A new study has found that the majority of Facebook users believe that the company’s Libra stablecoin project will make Facebook more private, among other surprising findings.
Libra Will Alleviate Facebook Trust Issues For Many Users
Commissioned by MoneyTransfers.com and carried out by OnePoll, the survey found that only about 1 in 5 felt that the crypto aspect of Libra would worsen their privacy concerns regarding the Menlo Park, California company.
In total, well over half of all respondents suggested that cryptocurrency would either improve their view of Facebook. At the very least, it wouldn’t have a negative impact.
Numbers like these make it clear why Facebook has been willing to take such a beating for its new payments platform, which may or may not be useful for much more than a PayPal replacement.
Facebook has always been a concern of privacy watchdogs. The company got into particular trouble during its epic Cambridge Analytica scandal.
In a previous era, a problem of Cambridge Analytica’s magnitude might have been enough to put an internet company out of business, but Facebook’s hegemony has proven to be such that the majority of its users have thus far failed to cancel their accounts.
Older People Trust Facebook More With Their Money
Researchers asked a comprehensive list of questions (the bulk of which won’t be relayed here). One question revolved around money storage – Facebook versus banks and other cryptocurrencies. The majority of people who said they would put their trust in Facebook skewed older – 35-44. Meanwhile the majority of participants who are “unlikely” or “very unlikely” to trust Facebook
“It was interesting to find in terms of age brackets 18-24 were unlikely to trust Facebook to store their money compared to 25-34 who were neutral and 35-44 who were more likely to trust Facebook.”
People in the age bracket among whom cryptocurrency is most popular are ages 25-34. They were also those who overwhelmingly answered that they were “neutral” on the subject of “trust.”
Perhaps more interesting than the age divide is the gender divide. Researchers report that the vast majority of those who would trust Facebook with their money were males.
Facebook clearly has better data on its own userbase – by itself, a crime against humanity, according to some privacy radicals. Facebook may, if these numbers prove out, focus its marketing on capturing a wider female audience for its burgeoning fiduciary suite.
For a complete overview of the data collected, see MoneyTransfers’ own report on the subject, or watch the following video.
