What are people comfortable sharing with complete strangers in this brave new web 2.0 world? The Attention Company recently released a study on what people are OK with posting on the internet.
It’s a great no-nonsense down-to-earth report that’s easy to read – if you have any interest in online behavior, check it out. (Read/Write Web also has some comments.)
The part I found most interesting was what people are willing to post online:
Stuff about themselves …
- Educational background (66%)
- Job title/function (63%)
- Name (54%)
- City of residence (53%)
- Photograph (53%)
- Place of employment (42%)
- Conversation with people you manage (12%)
- Conversation with your boss (11%)
- Personal net worth, assets and/or debts (10%)
Stuff about their jobs …
- Praise of your organization (72%)
- Events or activities in your organization that are already public knowledge (71%)
- Opinions about the performance of your organization (39%)
- Opinions about your competitors (33%)
- Events or activities in your organization that are not yet public knowledge (16%)
- Trade Secrets (8%)
I’m a little shocked by the trade secrets number there at the bottom, but not at all by the personal information numbers. If anything, they seem conservative.
[tags] attention, company, privacy, web2.0, information, john koetsier [/tags]
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It never ceases to amaze me just how MUCH personal information some bloggers will share with the entire world! I mean, sure, writing a blog is something of a public forum (at least we all hope SOMEone’s listening!), but who needs, or even wants, to know all that personal stuff?
But on the other hand… I can understand when some people do it. We all know people who will share personal stuff at the drop of a hat; the sanquines who consider everyone their friend.
Ah, well, I thank God we’re all so different! That’s part of the entertainment of life.
[…] Having blogged several times in recent days about the benefits and virtues of encouraging corporate employees to write “open” blogs aimed at people in the external marketplace, I have to acknowledge a recent survey that illustrates the potential Dark Side of blogging. Ian Delaney alerted me, in a recent posting on his twopointouch blog (which he, in turn, had picked up from a blog posting by John Kotsier), of a recent poll by the Attention Company (details of which are available here, and which is well worth reading), which asked participants if they agreed that “It is appropriate to share the following on a blog or website:” […]