Identity theft and being approached by unscrupulous advertisers without consent are the two greatest fears amongst Europeans accessing social networking sites, according to a new survey by Survey Sampling International (SSI).
Surveying a panel of just over 10,500 European consumers, 65 per cent of the Britons polled said they feared being the victim of an identity theft scam, followed by 51 per cent of the French and 42 per cent of the Spanish.
The least concerned about having their personal data stolen for fraudulent use were respondents in Germany (40 per cent).
SSI discovered that Germans (77 per cent) were the most concerned about being the target for unsolicited advertisements. Consumers in Spain (59 per cent) and France (57 per cent) also feared exposure to advertisers approaching them via social networks.
Despite these concerns, respondents were happy to share personal information in social networks.
Information such as photos, personal opinion and preferences were the top two types of personal data respondents preferred to share, closely followed by the sharing of personal contacts.
When asked which interactive technology people most preferred using, the survey revealed that Britons are most keen on social networking (28 per cent), and that 18 percent of the French, 31 percent of the Spanish and 32 percent Germans favour watching videos online.
In all four countries most respondents spend more than 20 hours per week online, with Germans leading the way at 31 per cent.
These were closely followed by UK (30 per cent), Spain (26 per cent) and France (23 per cent).
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