Date of Award

3-23-2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Engineering Management

Department

Department of Systems Engineering and Management

First Advisor

Alexander J. Barelka, PhD

Abstract

Social networking websites are the fastest growing entity on the Internet. Users of social networking websites post personal information and pictures on these websites. Privacy and social networking websites has been previously studied, however, since those studies were conducted the rules for those websites have changed dramatically. A mixed methods approach was used in this study to examine what privacy concerns users of social networking websites have, whether it’s regarding information on their accounts or the pictures they have posted. This study also considered if there were common personality traits present in people with those concerns. A comparison of user preferences between MySpace and Facebook was also conducted. Quantitative data in the form of survey information was used in addition to qualitative data gathered from semi-structured interviews. This study supports that Social Desirability Bias was correlated with a user being selective of what pictures were displayed on social networking website accounts. Few users expressed a preference for one social networking website over the other. Over half of the participants did express concern for their privacy on social networking website accounts, but there were no personality factors that showed to be predictive of that concern.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GEM-ENV-09-M14

DTIC Accession Number

ADA503900

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