final rm(2)

Running head: SAUDI USERS’ PRIVACY PERCEPTION

Privacy and Social Networking: WhatsApp Users’ Perception in Saudi Arabia

Researchers:

Nemah Alsayed

Haifaa Alakel

Ferdous Mohammed

Shaykha Khayat

Safia Bawazeer

BBUS 3201 Fall- 2015/2016

Dar Al-Hekma University

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Abstract

This study investigates WhatsApp users’ perceptions of its privacy, identifying the

familiarity of privacy issues and how their actions are influenced by such knowledge, as well as

the role of trust in an online social networking environment. A cross-sectional survey design is

used. The sample frame is a network of WhatsApp friends; 500 survey responses were collected

through snowball method giving a response rate of 100 per cent. The study reveals over half of

WhatsApp’s users have a high level of privacy awareness; however, uncertainty is clear. Privacy

concerns are evident, especially relating to third parties’ access to WhatsApp users’ information.

Over half of users have not changed their privacy settings to tighter controls, even though the

users have shown a large privacy concerns. Users have disclosed a concern regarding the

acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook, yet, privacy settings were not changing. One-quarter of

users trust WhatsApp, yet over half of users believe that they are obliged to protect their own

information.

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Table of Content

Introduction 4

Literature Review 4

Research questions and objectives 9

Methodology

Research Philosophy: Interpretivism 10

Research Strategy: Cross-Sectional Survey 10

Ethical Considerations 11

Results and Findings 11

Limitations 20

Conclusion and Recommendation 21

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Introduction

WhatsApp is often used as a replacement of SMS messaging, it is a smart phone

application that allows users to send messages to other WhatsApp users. It is considered as the

most popular instant messaging application in the world and recently been in the news

concerning the privacy of its users after its purchase by Facebook. Facebook is one of the most

famous social media platforms which made the users data public in 2009. WhatsApp as well had

privacy issues of its own, like the poor encryption of messages, meaning using a packet

analyzing software, any “hacker” can view the content of the sent messages. Each and every

person has different views and perspectives regarding privacy in WhatsApp. Therefore, this

research was conducted to explore the awareness of WhatsApp users about the privacy issues

and how their awareness affects their behavior. The researchers have chosen this topic mainly

because no one have conducted the same research in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, a complete

analysis was done concerning the privacy of WhatsApp.

Literature Review

This section discusses the different secondary resources that the researchers used and

were exposed prior to conduct the research. The research’s questions, objectives, and design

were inspired and based on those readings. However, not everything that was read by the

researchers were matching the research. Such resources were criticized.

1. Internet Usage and Web-Applications in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest growing countries in terms of internet users, according

to Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) the usage of Internet in the

Kingdom increased in the last few years, from 13% in 2005 to 63.7% by the end of 2014 (ICT

report, 2014). Out of the 30,770,375 population (CDSI, 2014), 64.2% of the Kingdom’s

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population are internet users, which account to more than half of the population (MCIT, 2014).

Saudi Arabia is ranked in the 35th place worldwide in terms of the Internet usage (CIA, 2014).

The high availability of internet services positively relates to the increased usage of web-based

applications and social media platforms represent huge share of the accessed web applications

facilitated by the use of mobile phones. In CITC Mobility in SA report, they confirmed that the

evolution of smart devices and its availability at lower prices nowadays in the Kingdom has

changed the way users interact with the internet and applications. Usage became highly personal,

not as it used to be limited to sharing with family or work. Mobility and instant access are factors

that provided so many opportunities to create and consume information (ICT report, 2014). In a

research conducted by Ipsos MediaCT, under Google commission, based on sample size n=500

of smartphones in Saudi Arabia, they found that 93% visit social networks and 74% visit at least

once a day (Our Mobile Planet, 2013).

2. Social Networking Trends

Social media trends have affected millions of users around the globe since the start of

first social networking site in 1997, they represent two thirds of the internet users (Boyd &

Ellison, 2008 as cited in O' Bien & Torres, 2012). One of the most famous social media platform

is Facebook, which alone, managed to reach 500 million users in 2010 (Wortham, 2010). As the

site became more popular, many privacy concerns were aroused by users. In 2009 they reached

climax because Facebook made all users data public by default (Rothery, 2010). On the other

hand, another famous social media platform is WhatsApp, which is an instant messaging

application similar to Facebook Messaging. (Geller, 2011) Since the first launch of the cross-

platform messaging application, WhatsApp has been used and liked by so many users and it

became a trend. The WhatsApp team reported that they handle over billion messages each day:

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“The mobile messaging market is moving, choices around platforms and their pricing and

how they provide an amazing customer experience are the hot topics at hand. As a leader

in the messaging space and with the network now handling over one billion messages a

day, the researchers think that the power is with the consumer.”

(WhatsApp users now send over 1 billion messages each day, 2011). (Goretsky, 2014)

Recently, the major company Facebook, purchased WhatsApp for 19 billion dollars (Facebook

and WhatsApp: Security and privacy after the $19B deal). The researchers wonder if this step

will concern WhatsApp users as Facebook is known for its questionable privacy controls.

However, WhatsApp had as well privacy issues of its own, (Greenberg, 2014) like the poor

encryption of messages, meaning using a packet analyzing software, any “hacker” can view the

content of the send messages. Moreover, in 2013 the Canadian Privacy Commission found after

a study they did, that the app was collecting the numbers listed in the app user’s phone via

address books, even if they were not WhatsApp users. (WhatsApp Comes Under New Scrutiny

For Privacy Policy, Encryption Gaffs). (Abdullah, 2013) In 2013, CITC announced they will

block the social networking app WhatsApp if they do not comply with regulatory requirement of

telecommunication providers in SA. One of the requirement was to establish a local server so the

telecom operators can monitor user’s activities. (CITC: WhatsApp to be blocked before

Ramadan). WhatsApp complied with those requirement and the app was not blocked, however,

some services it provides is, like the free calling feature. Besides, CITC highlighted security

concerns as one of the major obstacles in the adaption of many ICT services in SA, especially in

remote access and internet based services, which are hosted and managed on the cloud (ICTC

report, 2014).

3. Privacy and users’ perception

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The researchers identify users' privacy perception as how well they are aware of their rights

of data protection, and to which extent they have knowledge if their data is viewed or accessed or

modified or probably used by a third party (i.e. advertising companies), with or without their

permission. Users disclose various types of information using social networking, such as

personal names, photos, birth dates, and even possibly financial data. Many researchers viewed

sharing on social media as part of social exchange theory, which considers the long-term benefits

and costs of exchanging (French & Read, 2013). The benefits include sharing empathy,

strengthening relationships, and entertainment. (Krasnova et al. 2010, as cited in French & Read,

2013). Other researchers argued that users way of sharing information depends on the outcome

they want; outcomes based on relationships, romance, friendship, family or professionalism

differ for each user (French & Read, 2013). However, many users are unaware of possible

privacy violations risks; they share their lives publicly with others whom they share common

traits (French & Read, 2013). Researchers had evaluated privacy perception from the user’s

willingness to disclose information (Fogel and Nehma, 2009 as cited in French & Read, 2013)

and others as the ability to manage the security and privacy settings on SNSs (Debatin et al. 2009

as cited in French & Read, 2013). Many researchers confirmed that in web based virtual

communities, trust is viewed as a key factor for sharing data and information disclosure by users

(Fogel and Nehmad 2009, Hsuet al. 2011, Tsai and Cheng 2012 as cited in French & Read,

2013). As Facebook was the main trend of privacy issues, and had a broad media coverage,

many studies were conducted related to the site. One research examined Facebook users’

perception of online privacy. It aimed to find out if users’ awareness of privacy issues influences

their behavior; it believed there is a relationship between privacy and users’ trust of the site (O'

Bien & Torres, 2012). Their findings was that majority of users have not read the privacy policy

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because of its length and boredom. The youngest age group (18–21) were the most active when it

came to information disclosure and frequency of use (O' Bien & Torres, 2012). While younger

users have more friends from the same age group, and they fully use the multimedia functions.

(As cited in Xie, Watkins, Golbeck, and Huang, 2012). They also believed it is more their

responsibility to protect their information on Facebook. (O' Bien & Torres, 2012). Furthermore, a

study conducted about how elders perceive social media, the initial perceptions were negative.

The participants linked social media with inappropriate teens’ behavior such as gossiping (Xie,

Watkins, Golbeck, and Huang, 2012). Older Facebook users are more likely to be cautious in

what they say and do on Facebook in comparison to younger Facebook users besides they are the

least trusting group on Facebook and they believe it is the Facebook company’s obligation to

protect users’ information (O' Bien & Torres, 2012). Some researchers had found a difference

between older and younger population’ perception towards technology, and others found that age

does not play a role (as cited in Xie et al, 2012). Regardless of the age group, majority of users’

main concern is their information being accessible by and sold to third party and the protection

of their personal information.

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Research questions and objectives

After reviewing the literature, researchers decided to conduct similar research to (O’ Bien &

Torres, 2012) Social Networking and Online Privacy: Facebook Users' Perceptions, which

examined Facebook users’ perceptions of online privacy, and their awareness of privacy issues

and how their behavior is influenced by this awareness. Researchers will conduct the study about

Privacy and Social Networking: WhatsApp Users’ Perception in Saudi Arabia, by changing the

social networking platform to WhatsApp, and the location of the study to Saudi Arabia.

The following are the research’s questions and objectives which will be answered from primary

and secondary data collections in the results and findings.

1. How do WhatsApp’s users view privacy?

a. To understand users’ perception and views of privacy.

b. To identify if WhatsApp’s users trust them with their information.

c. To find out if users think companies have obligations to protect their data.

d. To find out if users are cautious of their data being accessed by third parties.

2. Does the awareness of WhatsApp privacy issues influences users’ behavior/sharing?

a. To identify the influence of privacy issues on users’ behavior.

b. To find out if the users read the privacy policy statements.

c. To measure how often do users change their privacy settings.

3. Is there is a relationship between WhatsApp and Facebook’s users’ privacy perceptions?

a. To identify if privacy issues are similar especially after the purchase of WhatsApp by

Facebook.

b. To identify if users’ view of privacy vary between the two social sites.

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Methodology

Research Philosophy: Interpretivism

The researchers decided to use the interpretivism philosophy to provide analysis for a

mixture of qualitative and quantitative data that will be assessed. Saudi users’ awareness of

Social networks privacy is subjective of nature as users’ perceptions vary from each user to

another. The perceptions are affected by many variables such as cultural background, age,

education, and awareness. .The data collected was of quantitative nature and the sample size was

n=500. The researchers do not aim to generalize their findings on the Saudi population. Inductive

approach was used which follows the interpretivism philosophy because there was not a

developed theory to test a hypothesis, also the inductive approach is generally associated with

qualitative research.

Research Strategy: Cross-Sectional Survey

Survey strategy was used and conducted once, using non probability sampling technique

of snowball sampling. Using mono method questionnaires were conducted only, due to time

constraint. Also, it was the most appropriate for the nature of the data that the researchers wanted

to collect. Snowball sampling was implemented by using social networking applications (i.e.

WhatsApp and Facebook) to distribute the questionnaires in an online format, users were asked

to distribute it to their network of friends and friends of friends. This technique was used as it

was appropriate to use those sites as the researchers were be able to directly access the potential

targeted users of WhatsApp.

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Ethical Considerations

The researchers will abide by all ethical considerations which include not using any false or

edited date, plagiarizing and the using information that could harm anyone in any possible way.

Due to the fact that many people dislike questionnaires and that they may feel the information

they will provide might be used inappropriately, the questionnaires to be distributed will ensure

anonymity for the participants and they are going to be approached professionally with no

pressure to answer if they would not like to. The researchers will distribute the same

questionnaire to all the participants and will not interfere in altering the results. The researchers

will comply with Saudi cultural values.

Results and Findings

This research had three main objectives, to understand users’ perception of privacy, to

identify the influence of privacy issues on users’ behavior, and to find out if WhatsApp and

Facebook users have similar privacy perceptions.

Demographics variables of gender and age groups were important in analyzing the

awareness level, perceptions, and behaviors. Researchers think due to the cultural values and

ethics in Saudi Arabia, gender plays an important role in perception and behavior part.

Researchers had the first impression before analyzing the results, that females in Saudi Arabia

might be a little conservative and more thoughtful and might tend to think before they send on

social media platforms compared to males. Out of the 500 respondents 69.5% of them were

females and 30.5% of them were males.

As for the age, the researchers included it as they wished to link their results to what they

found in the literature, some researchers (LR) got similar results for awareness between different

age groups, and for others (LR) age did not play a role in the results variation. Based on age

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groups and out of the 500 responses, the highest rate was 47% for the ages of 16 to 25, followed

by 36% for the ages of 26 to 39, and the least rate was 17% for the ages 40 and plus. These

results matched the researchers’ expectations that they had before distributing the questionnaires

on WhatsApp. Researchers thought the highest response rate will be from the youngest age

groups, because from the researchers’ observations of the Saudi society, most of the younger

generation spend long times on social media. The lowest rate was from 40 and above because

either older people do not spend as much time on social media or the snowballing technique of

sending survey to network of friends did not reach enough mature users.

For the first main objective, a total of five questions were asked to help satisfy that

objective. First question was about participants’ most used functions on WhatsApp and what

type of information they share. As the researchers believed that each function is associated with a

certain level of information disclosure. (LR) some researchers suggested that privacy perception

is linked to the willingness of users to share information. Based on gender analysis, the results

for most used functions, ranging between texting, sending pictures, voice recordings, videos, and

location services, showed that texting was the highest for both genders, 36.1% for females, and

29.1% for males. Followed by sending pictures which both had very close results of 24% for

females and 24.3% for males. Researchers concluded from that, that usually users tend to be

more aware of what they share if they had to type it and it is not as easy as voice recordings

which was 13.5% for females and 14.5% for males. While both genders send pictures, the

following question was to identify if they are open with sharing personal photos and it showed a

variation between the two. While for other functions, location services results was 12.1% for

females and 14.7% for males. This low rate could indicate that a. not many users are aware of

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this functions or b. they do not like the application to know their location and these is highly

linked to their awareness of privacy.

As for what type of information is being shared on WhatsApp, of personal information

category (personal photo, voice recording, video, location, and private information such as: bank

account details) for females the highest rate was 20.6% for work related information followed by

20% for personal photo, same rate of 16.8% for location and voice recording, and lowest rate

between all of 12.4 % for private information. While for male results of the personal information

category, the highest rate was 19.1% for personal photo followed by 18.5% for work related

information, and personal video and location came close of 16.4% and 16.8%, followed by

14.7% for private information and lowest rate between all was for personal voice recording of

14.5%. Comparing both highest rates of information type between males and females, males

were more open about sharing their personal photos than females, and researchers linked this

results to Saudi Arabia culture values where females tend to be more conservatives, thus having

higher awareness due to their values. While females had the highest rate of sharing work related

information and it was relatively lower for males, which the researchers concluded that males are

more aware of choosing what to share about their work details using social media and females do

not mind sharing work details with colleagues.

Based on age group analysis, the number one most used function between all age groups

was texting ranging from 32 to 34%, which was expected as it is the main function WhatsApp is

known for. Second most used functions with close results between all age groups as well ranging

between 23 to 25% was sending pictures. These two functions that the researchers considered it

having high level of information disclosure. Third place of most used function was voice

recordings for [16-25] and videos for [26-39] and [40+].

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While for the last function, location services (GPS), which is in many countries, viewed

as a privacy threat as the application can track the user’s location if the service is enabled. For

Saudi users, from all age groups, the rate of the users who use location services ranged from 9 to

14 %. It seems that they do not consider it as a main function for WhatsApp, maybe they use

maps application instead, or they it could be they are cautious from it. In further results on the

bases of functions, 18.50% of the ages between 26 and 39 said they share their location, 16.2%

of the ages of 40 and plus, and 15.1% of the ages between 16 and 25.

[16-25] [26-39] 40 and above

15.10% 18.50% 16.20%11.90% 16.60% 11.60%20.30%

20.80%22.70%

14%16% 18%

19.10%16.20% 12.10%

20% 12% 20%

What type of information do you share on WhatsApp?

GPS Private info

personal photos Personal videos

Personal Voice recordings Work Related info

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Males Female

16.90% 16.80%15.50% 12.30%

20.80% 20.90%

17.70% 13.50%

15.70% 17.70%

13.40% 18.80%

What type of information do you share on WhatsApp?

GPS Private informationpersonal photos Personal videosPersonal Voice recordings Work Related information

Next question under the first objective was, do you trust WhatsApp with keeping your

information private? In answering that question, based on gender analysis, the results did not

vary a lot from male to female. Majority said No, they do not trust WhatsApp, 61.9% for female,

and 66.9% for males. The others who said yes were 38.1% for females and 33.1% for males.

Based on age groups analysis, the results did not vary a lot as well for all age groups. Majority

said No, they do not trust WhatsApp, 61% for [16-25], 67% for [26-39], and 64% for 40 and

above. The others who said No were 39% for [16-25], 34% for [26-39], and 36% for 40 and

above. Since more than half said they do not trust WhatsApp of keeping their information

private, this indicates a high level of WhatsApp privacy issues awareness. As the results showed,

gender and age group differences did not affect the results of this question.

Next question under the first objective was, who do you think is responsible of protecting

your information privacy on WhatsApp? Based on gender analysis, the results did not vary a lot

from male to female. Who answered “Myself, because I choose what I share.” were 66.7% of

males and 63.1% of females. While who answered “WhatsApp, because I am using their

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services” were 31% of males and 35.1% of females. This results could be interpreted in relation

with Saudi cultural values, as the individuals do not like sharing sensitive information with

“strangers”, so if they are online, they care not to share and their values recommend that they are

responsible about that. However, this results are negative in the sense that WhatsApp has many

issues with “its part” of protecting users’ data, for example, by using encryption for messages (),

and low rate [31% to 35.1%] said it’s the app responsibly, which the researchers expected more

users to say so. This question had “other” option to allow users’ other input. After analyzing all

what they wrote, many said in “other” that the responsibility is shared between both, the user and

the application representing 3.4 %. Other inputs gave useful insights and represented high level

of awareness, some user even added that “It should be a joint effort between users, service

provider and governments.”“ The service provider should also streamline the privacy protection

aspect of his service since many users are not well-versed in such practices.” However, it was

very low rate of less than 1%. Based on age groups analysis, the results did not vary between

each age group and came close. Who answered “Myself, because I choose what I share” were

62.1% for [16-25], 63.5% for [26-39], and 66.2% for 40 and above. While who answered

“WhatsApp, because I am using their services” were 34.1% for [16-25], 36.5% for [26-39], and

33.8% for 40 and above. The only variation between gender and age group analysis was that only

the ages from 16 to 25 chose the “other” option, including the previous results of whom said

“both” and from whom had useful input. Also, another 0.40% of age 16 to 25 answered in

“other” that they have no idea who is responsible.

Next question under the first objective was, do you think what you send on WhatsApp

might be used by another company (third party)? Researchers asked this question to find out if

users are cautious of their data being accessed by third parties because according to (O' Bien &

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Torres, 2012) it was the main concern of the users in their study if the information is being

accessible by and sold to third parties. Based on gender analysis, 52.3% of males and 40% of

female said “yes”. While who answered “no” were 41.3% males and 53.5% females. “Other”

option was selected by 6.4% males and 6.5% females. Based on who said “yes” males were

higher by 12.3% indicating a higher cautiousness than females in the sample, the researchers are

not generalizing. And females who said “No” were higher by 12.2% than males. Who chose

“other” option, rates were very close. Based on age groups analysis, who answered “yes” were

46% for [16-25], 47% for [26-39], and 36% for 40 and above. While who answered “no” were

47% for [16-25], 49% for [26-39], and 54% for 40 and above. Last, who answered “other” were

7% for [16-25], 3% for [26-39], and 10% for 40 and above. The youngest age group [16-25]

results were very close between “yes” and “no” which is hard to identify whom from them is

more concerned, however, almost half said yes which indicate a decent level of awareness for

younger users. Their 7% “other” answers included majority of “I don’t know” followed by

“maybe”, which the researchers think that half of younger users who said “no” is because either,

a. they do not believe so, or b. they do not know about third party access concepts. Second age

group [26-39] also had a similar pattern of results of the youngest age group [16-25]. Results

were very close between “yes” and “no” which is hard to identify whom from them is more

concerned, however, who no were higher by only 2%. Their 3% “other” answers included

“maybe” followed by “I don’t know” and few said it is accessed by not a company, but by the

government, especially when needed, for security reasons. Last, the oldest age group [40+], had

a clearer distinguish between “yes” and “no” since majority answered “no”. The researchers

expected such results because many of WhatsApp users in Saudi Arabia from older age groups

could not be aware of third party access concepts, and how technology works in general. Of

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course many variables affects that, like education for example, but the researchers did not

include that variable in this study.

For the second main objective, a total of three questions were asked to help satisfy that

objective. First question was, do you read the privacy policy statements provided by Social

Media sites? Based on gender analysis. Who answered “I never read it.” were 67.4% of males

and 65.9% of females. Who answered “I read it thoroughly” were 5.2% of males and 7.9% of

females. While who answered “I go through the first couple of pages” were 27.3% of males and

26.2% of females. Results were very close between both genders and it seems gender is not an

important variable in influencing behavior for this question. Based on age group analysis, who

answered “I never read it” were 68% for [16-25], 60% for [26-39], and 67% for 40 and above.

Who answered “I go through the first couple of pages” were 24% for [16-25], 31% for [26-39],

and 29% for 40 and above. While who answered “I read it thoroughly” were 8% for [16-25],

10% for [26-39], and 4% for 40 and above. The researchers expected the youngest age group to

have the highest rate of “I never read it” because the researchers observed that they do not like

reading much and probably will not be interested, and researchers got the highest rate from them

[68%]. However, they were lowest on “I go through the first couple of pages” [24%] which was

the indicator to medium level of awareness, and “I read it thoroughly” was the indicator of high

level and they got 8%. The second highest result of “I never read it” were for oldest age group,

who also scored low in “I read it thoroughly [4%] as the researchers expected. Researchers used

a follow up question to get some indications of why they do not read them, as researchers

expected it to be the highest result. The options were limited to most common reasons the

researchers found upon the literature review, including that privacy policies’ statements are

either “boring”, “too long”, or “I am not interested”, the researchers included as well “other’

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option to see if other reasons exists for the respondents. Age group variable did not play a role in

results variations in the reasons, as researchers got very similar rates for all reasons. Almost half

of all age groups [51% to 53%] said because it is very long. [24.4% to 28.2%] said it was boring.

[16.80% to 21.1%] said they are interested. Companies defend themselves when privacy issues

arises by saying that they state everything in their privacy policy statements, and users should not

hold them reliable for those issues because they agreed to those statements. By making them

very long they almost guarantee that majority of the public, probably will not read them. Which

matched the results of one of the reasons. The “other” option helped to bring new insights into

users thinking, some of the responses was reflecting high level of awareness. Some said “even if

the app invade my privacy, they force me to accept statement to continue using the app” which is

interpreted as a negative sign. Other said they do not read it but instead they look up professional

bloggers summaries online of online privacy statements of different applications. Some of These

“other” answers reflected high awareness level, however, the rate of them was only ranged from

2% to 3.30%.

Next question under the second objective was a statement, “while on WhatsApp you’re:”

the options included “Worried about sharing your information”, “Not worried about sharing your

information”, and “other”. The majority of all age groups answered “Not worried about sharing

your information”, at a rate of 61.5% for [16-25], 58.2% for [26-39], and 57.1% for [40+]. While

who answered “Not worried about sharing your information”, were 37.6% for [16-25], 41.2% for

[26-39], and 42.9 for [40+]. Only ages of [16-25] and [26-39] chose “other” representing less

than 2%.

Next question under the second objective was, how often do you change your privacy

setting? The answers were limited by three options, “rarely”, “regularly” and “never”. The

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researchers did this question based only on age groups analysis as researchers thought gender

was not important. The researchers expected the oldest age group to have the highest rate of

“never” as older users could be less involved in all application functions compared to younger

users. Who said “never” were 22.60% for [16-25], 15.4% for [26-39], and 26.20% for [40+].

Who said “rarely” were 59.8% for [16-25], 67.6% for [26-39], and 65.5% for [40+]. While who

answered “Regularly” were 18% for [16-25], 17% for [26-39], and 8.3% for [40+]. The age

group of [26-39] had the highest rate of “rarely” followed by the oldest age group.

Researchers linked this to the last objective which is “ To identify if users’ view of privacy vary

between the two social sites” and found out that those who are in the age group of [26-39] are

more concerned about the privacy issues of WhatsApp especially after its purchase by Facebook.

The fact that they were concerned about its privacy issues gave an indication that the way they

view different social sites differ. Moreover, this could also be linked to what was mentioned in

the LR, where researchers mentioned that Facebook made all users data public by default and

that many people were concerned. All in all, different people view the privacy of different sites

differently.

Limitations

Time was a major limitation while conducting this research, the time available to choose

a topic, choose an appropriate methodology and do the analysis were limited to the submission

date. In addition, the researchers had to manage their time and to be flexible so that they could

finish up their assignments and projects in the other courses that they enrolled in. The fluency in

English language was another limitation to in the research as they had to rewrite the survey

questions in Arabic so that they could get as more participants as possible. Analyzing the data

received took so much time and researchers were unsure of some of the results that they received

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because it might have been bias as researchers did not observe the participants. The size,

convenience, and homogeneity of the sample limit the generalizability of this study. And lastly

the sample size chosen n=500, was small when considering generalization because the results

cannot be generalized to the entire population of Saudi Arabia.

Conclusion and Recommendation

This research was conducted in Saudi Arabia to test the awareness level of privacy towards the

WhatsApp users’ perception and to fill the gap of the subject. Moreover, the researchers did not

aim to generalize. It was found through the research that the sample were aware of the privacy

except for the oldest age group [40+] they were the least. For both gender mostly they do not

trust WhatsApp as it is their responsibility to protect themselves but still they were not aware of

a third party access. The research proved the privacy settings and statements are ignored and not

changed because of its length and there were not a satisfying reasons to do so. In addition, the

sample were concerned that their information can be accessed by Facebook referring to the fact

Facebook bought WhatsApp. Some of the results were expected to be, while some were not. The

level of awareness that was proven was not expected due to the lack of technological

backgrounds as they showed high percentages that it is their responsibility to protect what they

share. Most users did not trust WhatsApp it was expected that they know their information might

be shared by or was giving to another company for some purposes, the males were surer about it

as they had a higher percentage but most of the ones who wrote comments thought it is accessed

by the government only. This is considered as misunderstanding of privacy when it is accessed

by a third party.

After conducting this research, the researchers came up with some recommendations for future

researchers.

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Recommendations for future research:

There has not been similar research on this topic in Saudi Arabia. The researchers suggest

by focusing on doing in depth research for each demographic variable alone. For example, each

age group and gender with adding other strategies (multi method) like observations. Increasing

the sample size is recommended, because it provides more reliable results. By still using the

survey strategy since it provides high level of feedback among different classes of people.

Another very famous social platform in Saudi Arabia is twitter, so this research could be

modified to accommodate Twitter’s users and functionalities. Other researchers can conduct

identical research to this one but using a different country and compare the awareness of users in

comparison to Saudi Arabia.

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final rm(2)

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