JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Individuals can have two types of interactions with different entities on social media. One interaction is with online vendors and companies that may collect and use people’s data, and the second interaction is with online peers who can see the posts and share conversations about users. Thus, privacy needs should be addressed from these two perspectives. However, previous studies mainly examine privacy concerns from one aspect (either online vendors or online peers). Little is known about how the privacy needs of social media users can be met by considering both factors. Moreover, privacy concerns may intensify when users disclose their health information due to its sensitivity.

Objective:

This study aims to take an integrative approach and develop a research model consisting of privacy concerns related to online vendors and online peers. Relying on privacy concern theories, the research model integrates the four dimensions of concern for information privacy (CFIP) that manifest concerns related to practices of companies and the four dimensions of peer privacy concern (PrPC) that reflect concerns related to online interactions with peers.

Methods:

Data were collected using an online survey from 329 Twitter users from the United States.

Results:

Results indicate that privacy concerns associated with companies’ practices may not significantly impact sharing of general health information (e.g., hospital and medicine information). However, companies-related privacy concerns can negatively shape the disclosure of specific health information (e.g., personal medical issues). Results show that peer-related privacy concerns significantly predict sharing patterns associated with general and specific health information. Moreover, the adverse effects of PrPC are stronger than CFIP on both general and specific health information disclosure.

Conclusions:

Findings can contribute several implications to privacy research by shifting the focus from privacy concerns associated with online vendors and companies to privacy needs related to online peers. This study also proposes several practical implications for developing strategies to restore the privacy of health information sharing on Twitter regarding peer-related privacy concerns.