Facebook provides its users with a chance to share information and model their social
networks online. Along with the benefits of making it easier to keep in touch and find out about
others more easily, there are risks and concerns with sharing information with large amounts of
people.
From the results that we obtained we found that overall, the majority of students were aware
of the ability to restrict the amount of information they provided to different Facebook users.
While 40% of users did restrict some of their information, there are still large numbers of users that are sharing very personal information like cell phone numbers and home addresses. The
overall effect of our survey seemed to be minimal. From the surveys we conclude that Facebook
users generally feel comfortable sharing their personal information in a campus environment.
Participants said that they “had nothing to hide” and “they don’t really care if other people see their information.” These attitudes and behaviors will be difficult to change by merely asking students to take a survey, no matter how informational it is. We believe that it will take an unfortunate incident such as a victim of identity theft or stalking to shock Facebook users into being more selective about the information that they make available to other users. To substantiate our claim, a survey could be conducted on the amount of privacy settings and
restriction of information of Facebook users based upon their knowledge of an incident of
stalking or identity theft. If users have experienced identity theft or stalking, or know somebody who has, they may be less likely to share their personal information.