How Much Information Do You Share Online? [Poll]

If you spend anytime online then you will be aware of how much information you’re leaking as you trawl your way around the Web.

Giving up some of your privacy is an unfortunate side effect of doing anything and everything online, with social networks, organizations, apps, and websites all wanting to find out more about you.

So, how much information do you share online? Welcome to this week’s MakeUseOf Poll!

BlackBerry Is BackBerry

To answer this week’s question please scroll down the page until you see the poll staring back at you. But first, we need to look at the results from last week, when we asked, “Would You Ever Buy Another BlackBerry?”

Out of a total of 364 votes, 24.7% chose Possibly, If the Phone Impresses, 23.9% chose Never, They Don’t Interest Me, 23.6% chose I Doubt It, But Never Say Never, 14.3% chose Yes, I’m Still a Fan of the Company, 10.4% chose I’m Using a BlackBerry Right Now, and 3% chose What Is BlackBerry?

This means our readership is pretty evenly split on the BlackBerry, with around the same number of people voting for the positive answers and the negative answers. A small minority don’t even know what a BlackBerry is, which shows just how low this brand of handsets has sunk.

I think it’s fair to say the question could have been worded better. The use of the word, “Another” limited the appeal of this poll to those who have previously owned a BlackBerry. This wasn’t the intention, so we may rerun this poll again in the future with a slightly different question.

Comment of the Week

We received a lot of great comments, including those from Susan, Shawn Wayne, and John Everett. Comment of the Week goes to Hildegerd Haugen, who earns our admiration and affection for this comment:

I have wanted a smart telephone with physical keys since forever, so when Blackberry brought us the Passport I took a chance and bought it. Never looked back. I have my Google play account there and all the apps I am dependent works. There is no problem getting them if you are handy and BB10 OS is to die for. Too bad too few people have found out.

Anyway, if Blackberry put their own OS to death (have been rumors of that recently), I hope I get Passport v2 with Android, haven’t I been a writer I would not need another machine. So good is this device actually.

We chose this comment because it shows why BlackBerry is still in business, even though its market share has shrunk by a huge margin. Some people do appreciate physical keyboards on smartphones, and all the while BlackBerry is catering to that niche, the company will remain viable, regardless of the operating system.

Sharing Isn’t Caring

Information is everywhere you look online. From technology news to personal blogs, from investigative journalism to personal profiles. The Web is driven by information, much of which is given up by people like me and you. Hell, even that person at the back trying to hide their tracks cannot hide completely.

To get anything done on the Internet, or even be a viable member of the online community, you need to give up some personal information. However, you still retain some control over much you give up. So, are you that person who is happy to share their lives with the rest of the world? Or that person who opts out of doing so whenever they can?

Once you have voted in the poll above, please explain in the comments section below why you voted that way. If you share your whole life online, are you worried about the consequences of doing so? If you don’t share anything, why are you so protective of your personal information?

The more information you can provide with your comment (how ironic!), the more accurate our conclusions can be based on the results. The best comment of the week will win our everlasting admiration and affection. At least until we all meet back here again this time next week with a new question.

Image Credits: Dennis Skley via Flickr