Half Of Social Networkers Concerned About Privacy

It seems we can't go a month without talking about privacy concerns surrounding one of today's popular social networking sites. Whether it's a new Facebook setting or other security breach, keeping one's private information private isn't always easy.

A recent poll by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion claims that half of all US residents who use a social-networking site are concerned about privacy. Of this group, close to half describe themselves as very concerned. As one might expect, fears concerning privacy increased as the age of survey respondents went up: only 43 percent of respondents between 18 and 29 said they were concerned compared to 63 percent of those over 60.

In terms of gender, women tend to be more concerned about the issue of privacy than men: over 57 percent of women who responded to the survey said they were anxious about their privacy on the social networking sites compared to 43 percent of the men.

Among the 1,004 people surveyed by the Marist institute, 43 percent said they have a profile on a site such as Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn. Breaking it down further, 40 percent of men and 45 percent of women have a profile.