With #DeleteFacebook still grabbing headlines, a UK-based survey has revealed that location is a significant factor in whether or not Brits have deleted their Facebook accounts
Welsh people are far more likely to have deleted their Facebook accounts following the #DeleteFacebook movement when compared to the average Brit, a survey of 2,000 people in the UK has revealed.
The survey, commissioned by digital scrapbook Storychest, showed that Welsh people one third more likely (12%) than UK average (9%) to have deleted their Facebook accounts as a result of #DeleteFacebook.
Overall, almost one in ten (9%) of UK based survey respondents say they have deleted their Facebook accounts over privacy concerns. To put that percentage into context, with 55 million adults in the UK, that means around five million adults in the UK have now deleted their Facebook accounts since the #DeleteFacebook movement began. Almost one in 20 (4%) say they are now looking for a more private alternative to Facebook.
Welsh people were also 20% more likely posting fewer personal photos or less personal information on the platform as a result of the scandal (12%) than the average Brit (10%).
Storychest founder Charlotte McMillan said that, while it’s reasonable people have concerns over privacy, it’s also important that precious memories are safely stored for future generations and not lost in the ether.
“While millions are now feeling uncomfortable sharing private photos and information on Facebook, it’s important to recognise that we live in a world where many memories only exist digitally,” explains McMillan.
The Storychest founder said she set up her company when she realised she needed a way to store her own family’s memories, having lost a group of baby photos which had been stored on her computer.
“People need a trustworthy place to keep these memories, safely and privately, so they don’t get lost, but can be shared with loved ones for years to come,” said McMillan. “It’s a problem I’d encountered myself. It’s devastating to lose precious photos but, equally, we all want to make sure our personal memories are kept in a safe place.”
The company commissioned the survey in order to find out people’s reactions to the privacy issues highlighted by the scandal involving Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, which led to the #DeleteFacebook hashtag being used widely on social media.
“We wanted to know if the #DeleteFacebook movement had really altered people’s behaviour in relation to the social media platform,” said McMillan. “This survey shows that for a growing number of people, the privacy concerns surrounding Facebook have really hit home.
“Consumers are waking up to how the social media giants operate and how their business models work; they now fully realise what the trade-off has cost them in terms of misuse of individual’s personal data and privacy.
“The survey results show that, for an increasing number of consumers, these issues are a genuine concern and, in particular, there is an increasing of level of discomfort with posting personal photos and information on Facebook”.
The Storychest founder says that, whilst on the one hand, Facebook has become a standard way of keeping in touch and sharing memories and events, on the other hand, people are feeling compromised by the encroachment on their privacy.
“The desire for consumers to share events and to have a place to store memories remains, but they wish to do so on their own terms,” she said.
To find out more about Storychest, visit: https://storychest.com/
To view the results of the survey, visit: https://surveys.google.com/reporting/survey?survey=nrtp5gho3z6tnq5pdwbcstswzm
