GfK TechTalk

The recent actions of the world’s biggest social network reveal its beliefs and ideals for digital society; openness and one identity. However, theories suggest that self identity is process of story-telling under constant revision. With our research showing that social networkers are actively sharing different amounts of personal information across different networks, the future of digital society lies in giving users more control over their personal and private identities online.

In April 2010, the actions of the world’s most used social networking site struck several chords of concern in our digital society. In changing default privacy settings for users, Facebook placed privacy as central to the internet paradigm. Discussion, debate and protest from social networkers, internet users, reporters, commentators and the 1,400 people based at the corporation’s HQ in California were focussed on notions of privacy.

The fiasco placed Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership of Facebook under scrutiny and led us all to question what it is exactly he believes in. In an interview published in Wired UK Magazine (August 2010), the founder speaks openly about his hopes for “one identity” developed through greater openness online. But events in April revealed that very few of us are willing to expose every part of us to the rest of the online world.

The privacy debate to date has focussed on the actions of two internet giants; Facebook and Google. One tracks, indexes and sells information about us online, the other encourages, nudges and opens the door to self-exposure to the digital world. However, the debate has yet to focus on the beliefs and ideologies that underpin the actions around privacy of Facebook and Google. One thing we do know is that Zuckerberg’s actions around privacy on Facebook reveal his beliefs around “one identity” where each of us behaves and projects the same personality wherever we are on the internet. Therefore, our Facebook profile will look exactly the same as out LinkedIn profile and we will expose the same person wherever we go in digital society.

I imagine that Zuckerberg dropped out of his psychology and computer science degree at Harvard just before class dipped into the work of Anthony Giddens; most students do as a right of passage. Giddens’ work offers some insight around the complexities of self-identity which has significant implications on actions around privacy in digital society.

Giddens claims that self-identity is a narrative each of us makes rather than inherits. It is not something static but is a ‘reflexive project’ i.e. something each of us continuously works and reflects on. “A person’s identity is not to be found in behaviour, nor – important though this is – in the reactions of others, but in the capacity to keep a particular narrative going” (Giddens 1991: 54).

Simply put, the theory means that our identities are built as we learn more about ourselves and ways in which to tell our story in a biographical form. Self-identity therefore demands full control over what to tell and where – something Zuckerberg and his team seem unwilling to grant. Self-identity in digital society is given agency through our different profiles. We can maintain and revisit our ‘social’ self on Facebook, our ‘professional’ self on LinkedIn and our ‘creative’ self on Flickr, and do so at our control. Zuckerberg’s ‘one identity’ however, means we share equal amounts of information continuously and wherever we go without the opportunity to hide or reveal what we learn about ourselves over time.

Recent data from a GfK NOP study on attitudes to privacy finds that social networkers are active in exposing different parts of themselves to different people and want full control in doing so. A large majority of people (78%) believe privacy settings on social network sites should default to sharing nothing.  On Facebook, most users (44%) prefer to share selected information with friends only. Only 7% are doing what Facebook hopes with regard to openness; sharing everything with anyone. On LinkedIn, people are a little more comfortable sharing everything with anyone (13%) perhaps explained by the theme of self-promotion on the site. Still, the preference on Linked In is for control where 35% share selected information with friends only.

The reality of the actions in April means that Facebook now has a more concerned and control-hungry user base. 67% of social networkers say privacy has become more important to them, and, interestingly, 68% say they would place more trust in those social networks who pro-actively help them manage their privacy settings. For Zuckerberg, that means maybe it is time to dip into some Giddens and understand that in digital society, individuals need to build their identities through a carefully managed process of editing and revising. Users want the control to build and shape what they learn and encounter with the passage of time.

RESEARCH NOTES

GfK NOP Technology conducted a survey among 996 UK adults in June 2010. The interviews were conducted online and are representative on UK adults who have access to the internet.

WANT TO READ MORE?

Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self-Identify: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Polity Press, Cambridge: http://amzn.to/aM1h4M

Facebook’s privacy policy http://bit.ly/96GSdl

Mike Arrington (Tech Crunch) interrogates Mark Zuckerberg http://bit.ly/7cOFO2