In this day and age, many individuals simply cannot go without some sort of socialization. Specifically speaking, most participate in online social networking sites. The most popular and used one is commonly known as Facebook. Facebook was created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. By 2007, Facebook had over 21 million users, adding up to 1.6 billion page views every single day. The typical user spends over twenty minutes per day on Facebook and two thirds of the users log in every day at least once. It is not questionable as to why many people have a Facebook account. Facebook is generally efficient, easy for socialization, and not difficult to manage. Most organizations are affiliated with Facebook, as “almost 22,000 organizations had Facebook directories,” as of November 2006. A year after that in 2007, Facebook was named the seventh most popular website (Ellison 1). However, with anything well known, many oppose to using Facebook and hold criticism against the popular network. There are many flaws in the website and the relationships it starts online. Facebook is risking dangerous activities, ignoring privacy laws, and demeaning healthy socialization.
Facebook holds several uses and features for its users. When one joins a social networking site, they make a unique profile that showcases information about him or her, like a birthday or a current relationship status. From there, he or she can “add friends” that they can search for on the website. This gives them access to his or her profile, allowing them to see everything that had created since joining and vice-versa (Dwyer 1). It is extremely common nowadays to have a Facebook profile with many friends linked to you who can see your status updates, photos, and even the places you ...
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...find their relationships stronger and more trustworthy.
Works Cited
Boyd, Danah, and Eszter Hargittai. “Facebook Privacy Settings: Who Cares?” First Monday. University of Illinois at Chicago University Library, 2 Aug. 2010. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. .
Dwyer, Catherine, Starr R. Hiltz, and Katia Passerini. Trust and Privacy Concern within Social Networking Sites: A Comparison of Facebook and Myspace. Colorado: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, 09-12 Aug. 2007. PDF.
Ellison, Nicole B., Charles Steinfield, and Cliff Lamp. “The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:” Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites.” Wiley Online Library. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 23 Aug. 2007. Web. 06 Nov. 2013. .
“The standards of what we want to keep private and what we make public are constantly evolving. Over the course of Western history, we’ve developed a desire for more privacy, quite possibly as a status symbol…”(Singer) Technological change leads to new abuses, creating new challenges to security, but society adapts to those challenges. To meet the innate need for privacy, we learn what to reveal and where, and how to keep secret what we don't want to disclose. “Whether Facebook and similar sites are reflecting a change in social norms about privacy or are actually driving that change, that half a billion people are now on Facebook suggests that people believe the benefits of connecting with others, sharing information, networking, self-promoting, flirting, and bragging outweigh breaches of privacy that accompany such behaviours,”(Singer) This is obvious by the continuous and unceasing use of social media platforms, but what needs to be considered is that this information is being provided willingly. “More difficult questions arise when the loss of privacy is not in any sense a choice.”(Singer) When the choice to be anonymous it taken away through social media, the person loses the ability to keep their personal information
Hargittai, Eszter and Boyd, Dana. “Facebook Privacy settings: Who cares?” First Monday 15.8 (2010): 12-20.
With social media websites being the main hub of personal information, advertisers are consistently monitoring our social media activity, having the ability to look into our personal information. In the article "Advertising and Consumer Privacy: Old Practices and New Challenges." by Justine Rapp states, “Fueled by advances in capabilities and interconnectedness of computer based technology, advertisers are able to collect and assimilate information on consumers like no other time history” (51). Facebook has become the number one, social media website around the globe. It is the most popular website used by personal and business users in today’s society. In the article “Using Social Media to Reach Consumers: A Content Analysis of Official Facebook Pages” by Amy Parsons states, “As of July 2011, the social network site Facebook claims to have over 750 million members and in the terms of activity.” (27), making it easy to meet and connect with others. Facebook is considered the “hot spot” for online social activity, however, it exposes personal information about its consumers to
Facebook : Every single day we read the news ,and think that Facebook might be antiprivacy. It is also observed that people often think that social networking sites offer complicated privacy settings. The CEO...
Facebook collects a lot of information, which the users share, and the way it has used and protected this information has come under scrutiny quite a few times in the past. The purpose of this report was to find the ways in which the information is shared on the website and the control the user has over how the information is shared. Most of the data in this report was collected from Facebook’s official data use policy.
When using Facebook, users are able to perform many different tasks while connecting with various individuals. Some of the functions and applications that are available for users include: the ability to create a profile, become friends with individuals, send private messages, post comments on friend’s walls, and share pictures on your profile page. Along with these functions, there must be a level of protection that guards the Facebook account holders. However, according to Facebook’s privacy principles, the network states that “People should have the freedom to share whatever information they want, in any medium or any format, and have ...
With more than 500 million active users, the site is a warehouse of personal information. Personal profiles allow users to provide information about their name, age, hometown, relationship status, activities, job, school, and more. They can connect with the others’ profiles and become ”friends”. Combined with a profile picture, you can pretty much learn anything you want to know about somebody over Facebook (should they choose to provide the information). However, what many users fail to realize is that in most cases this information is not only available to their “friends”. Though users can change their privacy settings to limit with whom their profile information is shared, the site gathers and stores more than most of us want to acknowledge. For instance, the Facebook “Like” butto...
The 21st century has brought a lot of modern ideas, innovations, and technology. One of these is social media. The invention of Facebook has completely changed the way we communicate with one another. Instant messaging, photo sharing, and joining online groups have created a way for families and friends to connect. Some argue that Facebook is the greatest invention however, while it is seemingly harmless, Facebook has created an invasion of privacy. The accessibility of Facebook and its widespread use has created privacy problems for users, teens, and interviewees by allowing easy control to viewers.
and family, and also “meet like-minded people” ( Metz, par. 1). In some cases, business people such as Ron West, claim that he uses Facebook “to become acquainted with new customers”( par. 8). Yes, these types of websites are great tools to stay in touch with old classmatesand faraway family members. It is a great source of communication, but there is always a con to every pro. Even though users are connecting with others, users of social networks never know exact...
The first aspect being addressed is the problem with social network sites exposing information. Social networking has created an environment where it is nearly a duty to expose oneself. Profiles on these social websites are updated everyday with personal information such as locations, status, and future plans. Anyone can search another’s name and find information about their history, pictures, and activity. With the help of social networking sites...
In Betty White’s opening monologue to Saturday Night Live, she said, “I didn’t know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time. I would never say the people on it are losers, but that’s only because I’m polite.” Originally intended for the use of students at Harvard University in 2004, Facebook grew exponentially to be an online phenomenon in the years following. In 2006, it became accessible to anyone and everyone with internet connection. Aside from the advantages that give the site its popularity, creating a profile comes with a number of significant disadvantages inherit to online social networks. What do more than 500 million active users use their Facebook for? Communicating with long distance friends and spreading awareness of causes are common responses. Unfortunately, Facebook has it flaws, from limiting the privacy of relationships to creating a form of almost unmanageable bullying, making one reconsider their involvement and think, “do I really want my Facebook account?”
As the world changes so rapidly, so have the ways we communicate. Technology now plays an enormous part of how we converse and socialize as a culture. As we continue to progress as a civilization, it is significant to preserve the basic principles of socialization. Socialization helps us acquire necessary habits, beliefs and knowledge of society from our environment through home, school, community and the legal system. The development of these social skills begins in infancy to adulthood for the purpose of functioning in society. Values, norms and culture are essential for society’s survival. Roles and standards give groups within a society structure and allow members to know what’s expected of them, socially.
The popular site, Facebook.com, has amassed more than one billion registrants since it started in February 2004. It is another social networking site, just like MySpace.com and Xanga.com, which is common to High School and College students. But this is no ordinary site; people’s lives literally revolve around Facebook. I have a Facebook account and log in at least once a day. I personally believe that Facebook is a fun and interactive site. However, some students may not feel that same way because they have encountered some negative aspects, aside from Facebook’s legal problems.
Wise, L. Z., Jason Skues, and Benedict Williams. "Facebook in Higher Education Promotes Social but not Academic Engagement." Changing Demands, Changing Directions. Proceedings Ascilite Hobart 2011 (2011): 1333-1342. Ascilite with Full Text. 9 Feb. 2014.
The issues caused by online privacy are growing with the increase of Social Networking Sites. Virtually all Social Networking Sites have ‘public’ as their default privacy setting, however that is not what the majority of users prefer. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project & American Life, 80 % of the users go to the effort to change their settings to private. With the increasing awareness of cyber – crime and the need for privacy, users have now started to rethink their actions online. Carefully selecting whom among your Facebook friends see your personal information, and who should be restricted, blocked or unfriended.