An Empirical Study to Determine the Impact of Demographic Features on Users’ Perceptions of Unwanted Messages in Online Social Network Services

Abstract

AbstractIn the era of online social communication, using different Online Social Network (OSN) services causes different forms of user privacy exposure, including user information exposure and unwanted content exposure. Assuming that every user has the same level of privacy requirements for what content he/she will accept does not reflect the fact that each user has different factors that shape users’ perceptions of unwanted content. Users are exposed to receive and see several kinds of content that can be inappropriate, unwanted, or harmful. In this empirical study, we investigated the relationship between demographic features and users’ choices of unwanted content. We conducted a user survey consisting of 393 Arab participants to determine the impact of several demographic features on the users’ choices of unwanted content. Results revealed that age was the most demographic feature that plays a significant role in determining users’ choices of unwanted content. Several correlations were detected between different demographics and classes of content. Findings from the conducted study can have a potential impact on designing and developing effective personalized filtering models.KeywordsInformation filteringDependency analysisCorrelation analysis and inappropriate content detection