Facebook Usage and Interpersonal Privacy

Introduction

Descriptive Analysis of the total respondents. The analysis was done using SPSS. The sample size was 384 Facebook users. 80.5% of these users are aged between 18 to 20years of age while only 3.9% of the users being 24years and above. This shows that young people especially teenagers are the most common Facebook users. Females also make use of Facebook more than the males with 221 respondents out of 384 respondents being females and 163 being males. 52.9% of the respondents were black, 42.7% were Indians, only 2.3% were whites, and 0.3% was Korean. This shows that black people use Facebook more than other races followed by Indians.

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From the results, we can also see that 47% of the people who use Facebook speak English, 43% speak the Zulu language while only 0.3% of the users speak Afrikaans. Only 6.2% of the respondents spoke other languages such as French, Arabic, German, Korean, Sotho, etc. Out of the 384 respondents, 333 had a Facebook account while 51 didn't have a Facebook account.

Descriptive Analysis of Facebook Users.

Table1. How long have you been using Facebook?

Do you have a Facebook account? = Yes

From the above table, we can see that 20.1% have used Facebook for more than 5years while only 13.8% have used Facebook for less than a year. The highest number have used Facebook for 3-5 years. Also, 40.5% of Facebook users have more than 300 Facebook friends while 30.9% of the users have between 100 and 300 friends on Facebook. This is the average number of friends most users have. 5.4% of the users have less than 50 friends while the same percentage of the users don't know how many friends they have.

Table 2. Do you use the following Facebook features?

Total 333 100.0 100.0 From the results above we observe that the most used Facebook features are Friendship pages and timeline with a combined percentage of 41.7%. Facebook timeline is the most used feature with a 44.4% usage. It also has a more significant number of users than expected. 10.5% of the users don't use either feature. We can also deduce that 21% portray a different image of themselves on Facebook from their real-life image while 79% have the same image on Facebook and in real life.

Significantly more than expected indicated that: they have been using Facebook for from 3 - 5 years (kh2(3, N=333) = 60.117, p<.0005); they have more than 100 friends on Facebook (kh2(5, N=333) = 229.793, p<.0005); they use timeline and friendship pages features frequently(kh2(3, N=333) = 178.363, p<.05); they portray themselves on Facebook the same way the do in real life(kh2(1, N=333) = 111.859, p<.05); they update their status sometimes and rarely(kh2(4, N=333) = 183.201, p<.0005); they rarely update their profile information (kh2(4, N=333) = 282.3, p<.0005); they sometimes search friends; events; groups(kh2(4, N=333) =94.372, p<.0005); they sometimes upload and share their own photos(kh2(3, N=333) = 126.685, p<.0005); they often check and answer their messages(kh2(3, N=333) = 131.099, p<.0005).

Significantly more than expected also indicated that: they sometimes manage their walls(kh2(3, N=333) = 57.796, p<.0005); they rarely make their wall posts(kh24, N=333) = 146.655, p<.0005); they rarely profile watch other Facebook user's accounts(kh2(4, N=333) = 41.73, p<.0005); they sometimes browse other Facebook User's photos(kh2(4, N=333) = 80.919, p<.0005); they never tag themselves in uploaded photos(kh2(4, N=333) = 285.123, p<.0005); they sometimes comment on frinds uploaded photos(kh2(4, N=333) = 94.703, p<.0005); they never share friend's uploaded photos(kh2(4, N=333) = 147.345, p<.0005); they never share friend's uploaded status(kh2(3, N=333) = 131.099, p<.0005); they never share videos/links of interest(kh2(4, N=333) = 189.688, p<.0005); they sometimes chat with others via Facebook chat(kh2(3, N=333) = 131.099, p<.0005).

Facebook Usage and Attitude

Table 3. How many "friends" have you added without actually knowing who they are?

Total 333 100.0 100.0 From the table above, we can see that 26.7% of Facebook users have added more than ten friends without actually knowing who they are. 21.6% have added no friend they don't know into their list of Facebook friends. Significantly more than expected indicated that they had added more than ten friends without actually knowing them(kh24, N=333) = 36.234, p<.0005).

Results from a Wilcoxon signed ranks test show that there is significant agreement that: respondents have a detailed profile on Facebook (Z(N=333) = -3.419, p=.001); personal information published on Facebook always represents the truth (Z(N=333) = -9.283, p<.0005); profiles tell a lot about respondents (Z(N=333) = -1.996, p=.046) and it is easy to find out preferences from Facebook profile (Z(N=333) = -4.771, p<.0005). The significant disagreement that they keep their profile up to date was found (Z(N=333) = -6.463, p<.0005).

The results also show that there is a significant agreement that; respondents choose who has access to their uploaded content based on the different types of Facebook friends they have(Z(N=333) = -5.048, p<.0005); they seek permission from their friends before tagging anyone in a group photo uploaded in Facebook(Z(N=333) = 3.300, p<.001); they significantly agree that it is okay for Facebook friends to share content and information posted by other users(i.e., to their own Facebook "friends"; Friends of friends) (Z(N=333) = -2.894, p<.003).

The Wilcoxon signed rank test results also indicate that there is a significant agreement that; the respondents are aware that others can still see photos shared with friends only if friends tag the images (Z(N=333) = -11.883, p<.0005); respondents are allowed to have sufficient control over their personal information via its privacy settings(Z(N=333) = -7.853, p<.0005); they are aware of the type of information which can obtain about themselves through their Facebook profile and shared content(Z(N=333) = -12.828, p<.0005); they will not use information they found about them against them(Z(N=333) = -4.605, p<.0005); they will not use the information they found about them in the wrong way(Z(N=333) = -3.382, p<.0005); they are trustworthy(Z(N=333) = -9.283, p<.0005); they are reliable (Z(N=333) = -6.724, p<.0005). Significantly more than expected; respondents have changed their timeline (kh2 (1, N=333) = 7.21); they are happy.

They are happy with the default option setting of who can post on their timeline(kh2(2, N=333) = 220.613); pleased with the default setting of who can see the posts they have been tagged on in their timeline(kh2(2, N=333) = 81.748); they are happy with the default option of who can see what others post on their timeline as well as who they want to add in the audience if they aren't already in it(kh2(2, N=333) = 148.126); they are happy with the default option of who sees tag suggestions when photos are uploaded(kh2(2, N=333) = 116.667); they require more control than the default setting to be able to review posts that friends tag you in before they appear on your timeline(kh2(2, N=333) = 96.883); require more control to be able to review tags people add to their posts before the tags appear on Facebook(kh2(2, N=333) = 104.000).

Conversations. Results from the Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests show that there is a significant agreement that; the respondents feel more comfortable discussing personal issues on Facebook(Z(N=333) = -12.872, p<.0005); sometimes they are uncomfortable holding their conversations on Facebook for other people to see(Z(N=333) = -4.098, p<.0005).

Control

From the Wilcoxon Sign Rank test results, there is a significant agreement that; the respondents have control of the information they provide on Facebook, eg on their profile, on the walls etc(Z(N=333) = -5.598, p<.0005); they have control on how and in which scenario the information they provide can be used(Z(N=333) = -4.098, p<.0005); they have control on who can view information on Facebook(Z(N=333) = -2.362, p<.0005) and the knowledge they provide cannot be misinterpreted(Z(N=333) = -2.858, p<.0004).

Bivariate Usage Vs. Opinions

There is a significant relationship between some friends on Facebook and the number added without knowing who they are (kh2(20, N=333) = 97.446, p<.05). More than expected of: those with up to 100 friends indicated that they have added up to 4 friends that they did not know; those who don't know how many friends they have or those with 101 - 300 friends have not added any friends without knowing who they are; those with more than 300 friends have added more than 10 unknown friends. Those who do not keep track have added some, but they are not sure how many.

There is no significant relationship between how many Facebook friends one has and the other factors.

Usage Features

Here, we make use of Cronbach's alpha value. This is a measure of internal consistency. The reliability as seen from the table below is 0.857 which is a good score.

We check the mean scores as the score for usage where the higher the mean score, the less frequent the usage. From the results, None is used less often than more than 10.

Correlation Tests.We use Pearson correlation test since both variables are scales. From the results, it is clear that there is a significant positive correlation between usage and seeking permission from friends before uploading a group photo to Facebook (r = 0.136, p=.013). This means that the more they use Facebook, the stronger the disagreement that they will seek permission. There is also a significant positive correlation between usage and being okay for Facebook friends to share content and information posted by other users(r=-.175, p=.001) meaning that the more they use Facebook, the stronger their agreement that it is Okay to for their friends to share content and information posted by other users. There is also a strong negative correlation between Facebook Usage and Trust(r = -0.111). This means that the more the respondent uses Facebook, the more the agreement that trust builds up.

The more the usage, the stronger the agreement with the information the respondents provide, how and in what the case the information provided can be used, who can collect and use the information provided, who can view their data and the actions of other users.

Changed Settings

Here we use mean scores to check whether there is a significant difference in the responses. The respondents who say yes to choose who has access to their uploads agree more than those who say no. Those who are as likely to communicate with friends using Facebook are as they are likely to text or call them on the phone agree more than those who don't. Those who say yes to who can view their information on Facebook agree more than those who say no while those who say yes to the actions of the other users agree more than those who say no.

Composite Ordinal Measurements for Agreement With Timeline Settings

The cronchbach Alpha value=0.790 is reliable; hence we proceed to check for correlations. Using Pearson's correlation coe...