2007 Conference on Interdisciplinary Studies in Information Privacy and Security May 22, 2007 Rutgers University, New Brunswick

Jennifer Gibbs

Title: Tensions between Privacy and Self-Disclosure in the Online Dating Context

This study addresses the research question of how online dating participants manage and control their identities online, which involves disclosing enough personal information to form relationships with others yet not too much to put their privacy and security at risk. Through a nationwide survey of 562 members of online personals sites, we examine participants’ privacy and security concerns and the extent to which they influence their self-presentation and self-disclosure, as well as the factors that influence their degree of trust in those they meet online, and which, if any, “warranting” strategies they use to increase credibility of such partners. Despite the reduced socioemotional cues present in CMC, online dating participants face pressures to present a great deal of personal information up front in their profile, including intimate details such as their income, smoking and drinking habits, desire for children, and religious beliefs – information which is typically not disclosed so soon in initial face-to-face encounters. Online dating participants must negotiate conflicting needs to both reveal and control their identities as they strive to both preserve their own privacy and provide enough personal data make their profile be noticed by others; our research investigates the strategies though which this tension is managed. This research provides insight into how US citizens negotiate the trade-off between privacy and security in an important modern arena, and may inform public discussion about the relationship between privacy and security in the context of Homeland Security more broadly. 

*Joint work with Nicole B. Ellison, Michigan State University and Rebecca D. Heino, Georgetown University

Dr. Jennifer Gibbs (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is Assistant Professor of Communication at SCILS. Her research interests center around the impacts of globalization and new technologies on organizations and teams, and self-presentation and relationship formation in online dating and other mediated contexts.