It is clear that all people want to have control over their own digital identity, and after reading "The Facebook Effect," we learn that users of Facebook, although they may think they have control over the information and data they are sharing, do not. In fact, they actually don't have the slightest idea where that information is going. Before reading more about Facebook and its privacy settings, I actually never realized how intrusive or excessive it could be to ones personal life, and the reality is, "nothing on Facebook is really confidential."This notion that "nothing we are putting on Facebook is confidential" is both intimidating and frightening and has begun to make Facebook users, including me, second guess the information we want to put up on our pages.
All of the information and data we decide to display on our page, whether we like it or not, helps shape our
one, 'Facebook identity.' Zuckerberg says, "Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity,"so for those of us who thought we could successfully create separate identities for our friends, co-workers, and schoolmates, are just fooling ourselves and those who know us. To even think that we had the great fortune of "hiding" or "selecting privacy groups" to ensure that certain people wouldn't see certain information, was quite naive. Knowing we don't have the opportunity to separate ourselves or the information we post may change the way we use these social networking sites. Zuckerberg says,
"Even if you want to segregate your personal from your professional information you won't be able to, as information about you proliferates on the Internet and elsewhere."
In response to this quote from Zuckerberg, I'd say I have to agree with him. Once something hits Facebook or the Internet, it should be a known fact that, that information immediately has the potential to go viral. For example, those kids who think that blocking their parents from their Facebooks will inhibit them from seeing the pictures they're 'tagged' in are ever so wrong. A friend could let his or her parent gain access to their Facebook, who could then show your parents your Facebook. Or, a friend of a friend of yours on Facebook could potentially show your parent. All of these are examples of ways in which information you think you are hiding sufficiently, you are NOT. Mainly, what you need to take out of this is that you truly have no idea who has access to your information, how it is getting dispersed, or how many ways a person can access your information. It is acceptable to display certain information on your Facebook page, but what you should know is that you only have ONE identity on Facebook, you should be careful with the information you let others see on your Facebook, and you should be responsible with your Facebook.
Sydney, I definitely agree with you that many Facebook users are not aware of the kinds of information they are sharing on the web and how it is reaching others out there. I think this relates to the concept of six degrees of separation, which, taken from Wikipedia states "the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer." When you post something on Facebook, you think that just your friends will see it because your privacy settings are set to "Only Friends." However, what you don't know is that this information will pop on their page and their friends' news feeds and the cycle continues. So even with the "Friends Only" setting, your information is still being widely dispersed, despite your thoughts that your page is very private. This excessive linkage of your information to others is one way Facebook users find out about events and groups happening all over the world - through friends of friends.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Facebook Effect," political activism was a central topic and Facebook is one of the main tools to gain support for a protest or raise awareness about an upcoming bill. One of the ways we hear about these events is being invited by our friends, who have been invited by their friends, who have been invited by their friends, and thus we are in some way connected to the creator of the event.