4 Out of 5 Worry about Social Media Sites, Avira Survey Finds
German antivirus software company Avira ran a survey that focused on social media sites and how the personal information shared via these sites could be stolen or misused. The survey found that 4 out of 5 people worry theyr personal info could be stolen from Facebook, Google+, Twitter, or other similar social media sites. In all 84% of the survey’s respondents worried about Facebook, Google+ and other sites.
Putting the spotlight on incredibly popular social networking site Facebook and recently newcomer to the social media world Google+, 44% of respondents said they worry most about these two social media sites. 40% of respondents said they worry about all social media sites equally.
When asked to pick think about how social media sites could put personal information in danger and instructed to pick but one answer, the respondents picked as follows: 25% went with Facebook, 19% with Google+, and 2% with Twitter. As mentioned above, 40% of respondents could not pick but one site and said they were about all of them equally. Only 14% of all respondents said they feel safe using online media sites and don’t worry that their personal info could be stolen or misused.
Sorin Mustaca, Avira data security expert, had the following to say about the survey:
“This survey was very interesting because it demonstrated that even though social media sites are very popular among the general population, computer users from all over the world have the same concerns. They are wary of the safety of their personal information when it’s disseminated across social media sites. In order to use social media sites without being afraid of having your data misused, I strongly advise not storing private data on these websites. Never forget that as soon as any information is published on a public website, it doesn’t actually belong to you anymore.”
During January and February 2012, the survey was presented by Avira to its customer base of more than 100 million users. A total of 2,710 people took the survey.
Putting the spotlight on incredibly popular social networking site Facebook and recently newcomer to the social media world Google+, 44% of respondents said they worry most about these two social media sites. 40% of respondents said they worry about all social media sites equally.
When asked to pick think about how social media sites could put personal information in danger and instructed to pick but one answer, the respondents picked as follows: 25% went with Facebook, 19% with Google+, and 2% with Twitter. As mentioned above, 40% of respondents could not pick but one site and said they were about all of them equally. Only 14% of all respondents said they feel safe using online media sites and don’t worry that their personal info could be stolen or misused.
Sorin Mustaca, Avira data security expert, had the following to say about the survey:
“This survey was very interesting because it demonstrated that even though social media sites are very popular among the general population, computer users from all over the world have the same concerns. They are wary of the safety of their personal information when it’s disseminated across social media sites. In order to use social media sites without being afraid of having your data misused, I strongly advise not storing private data on these websites. Never forget that as soon as any information is published on a public website, it doesn’t actually belong to you anymore.”
During January and February 2012, the survey was presented by Avira to its customer base of more than 100 million users. A total of 2,710 people took the survey.
