Social networks are a very attractive medium for teenagers, who use them to be in contact with their friends, meet people and share all kinds of information about their tastes, preferences and daily activity.
This public uses social networks for a mainly playful purpose, but they must be aware of the exposure to which they submit their most personal information, the treatment they make of it and how it can be used by third parties for commercial or other purposes ethics. The Pew Research infographics show what, how and with whom these young people share their information:
What personal information do you show publicly?
26% indicate that, in order to preserve their privacy in the 2.0 world, it publishes false information in their profile, mainly about their personal data. However the vast majority facilitate juicy data about who it is:
92% use their real name. A necessary data so that other friends and acquaintances can search and invite you to connect in the online field.
91% show in his profile his real photo. Something that is very useful to facilitate the identification of the profile, but always taking care of the image that is transmitted and the type of photo, since it is the main element of the profile, which will be visible to all users.
84% provide information on their interests, which becomes juicy data that are very useful to know the sociodemographic profile of these potential consumers.
82% publicly show their birthday. Thanks to this, Facebook has become the ideal platform to congratulate the birthday of your friends. You do not even have to remember the day, the social network itself warns you to congratulate your contacts, is not it great?
71% indicate where you live, or where you have studied. These data are key when looking for former classmates, or to make contacts near your place of residence.
2 out of 3, in addition, publicly shows their sentimental situation; Whether he is single, whether he has a partner, or has already passed the altar; Besides if he has descendants. Modifications in this state, in the specific case of Facebook, are publicly transmitted in the profile of users.
In addition to basic personal information required by social profiles, young people publicly display other information, such as their e-mail address (53%) or mobile (20%); In addition, 24% have even shared personal videos.
In any case, Facebook is the social network where young people watch over their privacy. 60% indicate that they have their profile configured privately, while 14% publicly displays all their information. On Twitter, meanwhile, 2 out of 3 respondents have an open profile, and only 24% prefer to keep it private.
With whom are youth connected on Facebook?
Although most participants in the Pew Research study indicate that they use this social network to connect with their friends and family, it also appears within their social circle people they do not know in person:
1 in 3 young people have “virtual friends”, while a similar percentage includes celebrities within their circle of online friends, such as singers, actors or athletes. The same representation also have teachers within their contacts.
98% have colé classmates, and friends from other study centers (89%).
The family is the group with the most presence in its network of contacts: 70% have their parents, 76% have their brothers and 91% also have relatives of another degree of kinship.