UK consumers willing to give up social media rather than part with more data

A new study shows that 63 percent of the UK population distrust social media due to privacy concerns and what's more as a result of privacy issues or other public scandals involving social media, 30 percent of consumers have either disabled social media (17 percent) or plan to within the next 12 months (13 percent).

The research, from digital experience company Acquia, shows only 27 percent say they would be willing to part with more data to retain access to platforms. While 48 percent indicate that recent revelations about data sharing practices have led to them using social media less often.

Increasingly consumers are recognizing that by using social media, they are essentially consenting to sharing their data, which they know platforms rely on to support their business models and to provide services. 40 percent of those surveyed acknowledge this to be the case.

"For years, social media platforms have been fending off accusations of poor data privacy and transparency practices," says Tom Bianchi, VP of marketing, EMEA, at Acquia. "Our findings clearly show that while consumers understand the value of data to social media companies, the platforms still have a great deal of work to do to convince consumers of how sharing data benefits them. Big tech initiatives over the past year have been well-received, and offer a blueprint for how social media can win over their users through first-party data strategies."

So what's needed to improve people's perception of social media platforms? Better security (45 percent) and increased privacy safeguards (41 percent) are the most important factors, with greater transparency around data usage also ranking highly (34 percent). On the other hand, 60 percent of consumers say that Facebook’s recent re-brand to Meta has negatively impacted their perception of the company.

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