The survey results reveal users who have not changed their privacy settings and users
who have read the privacy policy have higher trust levels on Facebook, although both
of these groups represent the minority of Facebook users surveyed. It seems logical that
Facebook users who have read the policy would place more trust in the social networking
site as they are acquiring more information from reading the policy and arguably gaining
more control, in turn reducing privacy concerns and raising trust levels as outlined in the
literature (Hoadley et al., 2010; Van Dyke et al., 2007; Metzger, 2004; Seigneur and Jensen,
2004; Sheehan and Hoy, 2000). However, it appears illogical that Facebook users who have
not changed their settings would trust Facebook more. It was expected that Facebook users
who have changed their privacy settings would have higher levels of trust on the social
networking site because by adjusting their privacy settings they are assuming greater
control over their information. A possible explanation for this contradiction is Facebook
users are adjusting their settings in response to the controversy surrounding Facebook’s
approach to privacy and, while they are assuming control over their information, the factor
that prompted them to change their settings could have severely dented or prevented trust
developing.