This Bachelor’s Thesis is researching why social media user relinquishes his privacy by publishing personal information. This thesis seeks answers for following questions: Why social media users relinquishes their privacy and what benefits and drawbacks it has. This thesis has been done as a literature review by reviewing previous studies about privacy, social media and media usage. When an user starts using a certain social media service she or he has certain needs that this service should fulfill. This claim is based on the Uses and Gratifications Theory. The user considers if this social media service can fulfill these needs. Benefits for privacy relinquishment are for example networking, public image, education and speding spare time. Drawbacks and risks consists of addictions, identitey thefts and privacy concerns from automized data collection by social media service providers.