35% of Facebook Users Updated Their Privacy Settings After Policy Change

Yesterday was Data Protection day, so it’s only fitting that today we take a look at some privacy-related news. You might remember back in December when Facebook made some changes to their privacy policies. That same day, they put customisation options on the front page visible immediately after login.

Well, speaking yesterday at a roundtable event at the University of California, Facebook’s director of public policy Tim Sparapani revealed that 35% of all Facebook users made use of the customisation options when presented with them.

That might not seem like a huge number — although Tim was unwilling to disclose exactly how many users had tinkered with their privacy settings before the policy changes — he did say that this figure constituted a “substantial advancement” and that the industry average for users actively engaging with their privacy settings is normally between 5-10%.

That’s quite a jump, and it’s good to hear that so many users have actually given some thought to their privacy settings. Do you think other sites should follow Facebook’s example? How about one day per month when privacy settings are pinned to a site’s homepage? Perhaps this will encourage a closer look.

Adjusting privacy settings can be about as riveting as filling out your tax return — what can organisations do to make the process more interesting?

Via Baynewser