Online Privacy Concerns Among Social Networks' Users/ Question Concernant Les Affaires Personnelles des Utilisateurs de Reseaux Sociaux en Ligne (Report‪)‬

While the Internet has great strengths as a medium in breadth, depth, reach, immediacy, and interactivity, it has serious drawbacks, among which none has received as much attention as the threat to privacy (Hong, McLaughlin, Pryor, Beaudoin, & Grabowicz, 2005). Online social sites are one of the recent Internet virtual communities most people are using all over the world. These sites are online spaces that allow individuals to present themselves, articulate their social networks, and establish or maintain connections with others. Users of online social networks may use these sites' communication tools to interact with those they know from offline contexts such as schools, or they may use the sites to meet new people (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2006). Much of the media coverage surrounding young people and online social networks is focused on type and amount of personal information people make available on these networks. Are they sharing information that will harm their future or put them at risk of victimization? Do females differ from males in managing their online privacy? Many social networking services, such as Facebook and MySpace, provide users with a choice of who may view their profiles. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from accessing their information.