Abstract
Many social network sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, feature social applications, applications and services written by third party developers that provide additional functionality linked to a user's profile. Current platforms allow these applications to consume much of a user's profile information, as well as the profile information of the user's friends. Researchers are proposing mechanisms to reduce the risks of this data sharing, yet these efforts need to be informed with an understanding of application use and impressions. This paper examines users' motivations, intentions, and concerns with using applications, as well as their perceptions of data sharing. Our results indicate that the social interaction driving application use is also leading to a lack of awareness of data sharing, its risks, and its implications.
