Privacy is the issue...

Although I don’t spend a lot of time on Facebook, and don’t have a Twitter account at all, I still feel the pull to access Facebook at least once a day if only for a couple of minutes. I feel that I have become dependent on Facebook as a “social portal.” Part of the allure of Facebook and other social networking sites is that they allow you to keep tabs on all your friends in a manner that is both inconspicuous and informative. Perhaps the most prominent aspect of Facebook is its lack of privacy. But while such behavior can be harmless among friends, it can also have dangerous and long lasting repercussions for future acquaintances and even for personal image and integrity.

 It’s interesting the way most people post comments, status updates, and other personal information about themselves on Facebook that they wouldn’t normally share in real life – even among the same friends. It’s one thing to say something inappropriate on Facebook and hope that your 500+ friends don’t all read or pay attention to what you wrote, but it’s quite another thing to walk up to each of those 500+ people in real life, look them in the face, and repeat what you just wrote on your page. That’s the approach I usually envision when I think about updating a status post or commenting on somebody’s wall. If I inwardly cringe at the thought of my parents or my future boss looking at or reading my Facebook entries, I know it’s not something I want the world to see. Moreover, embarrassing yourself in front of friends is not always a temporary discomfiture. Branding yourself with a bad reputation may scar your future personal and professional relationships.

Then there’s the issue of so-called “lurkers” and “stalkers” who take advantage of lax privacy controls on Facebook and use this as an opportunity for harassment. During the “era” of myspace, when I was still in middle school and hardly aware of privacy issues, random strangers would post comments or even personally message me on MySpace asking to meet up with me and even giving me their phone numbers. This kind of unwanted attention happens to most social networking users, but the most frightening aspect of this is the thought of young teenagers being subjected to harassment and stalking and perhaps not even realizing the consequences involved. The Internet, but especially social networking sites, has opened previously closed channels for people to meet strangers.

Even though I think Facebook has a lot of negative aspects relating to privacy, I still believe that it has almost equal benefits in drawing people closer together. Many of my friends live in other countries - and Facebook is the only link between us. It’s amazing to keep the relationships alive and see how their lives progress. Calling friends overseas is not only expensive, but also not nearly as interesting and informative as through social networking sites.

The cultural move towards social networking cannot be assessed as either a positive or negative trend, but can only be seen as falling somewhere in between. Facebook and other social networking sites have the potential to become useful and entertaining when used with responsibility and an eye towards privacy and discretion.