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An Examination Of The Impact Of Gender And Culture On Facebook Privacy And Trust In Guam, Sathasivam Mathiyalakan, George Heilman, Kevin K.W. Ho, Wai Law

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Facebook, the world’s largest social network, allows users to develop a profile containing personal information. Users may choose privacy settings to control information access, but improper settings risk personal exposure. Several US studies examining gender differences in privacy management found that females have more privacy concerns. This study investigates gender differences in Facebook privacy settings among college students in Guam, a US territory whose ethnicity and culture differ from mainland US. Results show that neither gender trusts Facebook nor feels Facebook protects them. Significant differences in number and type of privacy settings indicate females are more security conscious. Gender differences …