Abstract. The significant change in our social lives and communication habits caused by the rise of Social Network Sites (SNSs) has not only brought along benefits but is also accompanied by privacy threats. In this paper we present our research efforts on SNS privacy and social identity management. First, we outline the results of an empirical study showing significant discrepancies between Facebook users' actual privacy settings and their perception as well as their preferences. Based on this evident need for improving privacy, we present a novel conceptualization of privacy that serves as the basis for tackling the challenges. Finally, the paper provides an overview of solutions we developed as part of our research efforts on privacy in SNSs.Keywords: Social network sites · Privacy · Social identity management
MotivationSince their emergence more than a decade ago, Social Network Sites (SNSs) are increasingly changing our social lives and communication habits. While social networks have always been an important part of human life, the advent of easyto-use services and their ability to bridge boundaries -regarding both space and time -increasingly shifts social life to the online world. These networks enable communication with people from different social spheres (e.g. family, close friends, colleagues), ease interaction, and allow their users to stay in touch with existing contacts as well as to create new relationships.However, the rise of SNSs also threatens the privacy of their users. On the one hand, people on SNSs inconsiderately share many personal items (e.g. status updates, location updates, photos) while they are not fully aware of their audience. There are numerous examples of SNS users posting inappropriate pictures and status updates and consequently offending people that have access to these items (such as one's boss or parents). On the other hand, few SNS providers exist that have collected a large amount of personal data in their databases raising surveillance and data protection concerns.