Studies of social network site privacy behaviors often
highlight the need for better privacy education. In our
analysis of interpersonal privacy practices, we identified
conversant privacy behaviors as being positively associated
with having a friends-only profile. Notably, conversant
privacy behaviors do not involve the transmission of
technical facts regarding privacy settings, but rather the
shared coordination (i.e. turbulence) of profile management
between two actors. This everyday practice enhances
privacy and may produce greater salience for privacy issues
among the user population. Rather than focusing on
explaining the complexities of a privacy system to users,
perhaps we should design ways to facilitate conversations
about everyday privacy behaviors. This may result in the
development of privacy enhancing norms such as moving to
a friends-only profile.