When is trust not enough? The role of perceived privacy of communication tools in comfort with self-disclosure

In what circumstances might privacy concerns about new communication tools like instant messaging help predict the degree to which people feel comfortable communicating via these new communication tools? The current study examined whether topic intimacy and perceived privacy predict levels of comfort with disclosure, and whether these associations are moderated by overall levels of trust and frequency of technology use. Participants reported on the degree to which they would feel comfortable discussing each of 32 topics (e.g., “times when I felt that I was in love”) using 10 different communication tools. Topic and tool interacted, such that the privacy of the communication tool was related to disclosure comfort only for intimate topics. Privacy concerns were more important to less frequent technology users, and topic intimacy mattered most to participants with low levels of trust. Results are discussed in terms of implications for extending models of disclosure to the selection of new communication tools.