Privacy Concerns About Sharing General and Specific Health Information on Twitter: Quantitative Study (Preprint)

Abstract

Twitter is a common platform for people to share opinions, discuss health-related topics, and engage in conversations with a wide audience. Twitter users frequently share health information related to chronic diseases, mental health, and general wellness topics. However, sharing health information on Twitter raises privacy concerns as it involves sharing personal and sensitive data on a web-based platform.

This study aims to adopt an interactive approach and develop a model consisting of privacy concerns related to web-based vendors and web-based peers. The research model integrates the 4 dimensions of concern for information privacy that express concerns related to the practices of companies and the 4 dimensions of peer privacy concern that reflect concerns related to web-based interactions with peers. This study examined how this interaction may affect individuals’ information-sharing behavior on Twitter.

Data were collected from 329 Twitter users in the United States using a web-based survey.

Results suggest that privacy concerns related to company practices might not significantly influence the sharing of general health information, such as details about hospitals and medications. However, privacy concerns related to companies and third parties can negatively shape the disclosure of specific health information, such as personal medical issues (β=−.43; <i>P</i>&lt;.001). Findings show that peer-related privacy concerns significantly predict sharing patterns associated with general (β=−.38; <i>P</i>&lt;.001) and specific health information (β=−.72; <i>P</i>&lt;.001). In addition, results suggest that people may disclose more general health information than specific health information owing to peer-related privacy concerns (<i>t</i>₁₆₅=4.72; <i>P</i>&lt;.001). The model explains 41% of the variance in general health information disclosure and 67% in specific health information sharing on Twitter.

The results can contribute to privacy research and propose some practical implications. The findings provide insights for developers, policy makers, and health communication professionals about mitigating privacy concerns in web-based health information sharing. It particularly underlines the importance of addressing peer-related privacy concerns. The study underscores the need to build a secure and trustworthy web-based environment, emphasizing the significance of peer interactions and highlighting the need for improved regulations, clear data handling policies, and users’ control over their own data.