When ZDNet published a piece on the comfort levels of sharing information on Facebook, I was excited to see they had broken it down by age and gender. Emil Protalinski, who wrote the piece, concluded that the large majority of people are comfortable with the amount of information they are sharing on Facebook--70% as a matter of fact. But, when you look at the numbers by age, they yield some not-so-surprising results we may want to think about.
Only 49% of those over 65 said they are comfortable with the personal info they give out. In contrast, only 27% of them said they are not comfortable with the amount of their personal info available. Men are more guarded than women (62% of general users compared to 74% for women).
Not surprisingly, 81% of the 18-29 year olds are comfortable with their privacy on Facebook. Why are we not surprised by this? Does social savvy make a difference? Or is it the skepticism and guardedness (some say wisdom) that comes with older age? Truly, cultures of age, ethnic, gender, or otherwise can affect the comfort level we have with sharing information online.
What are the takeaways for us in this data? If we have a product or service that caters mainly to seniors, are we sensitive about the amount of information we ask for? If we have a product or service that caters mainly to teens, do we use that as an advantage? I'd like to hear your thoughts.