Managing privacy boundaries together: Exploring individual and group privacy management strategies in Facebook

• We examine the predictors of individual and group privacy management strategies in Facebook.
• Women are more likely to use individual privacy management strategies.
• Men are more likely to use group privacy management strategies.
• The role one is attributed within their group is the strongest predictor of group privacy management.

Most research on privacy management within the context of social network sites (SNSs) treats users as individual owners of private information. Privacy, however, is beyond individual control and is also managed on a group level. This study applies the Communication Privacy Management theory (CPM) to explore the individual and group privacy management strategies in Facebook. We present a survey completed by 900 members of a youth organization regarding their online behaviors and membership. We found that women are more likely to employ individual privacy management strategies, while men are more likely to employ group privacy management strategies. For group privacy management, we found common bond and the role an individual is attributed within the youth organization to be the strongest predictors. The results generated from this study are a first but important step to illustrate the differences and similarities between individual and group privacy management. We argue that it is necessary to further study and understand group privacy to better approach users’ privacy needs.