationale behind their choices to engage and disengage with others through SNSs.