Our early prototype and evaluation demonstrates that the usability of privacy
settings could be impacting privacy management in online social networking.
By providing a better mental model and improved visual feedback of the
outcome of privacy settings, we aim to make utilizing these settings easier for
both new and experienced users. We are currently implementing a more
functional audience view interface that includes controls for modifying
privacy settings. We plan to evaluate this interface with a more extensive user
study to examine the use and impact of this new design. One aspect of this
evaluation will include what settings are appropriate for this new interface,
and what current settings may still require additional interfaces, such as the
controls over the Newsfeed feature on Facebook.
Improving the interface, however, can only go so far. Our long term research
agenda is to investigate novel ways to manage personal information online as
well as methods to better educate users as to the impact of their online
behaviors and activities.