Social Media Communication

6 Social Media and Privacy Concern

LEARNING GOALS

This chapter will help you understand:

• What are privacy concerns on social media in a cross-cultural setting?
• What are the history of surveillance and its new forms involving social media use?
• How is privacy concern affected by media generations and social media power use?
• What cultural factors may affect privacy concern?

KEY CONCEPTS

Privacy concern

Generation gap

Social media surveillance

THEORY HIGHLIGHT

Need for Cognition

Overview

People used to believe they could have good control over their personal data and private information on the internet. As they began to interact with others online, especially through social media, they came to realize that connected activities pose a serious threat to privacy. Thus, the rise of social media has made the concept of internet privacy concern (IPC) increasingly salient since the early 2000s. A Pew Research survey found that about 80% of social media users were concerned about advertisers and businesses accessing the data they shared on social media platforms (Rainie, 2018). As user-generated content and sensitive data are being recorded digitally and stored on the cloud, many users fear a loss of control over personal data, leading to privacy and security concerns few experienced before (Widjaja et al., 2019). When sensitive personal data and information are pushed into the public eye, people feel their privacy is being invaded and, in many cases, develop a sense of surveillance ...