We’ve all heard of the Facebook scandal that exposed up to 87 million users worldwide. This was headlines all over the internet, impacting a significantly large number of people.
So what were the costs?
This image shows the impact of FaceBook’s privacy scandal. With 14% deleting FaceBook and 24% tightening their privacy settings. FaceBook’s stock also decreased 14% in one day, highlighting how significant it is.
But did we expect more people to delete Facebook?
People are shown to hold more care of privacy than their income! So why have 53% of users left their privacy settings the same?
The answer is actually straightforward. A large proportion of FaceBook users (60%) already had little to not trust in FaceBook to keep their information private. So many users weren’t surprised at the scandal.
This pie chart shows 43% of people trusted FaceBook the same before and after the scandal. This shows how important it is for businesses to be very strict and clear with their privacy policies.
Prior to the hearings, research was conducted on the trust between brands. Results found 27% of users to find Facebook trustworthy, reflective of their CEO and privacy deeds.
This highlights how importance privacy is, to improving a brands trust, to improving its revenue and profitability. If businesses mishandle privacy it can result in a reduction on current consumers, lower trust – effectively reducing future customers.
What are your thoughts? Do you think FaceBook handled it well? Did you delete FaceBook or tighten your privacy policies?
BlogWardo 
Hey Edward, great blog! Although we do care about and value our privacy online, it’s also true that many of us also do not care that Facebook has access to our personal information. It also contributes to the trade-off that we are unaware of, Facebook runs on a free online service as they collect, use and trade our data with other companies for funds. If Facebook were to be stricter on users privacy elements, there may be a chance they would make Facebook a pay-to-use service to generate funds. This is a very controversial issue that has created much discussion.. What would you do if you were Facebook?
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Interesting blog post! It’s definitely surprising how many Facebook users continue to use their services, after knowing their privacy has been breached – although it may be hypocritical for me to say.
I believe Facebook did not handle the situation well whatsoever, with the CEO’s silence indicating that they were hoping for the scandal to pass and to sweep it under the rug.
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Yes! Was not good PR management by FB. They were clearly in the wrong, buy tried sweeping it under the rug. This will definitely be a valuable case study for the future! Many businesses can use this as a guide on “what not to do”. Thanks for your comment, an excellent thought.
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Interesting Read! Surprising to see the % of users who didn’t actually trust Facebook to begin with and the relatively calm reaction after the Congressional Hearings. Usually when you here something so huge and damning especially for a brand & service that’s so well known you’d expect waves of backlash and outrage.
Also interesting to see that people only started to adjust their privacy settings once the issue had come into the spotlight. I have to admit that i fall in the category of people who adjusted their privacy settings after the scandal became big. The reactions really give an insight into the trust the majority of people actually place in social media even though they use and rely on the platform so much.
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Absolutely Chris! I also expecte a lot more people to at least adjust their privacy settings after the hearings, I suppose we’ve all heard the saying that when you put stuff up on FB anyone can find it and see it. There’s always a trace somewhere. So consumers assumed FB had access or were tracking their behaviours. And yes I just wonder whether people changing their privacy would have any impact. Can FB still obtain the information and data from consumers even if they set it to private? At least FB couldn’t avoid the problem.
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Wow makes sense that 43% of users didn’t trust Facebook before and after. That is such a high statistic though, I wonder what they could have done beforehand to improve the trust? Why were so many consumers not trusting facebook to begin with. Is an interesting thought, definitely Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t help, he doesn’t represent the company well.
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Absolutely Singouse. 43% is such a high statistic, FB didn’t have a trustworhy brand to begin with so it was no surprise when the leak came. To have that many consumers no trust it before the leak, is detrimental to FB. Just indicates how in the wrong they were!
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I personally have just accepted that my data and information is going to be used by these companies in all kinds of ways. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I’ve come to terms with it.
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Yes, a lot of people have. I personally think, if they’re making money of our data, surely we get a commission.
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