• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, January 6, 2015

Half of Americans said they have received a good suggestion from something to try on social media, according to a new survey of 2,276 U.S. adults by the Harris Poll, including 16% who frequently receive suggestions and 35% who said they receive suggestions on occasion. Meanwhile, just 29% said they never get suggestions from social media (and the remainder don’t use social media). 

The total number who said they receive good suggestions on social media is up from 40% in 2010, and includes 66% of Millennials (defined here as ages 18-37), 56% of Gen Xers (19-49) and 37% of Baby Boomers (50-68). In the same vein, pollsters found that the proportion of people who report a variety of good outcomes from social media has increased over the last four years, including the percentage who have found a job opportunity (21%, up from 15%) and the percentage who have found an apartment or house (11%, up from 9%).

That said, you clearly take the good with the bad, because the proportion of respondents reporting negative outcomes has also increased. Thus, 51% reported being offended by something they have seen online, up from a total of 43% in 2010, and including 53% of women and 48% of men.

Meanwhile, 8% said they have gotten into trouble at school or work because of something they posted online, up from 7% in 2010. Perhaps unsurprisingly (sigh), men distinguished themselves by their bad judgment, with 12% doing something dumb versus 5% of women. The same is true when it comes to having lost a job opportunity because of unconsidered posting, with 10% of men shooting themselves in the foot versus 3% of women.

Ominously, Americans seem to be losing faith in their ability to keep things private, reflecting a lack of trust in social media companies. In 2014, 60% of respondents said they are confident that privacy settings function as they wanted, down from 71% in 2010, and the proportion who believe that negative outcomes from social media can be prevented using privacy settings decreased from 78% to 71% over the same period.