Social Media Enthusiasts Continue to Connect, But Privacy Concerns Persist, New uSamp Datapoint Study Reveals

ENCINO, Calif., Feb 08, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
Eight hundred million Facebook users can’t be wrong, but they appear to
be an increasingly cautious lot.

Indeed, while users of popular social media sites are generally
comfortable with the sites and visit them regularly, they also have
serious reservations about privacy and security on the social web —
recent efforts by site operators to address those concerns
notwithstanding.

These are among the top findings of the “Social Media Habits and Privacy
Concerns Survey,” a new nationwide study by uSamp (
www.uSamp.com ),
a leader in providing targeted audiences for global consumer insights
and innovative SaaS technologies for audience engagement and business
intelligence. Using SurveyBuilder(TM) (
www.surveybuilder.com ),
its self-serve survey authoring platform with on-demand consumer
audiences, uSamp surveyed nearly 600 adult men and women about the
social media sites they frequent and the kind of information they share
online.

The Social Media Habits survey is one of uSamp’s Datapoint studies,
conducted using SurveyBuilder. To view the infographic summarizing
top-line findings or other Datapoint studies, please visit
http://blog.usamp.com/blog/2012/01/30/infographic-usamp-datapoint-study-finds-gender-gap-over-social-media-privacy/ .

Facebook Firmly in Front

The good news for IPO-bound Facebook especially is that more than 80
percent of all social media buffs log on to the site. The uSamp survey
found that nearly twice as many respondents of all ages (and both
genders) used Facebook as any other destination on the social web. The
nearest competitors were YouTube (46 percent of respondents), Twitter
(33 percent) and MySpace (32 percent).

But the study also showed that Facebook and other sites face real
challenges in the months and years ahead as user concerns over privacy
and security grow. While 65 percent of respondents said they were
generally comfortable with privacy protections on social media sites,
they nonetheless expressed specific concerns about privacy risks.

“Our Social Media Habits survey offers compelling insights into consumer
behavior and attitudes, especially given the conventional wisdom how we
value — or don’t value — privacy in the social media space,” said Lisa
Wilding-Brown, uSamp’s Vice President of Global Panel and Sampling
Operations. “User privacy is an enormously dynamic area, and even as
site operators attempt to address the issue, consumer perceptions are
slow to change. Using SurveyBuilder, we were able to both create a
comprehensive survey instrument and tap uSamp’s vast online panel of
survey respondents rapidly — the same kind of performance our clients
are experiencing as they get hands on with this powerful new platform.”

Privacy has long been a thorny issue for Facebook and other social media
sites. In its SEC filing for its IPO, Facebook referenced the word
“privacy” 35 times. Some observers suggest that such concerns might
prompt users to reduce their use of social media sites, or stop visiting
them altogether. Yet another worry for Facebook and other social media
destinations: the coming explosion in smartphone and tablet access may
pose even greater security and privacy risks.

While 64 percent of respondents said they were either “very comfortable”
or “somewhat comfortable” with the level of privacy protection on social
media sites, 28 percent expressed some level of discomfort about privacy
protections. And among those who don’t use social media at all, 73
percent cited privacy concerns as their rationale for not participating.

Some 85 percent of respondents said that individual users should bear
primary responsibility for their own privacy, but fully 75 percent
agreed that social media sites themselves should also assume
responsibility for privacy protection.

The Demographic Divide

On matters of social media usage and security/privacy, the uSamp
Datapoint survey also found significant differences among both genders
and across age groups. Women of all ages were generally more worried
than men about both privacy and personal security. While women are just
as willing to provide personal information about their relationships,
jobs, brand preferences and political and religious affiliations as men,
when it comes to the nitty-gritty — details like phone numbers, email
and physical addresses that might jeopardize personal security — women
are significantly more wary than men. Interestingly, the study found
that three-quarters of both men and women were willing to share their
relationship status, but only 20 percent of women would share their
location, while 35 percent of men would part with that information. And
although 55 percent of men don’t mind revealing their email address,
only 42 percent of women would do so.

The survey also found that different age groups expressed varying levels
of comfort about privacy. While more than 70 percent of both men and
women under 35 said they were either “very comfortable” or “somewhat
comfortable” with privacy protections, only 54 percent women and 56
percent of men from 35-49 and 57 percent of women and 45 percent of men
over 50 felt “very comfortable” or “somewhat ” comfortable with privacy
protections.

Not surprisingly, the study found younger respondents were heavier users
of social media than their elders, with 86 percent of the 18-24 age
group visiting social media sites daily. There were, however, intriguing
differences between genders and age groups in how social media sites are
used. Older women were found to be heavier users of social media than
older men — 60 percent of women over 50 visited sites daily while only
37 percent of men in the same age group were daily visitors. And 63
percent women from 35-49 visited daily while only 57 percent of men
checked in every day. The study also found that women over 35 were more
likely to use Facebook than men in the same age group.

About uSamp

uSamp (uSamp.com), the Answer Network, is a premier provider of
technology and survey respondents used to obtain consumer and business
insights. uSamp’s solutions and SaaS platform transform the way
companies gain intelligence to make better, faster decisions about their
products and services by tapping into uSamp’s 6.5 million global panel
of survey respondents. Through uSamp’s proprietary technologies for
self-serve survey authoring, self-survey sampling, and private-label
panel management, companies have on-demand access to millions of
profiled survey respondents. uSamp is based in Los Angeles, with five
offices throughout the United States, Europe and India. The company has
more than 200 team members worldwide, led by serial entrepreneurs Matt
Dusig and Gregg Lavin. uSamp ranked #11 in the 2011 Forbes
America’s Most Promising Company List, was named one of the fastest
growing private companies in Los Angeles by the San Fernando Valley
Business Journal and one of the best places to work in Los Angeles
by the Los Angeles Business Journal.

SOURCE: uSamp

        Edge Communications, Inc.
        Ken Greenberg
        818-990-5001
        ken@edgecommunicationsinc.com

Copyright Business Wire 2012