#privacyonsocialweb

I continually ask my self why our generation feels the need to post everything we do on Facebook or other social networking sites. Do we believe that checking in to an expensive restaurant or a popular bands concert will build our social status? The reason to me is quite obvious; we take advantage of this digital environment to develop profiles to present ourselves favourably the way in which we want others to perceive us (Boyd, 2011). We can no longer separate our reality from our online presence, “our life is [now] lived in, rather than with media – we are living a media life”. An excellent example of this convergence of ones reality and online presence is that “we are now all living inside our very own Truman Show (referring to the 1998 movie by director Peter Weir): a world characterized by pervasive and ubiquitous media that we are constantly and concurrently deeply immersed in, that we are the stars of, and that dominate and shape all aspects of our everyday life” (Deuze, 2011).

Having divulged this information about ourselves on social networking sites, we need to question how much control we really have over the information we share. By default privacy settings on social networking sites “prompt users to be more public with their information”, in order to disable these default privacy settings the user must “monitor, adjust and master” the revised settings to control who sees their posts. However “the persistence, replicability, scalability, and searchability of personal data deposited as individuals to forge social connections present privacy challenges”. We regard privacy as “control over information about oneself”, therefore the highly concerning underlying issue is how the information we disclose is being used. The US allows “digital traces of consumer behaviour that remain on partner and third party sites that users visit, like, or share, to be further exploited” without permission from those individuals.  (Papacharissi & Gibson, 2011). Privacy is fast becoming a luxury, that we are subconsciously willing to give up so we can remain socially active online. On these sites we need to be aware that it is much “easier to share information than it is to hide it” (Papacharissi & Gibson, 2011) and we shouldn’t post personal information that we aren’t willing to share with the world.  

Now I pose to you the question how comfortable are you with giving up control over your personal information on social networking sites?

References

Boyd, Danah, (2011). Chapter 2: Social Network Sites as Networked Publics – Affordances, Dynamics, and Implications. In Papacharissi, Zizi, A networked self – identity, community, and culture on social network sites. 39 - 5. New York: Routledge.

Deuze, Mark. 2011. “Media Life.” Media, Culture & Society 33 (1): 137 – 145.