ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how does Facebook encourage individual disclosure when the very nature of disclosure is that it be private. One way Facebook does this is by creating a choice architecture that encourages disclosure, or an architecture of disclosure. The idea of a choice architecture challenges notions of individuals as rational decision-makers that seek to enhance their self-interest by gaining information about an action and weighing costs and benefits before engaging in said action. Users care about privacy, but the choice architecture has been set up to structure their choices towards disclosure. When applied online, choice is motivated by default settings written into code. One way in which a simple change in code changed the individual behavior on Facebook is the newsfeed feature. Another way in which Facebook uses behavioral economics to encourage disclosure is through changes to its privacy policy.
