The role of the interface in self-disclosure differences in social networks online and offline

Social networks allow users to share information among themselves. In this article we investigate the influence of Facebook's interface on how its users share information. To do so, firstly we present a comparison of how users share their information online and offline. We also analyze Facebook and identify which strategies are used in the system to allow or encourage users to disclose their information. By contrasting the pieces of information that are shared with a larger audience online than offline with which pieces of information the interface gives a bigger encouragement to users to disclose we find that there is a large overlap between the two groups. This finding points to the potential impact that interface decisions have on users' self-disclosure on social networks.