Understanding ‘what is privacy’ for millennials on Facebook in India

Abstract

Social media privacy is a growing concern among internet users. Millennials (age group 18–34 years) constitute the largest users on the social media, with the highest number of them being active on Facebook. India has the largest number of Facebook users in the world. The central question explored and analysed in this study is ‘what is privacy’ from an Indian millennial perspective on Facebook as a social media channel. Indian millennials considered sharing of Facebook information such as residential address, personal mobile number, product purchase preferences, religious views, e-mail address and favourite quotations to a third-party vendor as an intrusion into their privacy. Interestingly, sharing of relationship status, tagging and orientation were not seen as significant regarding privacy by millennials. The study showed that millennials’ perspective on privacy was contextual and changing. The implications for marketers have also been highlighted in the study.