Social media: confidentiality policies are not reassuring users

The promotion of the rules of the game on data management is worrying users rather than reassuring them. Do they have a right to be worried?

Source: L'Atelier BNP Paribas

Users of social networks place very little importance on the protection of their personal information – at least not until they are told about it, according to the Carnegie Mellon University. Demonstrating transparency and trying to reassure individuals by certifying that their information will be kept confidential is actually found to be counter-productive. The writers of this study conducted a series of tests on students with the aim of ascertaining the context in which these young people share sensitive information. To conduct the tests, they asked them about their academic practices, focusing some of their questions on reprehensible activities (cheating on an exam, plagiarising an author, etc.). Some of the students were told the nature of the questions they would be asked before the test. Others were told that the information collected would be strictly anonymous.

:: The policy of confidentiality as an educational factor

The result was that the less they were told about confidentiality, the more freely the participants replied. This finding did not surprise Xavier Marvaldi, the founder of Yoowalk. "The legal wording is there to provide information to website visitors, but the fact is that it also raises questions that can cause anxiety". What the study clearly shows is that information-sharing on social networks depends mainly on the environment concerned. The same questions will receive very different answers according to whether they are asked in a questionnaire with a fantasy design and title or in a more official-looking study. Xavier Marvaldi shares this opinion: "When a user finds himself in a playful context and environment, he feels less inhibited."

:: Information-sharing depends on the environment concerned

However, it would be a mistake to believe that it is preferable not to set up a policy of confidentiality. The whole challenge lies in making web users aware of the type of information they can disclose on community websites and platforms. "We are still at the discovery stage", adds Xavier Marvaldi, going on to reaffirm "Over the long term, it is companies with a real confidentiality policy which will make the difference." According to him, one of the most interesting solutions lies in the creation of a brand which combines the big social networks with e-commerce websites, the challenge for social networks being to assure users that their information will be protected.