Every day we hear news about the privacy concerns of social media. Nothing you do online is truly anonymous. Even proxy servers, which are made to mask your IP address, are easily traced when they need to be. But that is the nature of the Internet: remaining open, and so requiring a certain amount of sacrifice on the issue of privacy in order to be a part of it. Especially now that it has expanded to what it has become today.
But with the rise of social media, this privacy issue has been taken to a whole new level. From putting details online that anyone can read, to marketing data being sent to third parties as a cheap means of gathering what would have once been expensive information to buy, you are exposed. Anyone who has a Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or similar profile has opened themselves up to scrutiny by sources you might have never imagined.
Even the government and police forces monitor social media activity. For example, Paul Chambers was arrested and convicted in 2010 for making a joke on Twitter about blowing up an airport. Which is a common occurrence around the world, these days.
While it is never a good idea to post such things online, even those with more sense might not be aware of how much of their information is easily viewable by the anonymous visitors on the web. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to give yourself some coverage.
Limit Your Personal Info – I have come across people who actually post their mobile phone number, address, place of work and more right there on their profile. This always blows my mind. Restrain yourself when providing information.
Make Sure Your Profile Is Private – With some sites this just takes a single click in the account settings to do. But Facebook in particular is much more complicated. Take some time to go through all of your settings and account info to manually select what features are on, and who can see what.
Article comments
1 - xicanista
There is a fine line we all have to walk when it comes to wanting websites to deliver highly personalized content and wanting our privacy protected.
2 - Ajeet Khurana
Agreed xicanista, but sometimes that leads to a situation of wanting to have your cake and eat it too :)
3 - Dave Cole
Hey Ajeet,
Think you've made some good starting points here. It's becoming so obvious that "social" is really just a more prolific and self-administered marketing research & cultivation method for advertisers. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, it does seem like the everyday consumer really doesn't stand a chance when the networks themselves keep changing the rules on them.
Cheers, Dave
4 - Ajeet Khurana
Interesting point Dave. It is tough to say whether social media empowers consumers, or makes them sitting ducks!