Psychological Factors Affecting Disclosure of Personal Information in Social Networking Services

Abstract

Psychological factors affecting the disclosure of personal information in social networking services (SNS) were investigated. In a web-based survey, users of Mixi (N=1051), a popular Japanese SNS, were asked about their disclosure of personal information in their Mixi profiles and about psychological factors such as attitude toward information privacy. Results indicated that those with low information privacy regarding their demographics (e.g., sex) and personal identity (e.g., real name) were prone to sharing elements of their profiles with the general public and to expressing more about their inner self in their profiles. Need for popularity and risk perception about crime positively affected tendency toward expressing the inner self in their profiles.View full abstract