Social networks: the privacy concerns of users

Half of Americans have a profile on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are concerned about their privacy, according to a new survey.

The Marist poll showed that people over 60 were most anxious about their privacy, and that women were more concerned than men in this regard.

"This is a new information age. Some people are concerned, they are reluctant and are frightened by the magnitude of information on the Internet. There is an element of privacy that some individuals feel they are losing," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Institute for Public Opinion at Marist College.

Privacy on social networking sites is a constant problem. Facebook recently changed their policies to give users more control over how much information is public profiles following protests from organizations of privacy control and users about the difficulty of changing the default settings of their accounts.

The survey showed that 27% of the 1,004 respondents were concerned about their privacy on the Internet pages of social networks, while just over 23% were very worried.

Older Americans are more concerned about privacy, as Miringoff, because social networks are not as directed at them naturally to the young, who show a more carefree attitude towards the Internet sites and privacy.

Overall, 43% of Americans said they kept in touch through the internet pages of social networks such as Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn. 40% of men and 45% of women confirmed that they had a profile of any network.

Social and business networks

In the last ten years the functioning and strategies of companies, as well as ways and means by which each person does their work have changed radically thanks to the possibilities and tools that have been offered online.

Organizations in general have tried to keep up and leaving adapting to technological changes and trends that they have made, so that they can remain competitive in an increasingly demanding and dynamic.
But no they succeed or all of them are willing to let the new tools take over their work environment and that often do not feel ready, do not know how to handle and do not fully trust the benefits that they can provide, there is a certain fear of risk of implementing these new tools, unknown and so radically different from what used so far.

This applies, for example, online social networks, some companies have become his most loyal allies of work and others do not even want to mention. A new survey by Accountants found the feelings being experienced finance directors of organizations on this issue, are concerned that the use of social networking is a waste of time, but recognize that this brings benefits such as improved customer service.

The survey was conducted by an independent firm to Accountants from over 1400 CFOs of U.S. companies with twenty or more workers.