Social-Network Users Enter False Personal Info to Protect Identity

Nearly two thirds (62 percent) of the UK’s social-networking site users say they are worried about the safety of their personal data held on those sites - and nearly one-third (31 percent) of users say they have entered false information about themselves to protect their identity, according to a survey by emedia’s RapidResearch service, writes MarketingCharts.

Other findings from the UK survey:

• Some 81 percent of those surveyed use networking sites.
• Users of social networking sites visit these sites on a regular basis, and almost half of them (48 percent) admit using these websites at work.
• Nearly one in four (24 percent) log in every day, with half of them logging in several times a day.
• Up to 45 percent of users log in at least once a week.
• The top five websites respondents have heard off are MySpace (89 percent), YouTube (88 percent), Friends Reunited (81 percent), Facebook (73 percent) and Bebo (51 percent).
• But the most popular sites among users are Friends Reunited (47 percent), YouTube (42 percent), MySpace (39 percent), Facebook (26 percent) and LinkedIn (19 percent).
• Respondents keep in touch with various types of contacts among their social network, including friends (46 percent), colleagues (24 percent) and clients or potential clients (8 percent).

• Those surveyed visit social-networking sites for personal and professional reasons: 67 percent contact old friends and reinforce existing friendships; over one in ten (11 percent) use them for business purposes.
• 87 percent of respondents think social-networking sites can be used for business purposes, including networking (65 percent), exchanging ideas (58 percent), getting advice (44 percent), recruitment (43 percent), research (35 percent) and selling (31 percent).
• Half of users find advertising on social-networking sites intrusive.
• Some 72 percent of users said they have opted out of email newsletters from social-networking sites.