Authors:
Glauce Borges
;
Thaissa Ribeiro
;
Cristiano Maciel
and
Patricia Cristiane de Souza
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Brazil
Keyword(s):
Facebook, Privacy, Social Networks, Generation X and Y, Usability.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Accessibility and Usability
;
Collaborative and Social Interaction
;
Enterprise Information Systems
;
Human-Computer Interaction
;
Society, e-Business and e-Government
;
Software Agents and Internet Computing
;
Web 2.0 and Social Networking Controls
;
Web Information Systems and Technologies
Abstract:
The abundance of personal data exchanged through social networks has caused internet users to unintentionally expose themselves to others, which may lead to unpleasant consequences. This statement fuels the debate on user privacy in social networks. In this context, the present study seeks to investigate how Generations X and Y distinctly employ privacy controls on Facebook by evaluating user interaction by means of usability testing. In general, the study showed that users of both generations found it difficult to use privacy configurations of Facebook, mainly due to usability issues. However, Generation X users displayed less ability handling these features and, furthermore, were less concerned with privacy of their shared data. Tests suggest that few users are familiar with all the resources available in privacy tools currently offered by Facebook. Some redesign solutions were discussed that seek to mitigate problems and thus contribute to more accessible and user-friendly feature
s for both generations.
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