Markers of Online Privacy Marginalization: Empirical Examination of Socioeconomic Disparities in Social Media Privacy Attitudes, Literacy, and Behavior

Abstract

This study explores how traditional socioeconomic markers of the digital divide interact with new markers of marginalization when it comes to online privacy protecting behaviors. To do this, we analyze data from a representative sample of social media users in the United States. Using hierarchical linear regression, we explore the relationships between established components of the digital divide, antecedents of privacy concerns, privacy-protecting behaviors, and privacy literacy. Our analysis highlights privacy literacy as a potentially understudied dimension of the digital divide and unpacks how traditional markers of marginalization explain distinct dimensions of privacy-protecting behaviors. Moreover, our findings suggest that the privacy literacy divide can amplify aspects of the second- and third-level digital divides, when translated into privacy-protecting behaviors.

Introduction: Marginality and Social Media

“…The quantitative studies in the special issue include two surveys (Epstein & Quinn, this issue; Velasquez & Montgomery, this issue) and one experiment (Smith et al, this issue). Quantitative methods may be less often used for studies of marginality, but as Fassinger and Morrow (2013) and Cokley and Awad (2013) argue, that does not lessen their utility.…”

“…Similarly, there is already a robust literature on general issues of digital inequality, including inequalities in access, skill, and use (e.g., Caton & Chapman, 2016; Hargittai & Walejko, 2008; Jones et al, 2009; van Deursen & Helsper, 2018). Although we did not rule out the possibility of including papers that extend those themes (indeed, the manuscript by Epstein and Quinn [this issue] is an example), we refer readers to existing canon for more general theories and frameworks to understand digital inequality and social media. And, though we neither sought nor avoided reflections on marginality and social media within the field of communication itself, we did not receive any manuscripts on the topic and, therefore, it is not discussed here.…”

“…Sometimes, these traditions are united under topic areas and other times they point to specific theoretical constructs. As an example of the former, Epstein and Quinn (this issue) elaborate understanding of disparities in privacy literacy, and Richez et al (this issue) explore social media effects on policy through a lens of political narratives. These ideas are not primarily theoretical per se, but are situated in long-standing conceptual traditions on privacy, narrative, and so on.…”

Learning by doing oder doing by learning? Die Wechselwirkung zwischen Online- Privatheitskompetenz und Datenschutzverhalten

“…Online-Privatheitskompetenz wurde schon früh als Kombination aus verschiedenen Wissensdimensionen operationalisiert (Hoofnagle et al, 2010;Park, 2013;Turow, 2003) und bereits in zahlreichen Werken untersucht (Baruh et al, 2017;Epstein & Quinn, 2020;Kumar et al, 2020;Park, 2013;Park & Jang, 2014;Rosenthal et al, 2019). Zusammenfassend definieren Trepte et al (2015) Privatheitskompetenz zunächst als Kombination aus deklarativem und prozeduralem Wissen über Online-Privatheit.…”

UTAUT model: integrating social media for learning purposes among university students in Nigeria

“…SM also allows everyone via the Internet technology (World Wide Web), which realizes the original vision of the Web, as a place, to interact, connect, and engage with others (Al-Rahmi et al 2015a, b). SM tools have become a trend among the members of the Net or digital generation who have been born and interacted with digital technology (Epstein and Quinn 2020). Different SM sites have recently become widespread e-learning channels used to exchange information and participate in active collaborative learning (Al-Rahmi et al 2017).…”