The June 2010 issue of Consumer Reports includes the annual Consumer Reports National Research Center State of the Net survey, which is based on a January survey of 2,000 online households, projected to 82.3 million U.S. internet-using households.
According to the survey, two out of three online U.S. households use social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, nearly twice as many as a year ago. Within the past year, 9% of social network users experienced some form of abuse, such as malware infections, scams, identity theft, or harassment.
- 40% of social network users had posted their full birth date, exposing them to identity theft.
- 26% of Facebook users with children had posted the children’s photos and names.
- One of four households with a Facebook account had users who weren’t aware of or didn’t choose to use the service’s privacy controls.
- 7% have posted their street address on their profile
- Of the adult Facebook users who played games and took quizzes on the site, 38% were either sure the apps were safe or hadn’t given it any thought
More details at Consumer Reports.
Read Cnet’s story on the survey.
