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We were curious as to how many Facebook users actually use their real first and last names for their profiles. And when we are curious about something here at Entrustet, it can only mean one thing: blog post! So some of us went through our Facebook friends lists and kept track of the number of friends using fake names for their Facebook profiles. Our sample size was relatively small, but it’s still a good gauge of an answer to the question: how many people use fake names on Facebook?
Criteria
- Those using a middle name instead of a last name were considered “fake,” but those using first, middle, AND last name were considered “real”
- Those intentionally misspelling their names were considered “fake.” Example: If my Facebook name were Jesse Day-vis
Results
- 69 of the 3,354 profiles surveyed were fake. Thus, 2.06% of the profiles surveyed used fake or altered names.
Conclusion
One way of looking at this is to say that 2.06% of people use fake names on Facebook. Another way to look at it is to say that 97.94% of people use real names on Facebook. I actually think the fact that 97.94% of people use fake names is quite a more telling way to look at these results. I find it pretty incredible that Facebook’s users have continued to show this much faith in the same company that gets bashed continuously for privacy concerns. People don’t really seem to care much about attaching their real identity to a Facebook identity. Will Facebook one day be our official unifying online identity? Perhaps. We will have to wait and see…
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Comments
09.02.10
I'm surprised that it's that low to be completely honest with you. Were any of the profiles spam accounts or just people using different names?
A cool follow-up study would be to do the same for LinkedIn. I'd assume that the percentage of fake names would be smaller given the professional nature of the network, but maybe I'm wrong ...
09.02.10
Facebook's requirement for accurate information is what makes facebook work well.
09.02.10
Self reporting sites offer a lot of room for user creativity. In my experience as a student organization leader and career mentor, students change their names to skirt pre-employment screening which often includes searching one's Facebook profile as standard practice.
The other big fallacy is that if they have everything set to "Friends Only" that their information won't be discovered. Unbeknownst to many, it's often one of their Facebook "friends" that unwittingly reveals it to a potential employer. The US Army encourages people to make good choices on Facebook: "Don't post anything that you don't want Yo' Momma or Osama to see." http://www.slideshare.net/USArmySocialMedia/facebook-3446513
09.02.10
@Ryan - It was a pretty small sample size (actually really small) and if I had to guess, the actual number might be double our findings, maybe 4%. Our data were likely skewed toward people who would have their real names. I'd guess that high schoolers and non-college grads would be more likely to use fake names. We'll check linkedin in the next week and report back.
@Nabeel - You're right. Facebook wouldn't work if everyone had fake names. Or even 20%.
@Jim - True. If we were to check the same list during career fair time, I'd bet we'd see a bunch more people using their first/middle name.
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