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Despite the fact that I was an early defender of Facebook's news feed when it launched in 2006, I'm relatively private when it comes to social networks. I have one photo I've uploaded on my Facebook profile and the rest come from others tagging me, a move that often makes me cringe, however a thoughtful gesture it may be. I've never shared family and friend photos, nor do I really care to. I still stick with emailing friends and family. Boy, do I feel old.  

But clearly, I'm not alone. Women are more private on social networks than men. Almost 60% of social network users restrict access to their profiles and women are "significantly" more likely to choose private settings, according to a just-releaed Pew Research Center report. 

About 19% of people set their profile to partially prvate so that friends of friends can view it. Only 20% of users have their profile set to public.

Women (two-thirds) are more likely than men (just under half) to set the highest restrictions. For this study, about 63% of social network users de-friended a person from their friends list, up from more than half of users in 2009.

Some 44% have deleted comments and more than a third have removed their names from photos they were tagged in.

Additionally, 11% of users regret what they've posted on social networks, with men twice as likely as females to profess their regrets - 15% vs. 8%. Young adults, not surprisingly, are also more likely to say the regret what they've posted on their social networks.

What does this al mean? Women are more thoughtful and less impulsive so they have less to regret. Hmm. Seems similar to who they are in the offline world.  

(Image source: nataliedee.com)