[Paper Review] Improving the Usability of Privacy Settings in Facebook

Thomas Paul, Daniel Puscher+1 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Sep 27, 2011

Privacy, Security, and Data Protection6 references20 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes a redesigned privacy interface for Facebook that uses color coding (red=private, blue=selected friends, yellow=all friends, green=public), simplified access, and intuitive controls to improve usability. A user study showed the new interface significantly reduced configuration errors and improved speed and accuracy in setting privacy, with all but two participants rating it as 'much better' than Facebook's original interface.

ABSTRACT

The ever increasing popularity of Facebook and other Online Social Networks has left a wealth of personal and private data on the web, aggregated and readily accessible for broad and automatic retrieval. Protection from both undesired recipients as well as harvesting through crawlers is implemented by simple access control at the provider, configured by manual authorization through the publishing user. Several studies demonstrate that standard settings directly cause an unnoticed over-sharing and that the users have trouble understanding and configuring adequate settings. Using the three simple principles of color coding, ease of access, and application of common practices, we developed a new privacy interface that increases the usability significantly. The results of our user study underlines the extent of the initial problem and documents that our interface enables faster, more precise authorisation and leads to increased intelligibility.

Motivation & Objective

• To address the widespread problem of over-sharing on Facebook due to confusing privacy settings.
• To improve user understanding and correct configuration of privacy controls through interface redesign.
• To evaluate whether a redesigned interface based on usability principles leads to faster, more accurate privacy settings configuration.
• To identify key usability flaws in Facebook’s original privacy interface that lead to unintended data exposure.
• To develop and test a prototype overlay interface that enhances privacy control intuitiveness and clarity.

Proposed method

• Design a new privacy interface using three core principles: color coding for visibility levels, proximity of controls to data, and application of common interaction patterns (e.g., drag-and-drop, tooltips).
• Implement the new interface as a Firefox browser plugin overlay on Facebook’s 2011 interface to maintain compatibility and test usability.
• Use a controlled user study comparing the original Facebook interface and the new interface, with tasks involving both setting and reviewing privacy configurations.
• Assign tasks in random order to minimize learning effects and ensure valid comparison of performance metrics.
• Apply color-coding system: red (invisible), blue (selected friends), yellow (all friends), green (public), with real-time feedback for changes.
• Incorporate user feedback to refine design, such as adding help text and improving visual distinction between columns in the friend-selection panel.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 To what extent does the redesigned privacy interface improve user accuracy in configuring privacy settings compared to Facebook’s original interface?
• RQ2 How does the new interface affect the speed and efficiency of users when setting or reviewing privacy configurations?
• RQ3 What usability issues arise when users interact with the 'selected friends' privacy setting in the new interface?
• RQ4 How effective is the profile preview function in helping users understand who can see their data, and what design improvements can enhance its discoverability?
• RQ5 To what extent do users perceive the new interface as more intuitive and easier to understand than the original Facebook privacy settings?

Key findings

• The new interface was rated as 'much better' by 95% of participants, with only two participants not agreeing.
• All participants rated the color-coding system as good to very good, indicating strong user acceptance of the visual design.
• Users completed tasks significantly faster and with higher precision when using the new interface compared to the original Facebook interface.
• Only 70% of users correctly interpreted the 'selected friends' setting on first use, indicating a need for improved visual cues or help text.
• The profile preview function was found by only 60% of users, a marginal improvement over the original 55%, suggesting that the button's label or design requires further optimization.
• Despite Facebook's subsequent UI updates, the authors conclude that the core usability issues remain, and their interface design principles are still highly relevant today.