There is no doubt that in the last couple of years, social media has taken control of how we communicate and connect with one another. Social-networking sites such as Facebook have changed the way we talk to our friends and family online, how businesses promote themselves and advertise their services, how news networks connect with their viewers, and even how politicians reach out to their constituents. However, even though there are benefits to such an interwoven Internet community, too much Facebook can also be a bad thing.
Whether it’s a breaking story from your local news channel, celebrity status updates, or an upcoming event at your church, Facebook keeps you in the loop. But, is all of this information-sharing and networking positive, especially when concerning things like Internet privacy and exposure? The answer is definitely no.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an international non-profit digital-rights-advocacy organization based in San Francisco, has kept an eye on Facebook’s privacy policy for some time, and it found that the social networking site has changed dramatically since its creation. Once a place for private communication, the site has become a platform where you have no choice but to provide personal information about yourself, which in turn may be shared by Facebook and its partners for marketing and advertising purposes. In other words, Facebook has gradually strayed away from a strong policy respecting all its users’ collective rights.
Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook, addressed these issues a couple of times, but that wasn’t good enough for the millions of people who were upset over finding that their personal information was made public. Some users were so agitated with Facebook that they held a “Quit Facebook Day” on May 31, 2010, during which a little more than 30,000 users deleted their accounts. A week later, a “Facebook Protest” was scheduled by users, asking all who use the social-networking site to refrain from logging on for a day.
Privacy is a serious matter, and one can definitely argue that it is unacceptable that even a social-networking company will make certain information available to the public, even though it told you it wouldn’t when you agreed to use its service. I understand that people provide their personal information freely, sometimes not thinking of the potential consequences, but that does not make it OK for Facebook to allow third parties to view that information.
What is even more troubling to me is that as Facebook grows and Zuckerberg’s goal of making the world a more open place is achieved, the website puts its own interests ahead of user privacy. Facebook’s goal, first and foremost, is to make money. One of Facebook’s greatest tools for making money and helping out its corporate partners is the “Like” feature.
The “Like” feature, for users, is nothing more than a way to like our favorite things. It’s a button that you click when you see a page you like, and that information is stored. So, if you like the movie “Dirty Harry,” your friends will know you like the movie in which Clint Eastwood plays a no-nonsense cop who kicks some serious butt.
I won’t lie: The “Like” feature is a fun and useful tool on Facebook. But the feature isn’t limited to Facebook. Through Facebook’s savvy, the feature can be found on almost any website on the Internet.
This concerns me because if you are still signed in to your Facebook account and you click “Like” on an article on some website, Facebook will know it. Even though you aren’t on Facebook, it knows what kinds of websites you’re visiting. I know everyone has a choice not to use the “Like” feature, and it seems harmless anyway, but it’s a matter of the website just wanting to know too much about its users.
Putting aside the “Like” feature, Facebook can also prove to be a place where you can get in trouble literally. I have heard numerous stories of people getting in trouble by their school and even being fired by their employers for posting something on Facebook. This just shows that even though you may not know it, people are watching you when you are on Facebook.
This isn’t always a bad thing though, as law-enforcement agencies have utilized this to find wanted criminals through Facebook, and other website users have used the openness of Facebook to find missing people and even help people in need.
However, has Facebook gone too far with Zuckerberg’s dream of a more “open world”? Living in the 21st century, I was under the impression that we are already living in an “open world,” where information can be found in a variety of places. Our personal lives should be the last thing that should be “more open;” otherwise, what is the meaning of privacy?
As a Facebook user, I can say definitively that Facebook is helpful, but it can be harmful as well. There are many factors contributing to this growing social-media machine’s success, and it is up to you to weigh the pros and cons of using the service. Bottom line: Just as with its successful feature, you can either “Like” Facebook or not.