title: Who commits virtual identity suicide? Differences in privacy concerns, Internet addiction, and personality between Facebook users and quitters.
abstract: Social networking sites such as Facebook attract millions of users by offering highly interactive social communications. Recently, a counter movement of users has formed, deciding to leave social networks by quitting their accounts (i.e., virtual identity suicide). To investigate whether Facebook quitters (n=310) differ from Facebook users (n=321), we examined privacy concerns, Internet addiction scores, and personality. We found Facebook quitters to be significantly more cautious about their privacy, having higher Internet addiction scores, and being more conscientious than Facebook users. The main self-stated reason for committing virtual identity suicide was privacy concerns (48 percent). Although the adequacy of privacy in online communication has been questioned, privacy is still an important issue in online social communications.
authors: Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, School of Psychology, University of Vienna , Vienna, Austria .
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Stieger
authors: Christoph
authors: C
authors: Burger
authors: Manuel
authors: M
authors: Bohn
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Voracek
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D010552:Personality Assessment; D018907:Privacy / Q000523:psychology*; D061108:Social Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult