Concern for Privacy of Self and Others: Sharing Behavior, and Engagement

Privacy concern continues to grow as online presences become more prevalent through social network sites (SNSs). Significant research has studied the privacy concern construct as it pertains to privacy for information about self, however little research considers a privacy concern for information about others. We hypothesize relationships between both privacy concern for self and others and three different sharing behaviors, self-sharing, non-personal sharing, and others-sharing. We further hypothesize relationships between these sharing behaviors and engagement with the SNS. Building on previous literature, we contribute by expanding unique privacy concerns and relating these to separate sharing behaviors. Further, we believe this research in progress can help future practical understandings of privacy concerns as individuals and laws attempt to improve regulations. As a research in progress, we briefly outline our intentions on data collection through a survey method and potential impact of the results.