Facebook’s Compatibility, Reasons for Disclosure, and Discussion of Social and Political Issues: The Case of University Students Using Facebook

This paper presents the results and discussion of qualitative interviews that were conducted with 20 of Saudi university students, including findings concerning their opinions about the compatibility of Facebook with Saudi culture. It also examines their reasoning and privacy concerns when disclosing personal information online, and reports their perceptions about discussing social and political issues on Facebook. Findings revealed that Saudi students disclosed much of their personal information. They disclosed more than half of their personally identifiable information, about three quarters of their sensitive personal information, and about half of their potentially stigmatising personal information.