“Not all my friends are friends”: Audience‐group‐based nudges for managing location privacy

Abstract

The popularity of location-based features in social networks has been increasing over the past few years. Location information gathered from social networks can threaten users' information privacy through granular tracking and exposure of their preferences, behaviors, and identity. In this 6-week study (N = 35), we investigate the effect of "audience-group"-based interventions on Facebook check-in behavior of participants. These "audience-group"-based nudges help close the gap between the users' perceived audiences and those that are permitted to view their check-ins. The nudges remind users that their real-time location information may be visible to a larger group of friends than they expect. Based on both quantitative and qualitative data analyses, we report that reminding users of the unexpected audiences that have access to their location check-ins could be a promising way to help users manage their privacy in online location sharing. These findings motivate several recommendations for app designers as well as information privacy researchers to better design and evaluate location sharing in online social networks.