Skip to main content

Men engage in more ‘risky online behavior’ than women, study shows

facebook eye
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Be careful out there, guys. According to a new study conducted by Internet security firm Bitdefender, men are more likely to fall victim to data theft on social networks like Facebook and Twitter than women.

In the survey, Bitdefender interviewed 1,649 men and women from the US and the UK about their social media habits. The study found that 64.2 percent of women always reject friend requests from users they do not know. Men only reject requests from strangers 55.4 percent of the time.

Additionally, 24.5 percent of men make it possible to search for their accounts, while only 16 percent of women do so. And a near equal amount of men (25.6 percent) share their location on social networks, while 21.8 percent of women make their location known.

The study also found that American men are slightly more likely than men in the UK to engage is this type of “risky online behavior,” which makes those who do any of the things listed above more vulnerable to data theft.

“Men expose themselves to risks more than women, especially when accepting friendship from unknown persons,” said George Petre, Bitdefender Senior Social Media Security Researcher, in a statement. “On a positive note, the survey also showed that only about a quarter of users are willing to share their location on social networks, which makes location disclosure an important privacy concern for all users. However, most social network applications, especially the mobile ones, are designed to share this information by default, which opens the door to embarrassing if not truly dangerous situations.”

As we reported earlier this week, a team of researchers at the University of British Columbia Vancouver was able to “steal” 46,500 email addresses, and more than 14,500 home addresses from Facebook users by friending them with accounts run by “socialbots.” A socialbot can be purchased for about $29. In addition, another report found that posting your location online isn’t just used for data theft, but also by four out of five thieves looking to break into homes when people are away.

So remember: posting your location online is a terrible idea. And so is accepting friend requests from strangers. Don’t do either, if you want to keep your identity protected.

Updated with additional contextual information at 3pm ET

Andrew Couts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more
Here’s how to delete your YouTube account on any device
How to delete your YouTube account

Wanting to get out of the YouTube business? If you want to delete your YouTube account, all you need to do is go to your YouTube Studio page, go to the Advanced Settings, and follow the section that will guide you to permanently delete your account. If you need help with these steps, or want to do so on a platform that isn't your computer, you can follow the steps below.

Note that the following steps will delete your YouTube channel, not your associated Google account.

Read more