The survey by Moscow-based cybersecurity and anti-virus provider Kaspersky Lab, which involved 4,831 active social network users in 12 countries, found that up to 78 percent of respondents had thought of quitting, with most popular reasons including "they are tired of wasting time" and "they don't like being monitored by IT giants". 

But many of them decided to continue to use social networks due to the need to "stay in touch with friends and relatives" and "share digital memories online".

(Read also: How social is social media?)

The survey also asked users whether they would consider using a service that allowed them to store their digital moments in one place, offline or in the cloud, which would give them the freedom to do what they want with their online accounts without losing access to their digital memories; or even to quit social networks without losing a bit of their digital profile.

"On the average, most users chose the option 'I might, but it will depend on how convenient the tool will be' [28 percent]," said Kaspersky Lab technology and product PR head Sergey Lurye on the company's official blog.

Regarding such a tool, the most important thing to consider, according to respondents, was the "ability to limit the access to third-party applications and services to my digital memories”. (fmn/kes)

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