Social networking study reveals risky behaviour

The UK’s Office of Communications (OfCom) has highlighted a significant number of privacy and identity issues stemming from the attitudes toward and use of social networking sites (SNS).

An OfCom report, Social networking: A quantitiative and qualitative research report into attitudes, behaviours and use, said the rapid growth of social networking sites in recent years indicated that they are now a mainstream communications technology for many people.

Several areas of potentially risky behaviour were suggested by the report. These included: leaving privacy settings as default ‘open’; giving out sensitive personal information, photographs and other content; posting content (especially photos) that could be reputationally damaging; and users contacting people they didn’t know or accepting people they didn’t know as ‘friends.’

OfCom said the potential risks illustrated by the report raise the question of how best to ensure accessible and easy-to-understand privacy and safety policies.

The research showed that for adults, the likelihood of setting up a profile on a SNS is highest among 16-24 year olds (54%) and decreases with age. Adult social networkers use a variety of sites, but the most popular is Facebook (62% of those who have a social networking profile). Half of all current adult social networkers say that they access their profiles at least every other day.

“On the whole users appeared unconcerned about these risks.

The qualitative research confirmed users enjoy well developed profiles as the basis of their online presence. This public display of information means that users often share their personal details with people they may not know very well, cautioned OfCom. These details included religion, political views, sexuality and date of birth.

Communication was the most popular activity on social networking sites, 17 % of adults used their profile to communicate with people they do not know, said the report.

Social networking was generally viewed positively, only a few users mentioned negative aspects to social networking, and these included annoyance at self-promotion and online bullying. Privacy and safety were not top of mind for most users, warned the research.

Some people were more likely than others to engage in potentially risky behaviour, according to the research. On the whole users appeared unconcerned about these risks.