Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks (PEW Report)

I am currently in Iowa interviewing teens so i don’t have time to do a proper analysis but i wanted to alert everyone to the new PEW report on social network sites: “Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks: How teens manage their online identities and personal information in the age of MySpace.”

The majority of teens actively manage their online profiles to keep the information they believe is most sensitive away from the unwanted gaze of strangers, parents and other adults. While many teens post their first name and photos on their profiles, they rarely post information on public profiles they believe would help strangers actually locate them such as their full name, home phone number or cell phone number.

At the same time, nearly two-thirds of teens with profiles (63%) believe that a motivated person could eventually identify them from the information they publicly provide on their profiles.

I will comment on this when i have my feet back on the ground, but it’s a fantastic report and i think anyone interested in this topic should definitely check it out.

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2 thoughts on “Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks (PEW Report)

  1. AJ

    Teens get scared by all the stalker reports too; nobody wants to get kidnapped/molested/stalked/murdered/otherwise annoyed. Will the parents leave it up the kid’s judgment? Are we to tolerate a certain percentage of incidents as inevitable and the price of freedom?

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