Just untag it: Exploring the management of undesirable Facebook photos

Facebook is the most popular social networking site (SNS) in the world. This study explored the methods individuals use to manage perceived invasions of privacy in the form of undesirable Facebook photos uploaded and tagged by other users. Limited previous research has focused solely on untagging, deletion request, privacy setting and face-to-face management methods. A series of qualitative focus group discussions identified these and further management methods, such as emailing or texting the uploader to request the removal of the image. An online quantitative questionnaire examined the relationship of the identified methods with age, gender and personality traits. Untagging was the most frequently cited management method in both the focus group discussions and online questionnaire. Contrary to previous studies, the findings suggested that women were not more likely to untag than men. Younger Facebook users were found to be more likely to untag than older users but were not more likely to use Facebook management methods. Agreeable individuals were more likely to use direct management methods. On average participants chose three methods they would use to manage these undesirable impressions. Future research should investigate the influence of the photo content and the tagged user's relationship with the uploader on the management of undesirable SNS photos. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.