Twitter Privacy: Determinants of Sharing Behavior on Twitter

Event Center A & B

This study aims to explain people’s personal informatio disclosure behaviors on Twitter by testing several predictions of the Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory. Using a survey on a random sample of 208 California residents, the study tests the relationship between gender, education, length and breadth of experience on Twitter and personal self-efficacy on the amount of personal information disclosure. Although no significant relationship emerges between gender, education, self-efficacy, and the amount of personal information disclosure on Twitter, the results do confirm the role of experience in predicting amount of disclosure: Under the assumption that the more users experiment with Twitter affordances, the less vulnerable they feel, the results indicate that people with more variety of experiences on Twitter will tend to share more.