Flying in the face of popular perception about privacy online, the vast majority of Australians who use social networking sites do adjust their privacy settings appropriately, according to a new, nationwide survey commissioned by ABC-TV program Hungry Beast.

The Hungry Beast survey was conducted in March 2011 by one of Australia's leading research companies, McNair Ingenuity Research. It asked a range of questions about issues relating to privacy on social networking sites and the Internet. The survey polled one thousand people, across all states and territories, and was demographically balanced to represent the population of Australia.