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According to Retrevo, over 35% of Americans suffer from some form of social posting regret, the numbers are much higher for people under the age of 25, and get this, if you happen to be an iPhone user then you’re in good company because they estimate over 50% of iPhone users have regrets about some posts.
If you think Anthony Weiner's problems are just isolated online difficulties that don't happen to regular folks, you should think again. In a recent Retrevo Gadgetology study that looked at how people use the gadgets in their lives, over half the respondents under 25 years old said they regret posting something online. When we looked back at a similar Gadgetology study from a year ago it doesn't look like online users have learned much, as the number of those with "poster's remorse" has actually revealed a subtle increase.
Damage Ex Post Facto
While it is possible for some people to remove or repair problematic postings, for many others, damage control can be more challenging, if not impossible. Over 25% of those who regretted their post say it ruined their marriage or relationship or caused problems at home or work.
"The information people post to sites like Twitter and Facebook can easily go on to have a life of its own," says Jennifer L. Jacobson, Director of Public Relations and Social Media for Retrevo.com. "You don't always know who's following you and just about anyone can take a screenshot of your post, save it, and share it with the world."
My Smartphone Made Me Do It
Next time you get the impulse to fire off a photo from your smartphone to your Facebook page you may want to take a deep breath and make sure it's not going to come back to haunt you. The study found that smartphone owners are more than twice as likely to post something they regret, compared to non-smartphone owners. iPhone owners led the group with 51% expressing regret compared to 43% of Android owners and 45% of BlackBerry owners. Our hunch is that smartphones make it too easy to snap a photo at a bar or wild party and send it right on to Twitter or Facebook leaving the poster to wonder the next morning, why they did that the night before. While this can make a humorous Hollywood movie plot, it's somehow not as funny when it hits closer to home.
Study Highlights:
- Have you ever posted anything online about yourself that you regretted?
35% of everyone surveyed said yes
54% of respondents under 25 years old said yes
32% of respondents over age 25 said yes
- Of people who posted something online that they regretted:
11% said it didn't cause any other problems
3% said it ruined their marriage or relationship
6% said it caused problems at work or home
15% said it caused problems, but they were able to remove it.
- Smartphone Owners
51% of iPhone owners have posted something they regretted
43% of Android owners have posted something they regretted
45% of BlackBerry owners have posted something they regretted
- Smartphone owners are 26% more likely to post something they regret.
About Retrevo Gadgetology Report
The Retrevo Gadgetology Report is an ongoing study of people and electronics from the consumer electronics shopping and review site Retrevo.com. The data for this report came from a study of online individuals conducted exclusively for Retrevo in June of 2011, by an independent panel. The sample size was over 1,000 distributed across gender, age, income and location in the United States. Most responses have a confidence interval of 4% at a 95% confidence level.
About Retrevo
Retrevo.com is one of the largest consumer electronics review and shopping sites in the world, helping people decide what to buy, when to buy, and where to buy. Retrevo uses artificial intelligence to analyze and graphically summarize more than 50 million real-time data points from across the web to give shoppers the most comprehensive, unbiased, up-to-date product information they need to make smart, confident purchasing decisions for electronics.
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