Facebook. Friend or Foe?
I'm
sure you remember the days when Facebook was just emerging. We all heard
something about Harvard in 2004, and then it was exclusive to college students
for two years. However, 2006 changed everything, in fact it was as if over
night Facebook blew up, and everyone was allowed on this social networking
site. As with most things, when it was first introduced to the general public,
not much was known about the costs and liabilities attached to being a part of
Facebook. People always seem to be worried and overly cautious on giving out
their personal private information. But do you really know what your freely
giving away on this network?
Facebook has, time and time again,
made it more difficult to actually understand what their doing with your data.
Even if you did know, figuring out how to maneuver through the settings can be
next to impossible. Reading through all
the security provisions and the ways to limit your personal page’s visibility can
be overwhelming. From a Marketing Analytics viewpoint I find it very
interesting the amount of data mining being done through sites like Facebook.
Sometimes the advertisements personalized to me are even something I want to
see, but the big picture is what should have you worried. Its what this is
paving the way for, the ease of pulling data off of pages that most people
still have a false sense of security in.
Some
have just opted out of Facebook all together, others have thoroughly went
through their settings to privatize their information as much as possible, but who
should be most concerned? Those who have left their settings automated; assuming
that it wont really hurt them after all you have nothing to hide, right? There
are many ways having Facebook is more trouble than its worth, depending on the
type of person you are. It is a sobering thought to realize the amount of
crimes that have happened due to Facebook. There
have been numerous accounts of people being victims to robberies and
kidnappings based on what they have put on their Facebook through the use of
pictures, postings, and locations. Also, Cops have the authority to subpoena your Facebook page; they can and have put
people in jail over things posted on their account.
The
most important thing is to be educating yourself on the issues concerning your own
privacy on Facebook. To make your own personal decision on whether Facebook, is
in fact, your friend. Have you ever unknowingly had private information
displayed on your Facebook profile? What would be your limit for privacy
invasions, before you deactivated your account? Do you foresee in the future
another type of social networking site replacing Facebook?
Citations
Welles, Robin. "IDCloak." Facebook
Privacy Issues - Who Looks At My Facebook Data?. Expats Team , n.d. Web.
16 Sep 2013. <http://www.idcloak.com/learning-center/facebook-privacy-issues-who-looks-at-my-facebook-data/a338.html>.
"Staying Private on the New Facebook." The New York Times . N.p., 02 06 2013. Web. 16 Sep 2013.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/technology/personaltech/protecting-your-privacy-on-the-new-facebook.html?pagewanted=all&pagewanted=print>.
I find it interesting that I get random friend requests from people who have no mutual friends with me. My privacy settings are set so only friends see my post, pics, etc. My FB profile doesn't even come up in a Google search. That makes me wonder how private my information really is. These people have to had run across my page some way.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, there is a setting that makes it so people can't find you on Facebook without being friends with someone you know. It wont solve all of those random people friending you but it will it least cut it down. It is in your privacy settings area.
DeleteI'd have to disagree. I know facebook is a way to obtain consumer information, but what's so bad about that? And if it's helping to catch more criminals committing crimes, what's so bad about that either? I also don't find it that hard to maneuver through facebook settings. My settings are set to private, I don't post material that can identify who I am as a person, and I don't see anyone using it against me.
ReplyDeleteThere are definitely pros and cons to this social networking site. It does help catch criminals, but also creates another avenue for people to commit crimes. I do believe criminals will always find ways to be criminals, but it does make it easier for them to find things out about people. It is not hard for everyone to set the privacy settings but I do hear from a lot of people who are not as familiar with technology, that it can be difficult. On the other side of catching criminals, cops have arrested people for things that they have posted claiming that they have cause. Some people use Facebook as their platform for freedom of speech, personally I do not voice my opinions on anything on Facebook but it can be a slippery slope if you do. I agree with your approach of not posting material that can identify you, but not everyone watches what they post on Facebook.
DeleteI think that Facebook can be a good or bad for you depending on the way that you use it. We know that the intellectual property of sites like this is the data that we give. So, is good to activate the privacy settings, but I think that this is not enough. The most important thing is be aware about the comments and photos that we are posting. If you do not want that other persons know about your life and have more privacy, do not publish what you did yesterday, photos about your activities or other information that can easily identify you.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is very important for people to make sure that they are not using the default settings on this site. Im not sure if you heard about this, but a couple months back it was in the news about the GPS location attached to pictures. It is scary to think that with a click of a button someone can know the exact location of where a picture was taken. It mostly can happen with smart phones but it is good to use the precautions talked about in this blog on daily news.
Deletehttp://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/dangers-posting-photos-online-article-1.1432134
That was kind of scary. I receive a lot of FB requests as well and my page is private.. Now I really do wonder who all can see my info. Honestly I try not to put anything on FB that can give someone access to me. No phone # or address or email, etc. I keep it limited to name and high school but being that it is on the internet I know that n matter how hard I try to make it private, anyone can gain access cause once it hits the web...it is out there for life and many many years to come. Great Blog!!!
ReplyDelete