How do social networks transform the way we interact?
Take Facebook for example:
- Do you visit every day? How much time do you spend on FaceBook?
- Do your parents have a FaceBook page? If not, have you shown them your page?
- Let's look at a profile
- How would you describe what FaceBook is to the following audiences? 1) your friends; 2) your parents; 3) a grandparent; 4) a teen living in the late 1800s
- Before social networking Web sites, how did teens engage in social networking? Think about the following eras: 1) the industrial revolution; 2) hunter-gatherer societies; 3) the 1980s (don't forget to consider geographic location and cultural influences)
- Visit the FaceBook page of someone you don't know. How does this page reveal information about the person? What design and content techniques are used to catch your attention? Would you want to add this person as a friend or leave a comment on his or her page? Why or why not? What do you want to know about this person that is not posted on this profile?
- How does FaceBook use the information you provide about yourself? What types of information does FaceBook deem important? How does FaceBook frame the communication experience? What different information would you get if you were meeting with someone in person?
For homework :
-Create a digital avatar
-Blog Response
Readings:
Dana Boyd, Social Networking Sites: Public, Private or What?
Clive Thompson - Brave New World of Digital Intimacy
Jeffrey Rosen - The End of Forgetting
NEXT WEEK WE MEET IN THE LIBRARY- Bring notebooks!
Time Travel: Imagine you’re writing a letter to a 15 year old who lives in the 1800s. You need to explain Facebook to them. How do you start?
ReplyDeleteIt's a machine that takes your words.
People communicating on machines in their homes, reading the words that travel from machine to machine.
Visible communication through these machines:
Text or print
Replicates photographic images
You can make specific transfers one machine to another. Inputting those prints or text into the machine and the machine is displaying it in both locations.
Community in the machine where you can organize info/ideas. Your friends are there and you can socialize with this library of all your friends (and all their info). It can be viewed all at once. You choose to be part of this community through common interests, mutual friends.
Less formal than letters- offers games, networking, communication, posting images/ print sharing/ image sharing.
Peer to peer written or image communication or like putting the info in the library/ billboard/ town square.
NO LABOR REQUIRED- instant access
80’s /90s
address book
mid 90s – pager
phone
In 1800s
15 yr olds are hanging out
at church
School
work: coal mine or factory or farming or hunting
Not face 2 face:
Letters. Telegram word of mouth
My first social network account was on Myspace and I was very skeptical about the privacy. I did not know who was able to see my profile and my parents were more worried than I was. Even today I am still if not more skeptical about who can see my page and what kind of information is on there. As an avid Facebook user I have tried to make my profile as private and as clean as possible. However, because friends are able to tag me or take pictures, and upload them on their own profiles. This feature on Facebook makes it harder to have total control what kind of information about you is out there.
ReplyDeleteI see Facebook as another way to communicate, but not the new and only way as some people seem to use it. I have seen couples break up on Facebook within comments that are public on their "walls." I think people put too much of their private life on their profiles for the world to see, and they do not think about the fact that this information or pictures will circulate through the internet even after they delete it.
If you were to scroll from someone's oldest posts to their most current you could learn so much about them, and never have to meet or talk to them in person. One quote from the article, 'I'm so totally, Digitally Close to You' said, "Follow it for a day and it will feel like a story, follow it for a month and it will feel like a novel." I think that this is very true, and a little sad. I appreciate what Facebook and other social networking sites have to offer, but I think that people tend to get too wrapped up in it.
Response to Clive Thompson: Brave New World of Digital Intimacy
ReplyDelete"Browsing Facebook was like constantly poking your head into someone’s room to see how she was doing." Although I never thought of it this way, this is the perfect explanation of Facebook, even with the news feed. I think that everyone, including myself, are too interested in what other people are doing. We take too much time stalking other peoples lives to see if they're doing anything exciting and too little time actually doing something ourselves.
When avid Facebook users, such as myself, actually do something that looks semi-exciting, we post it everywhere and in every form to make sure the rest of the Facebook stalkers know what we're doing as well. When I say every form I mean text in statuses, images in pictures, and even now in videos. I am most definitely guilty of doing all three of these exploits because for some strange reason I think that EVERYONE needs to see what I am doing and that EVERYONE will be interested in it.
Thompson does a great job of explaining the invention of the news feed with this quote: "For students, it was now like being at a giant, open party filled with everyone you know, able to eavesdrop on what everyone else was saying, all the time." The only thing I would change is that the party is filled with some people that you know, and others that you don't (depending on your privacy settings). I know that I am guilty of accepting friend requests from people that I don't know, but first I usually check to see that we have something in common--whether it be friends, a network, school, etc. By reading status updates, watching videos, and viewing people's pictures you already know more about them than anyone that you are not Facebook friends with, which is absolutely insane to think about. The information that is shared on Facebook can make you feel like you have some sort of relationship with a person, even if you don't know them at all.
Response to Jeffrey Rosen - The End of Forgetting
ReplyDeleteBeing that I have exactly 2,558 photo’s on Facebook and majority of them are from parties and other events, I’d say that it is pretty safe to say that a good amount of those pictures are not “professional.” As Rosen says, we live “ in a world where the Internet records everything and forgets nothing — where every online photo, status update, Twitter post and blog entry by and about us can be stored forever.” This statement is absolutely terrifying for myself and many others.
Something to always have in mind is that the internet never forgets, and for that matter, doesn’t forgive either. It’s scary that a comment, photo, video, etc., is never actually deleted. A lot of my pictures and statuses can be taken out of context, which can be quite the dilemma if a job is on the line.
The example with the 16-year-old Brirish girl complaining about her job can be avoided, but more often than not, people don’t even realize the danger they’re putting themselves in by posting those kinds of comments.
To avoid these kinds of situations, people should make their pages entirely private or even delete Facebook pages when applying for jobs. It is extremely easy to get a hold of someone’s status updates and tweets, all you have to do is google their name and majority of the time, the first two links are Facebook, Twitter, or other social networking sites (that is if you’re not world famous or anything like that).
In a world where technology is so prominent, people really have to be careful with what they put on the internet, because one day, it can potentially cost them a job.
Response to Dana Boyd, Social Networking Sites: Public, Private or What?
ReplyDeleteIf someone to ask me “Is your Facebook public or private?” my initial response would be private. Upon looking at my Facebook page, I have come to realize that majority of my information is surprisingly public. Anyone that was interested could see where I go to school, what my major is, how old I am, when my birthday is, where I went to high school, my hometown, all of my 973 friends, certain pictures, which sorority I am in, my relationship status, various interests, and other pages that are linked to my account.
Regarding pictures, I have marked who can see what. For example, I have party pictures hidden from the public and family members but available to see for anyone else (which probably isn’t smart). All of my status updates are public, which could potentially get me into trouble somewhere down the road, even though now I think they’re harmless and funny. I also post videos, which are also public, and displayed on YouTube as well, which will most likely get me into trouble farther down the line as well.
Before reading this article I just assumed majority of my page was private. Of course now, I’m seriously debating on taking down 80% of my pictures, statuses, and video’s… which I probably will when I start applying for jobs. It would probably be the best idea for me to just delete my account completely, but I think I’ll save that for another time.
My very first experience with Facebook was quite similar to Alex Beam, a Boston Globe columnist take on Twitter, “Who really cares what I’m doing, every hour of the day?”. I asked myself what would be the point if we knew what we were doing, what would we talk about when we finally met up? Slowly over time, that would not be the case, and this “paradox of ambient awareness” has already become prevalent in our society, and especially for myself. It becomes a habit to know what and how other people around you are doing, whether by reading their status, or seeing where they have been via the images they uploaded.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of your life, your actions, comments, interests, and relations when posted online, especially Facebook, is mind numbing when you take a step back and disconnect yourself. Stacy Snyder’s case will always be a reminder for those, including myself, when posting anything on Facebook could jeopardize job opportunities, professional relations. And according to a survey by Microsoft in Jeffery Rosen’s Times article “The Web Means the End of Forgetting”, that 75 percent of U.S. recruiters and human-resource professionals are performing online research on our online behavior rudely awakens us to the reality that the internet indeed does not forget.
With this in mind, it reflects onto society, and we can shape our online identity even though it may differ from the reality. In my experience using Facebook, I would always get perturbed when I would see a real life friend, more so an acquaintance, litter their Facebook with a false identity. This has been going on with a certain individual I know and the vast majority of his Facebook is false. The places he goes or claims to be living at, the pictures he manipulates, the conversations are all fabricated out of fiction. The problem, aside from his inevitable personality conflicts, is how can anyone that does not know him know who the real version is?
I did not have a Facebook account until college, so the article pertaining the teenagers was hard to relate to. I have a younger brother who is 9, and is soon going to be a teenager. I am very interested in asking him about Facebook, and if he knows what it is, and once he is older, how his generation will be using it.
During my freshman year of college I was asked by my roommates to add them as friends on Facebook. I casually told them that I didn’t own a Facebook account and it was as if I had told them that I was missing a body part. “You don’t have a Facebook? Why not”? I made it through high school without a Facebook account and I was fine. I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything and I really didn’t see the point of having a Facebook account to add friend that I already had in real life. Eventually I made an account on Facebook just to try it out and I realized one thing. It was extremely addicting. I added friends from high school and got many friend requests from my senior class in high school and I also found many people through mutual friends or “people you may know” (which is very accurate). It was interesting going through people’s profiles because they were all so personal and I could learn so much more about those people without having to have a face to face conversation with them. One thing that does worry me about Facebook is that your personal statuses, pictures and everything else you upload will always be there even after deleting your account. One thing that caught my attention in Rosen’s article ‘The Web Means the End of Forgetting’ he mentions that “According to a recent survey by Microsoft, 75 percent of U.S. recruiters and human-resource professionals report that their companies require them to do online research about candidates, and many use a range of sites when scrutinizing applicants — including search engines, social-networking sites, photo- and video-sharing sites, personal Web sites and blogs, Twitter and online-gaming sites. Seventy percent of U.S. recruiters report that they have rejected candidates because of information found online, like photos and discussion-board conversations and membership in controversial groups.” It’s scary to think of how your future will be affected by the things you post online. The same topic is brought up in the article ‘Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What?’ which informs us that “At the same time, embarrassing videos may have only been intended for a small audience, but if others are entertained, these things have a way of being duplicated and spreading through the network at record speeds.” Facebook can be highly addicting and entertaining but one must be careful on what they upload online because unfortunately it could have negative consequences, if not in the present then sometime in the future.
ReplyDeleteRseponse to Brave New World of Digital Intimacy
ReplyDeleteAs an avid Facebook user/stalker myself, I obviously can appreciate all of the perks that this social network has to offer. However, what I would consider advantages of Facebook and what others choose to utilize it for could be totally different. At the end of the day, the average Facebook user could probably admit that they’ve found themselves “creeping” a little too “hard,” but I’ve more recently felt that some Facebook users go beyond the regular interactions of this social network to what seems like only interacting through Facebook.
While people can often be misinterpreted or we can misconceive their personalities, we all know those people who are like day and night when it comes to their portrayal in real life and then how they appear on Facebook. Although confidence is a great quality to have, the confidence being provided through the attention someone receives on Facebook doesn’t seem to make a person confident when it comes to logging off their account.
A common notion about Facebook is that it reveals peoples true personalities. Considering this in regard to our social and professional life, this notion is true because those two paths didn’t cross so publicly prior to Facebook, as we discussed last week in class. However, the extent of what Facebook users choose to provide about themselves often seems to be beyond their reality in efforts of seeking that false confidence that can be delivered through Facebook.
Unfortunately, this false confidence often gets way too carried away by some Facebook users and people begin to both over-expose and over-express themselves.
In the article, “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy,” the author Clive Thomas states:
“The growth of ambient intimacy can seem like modern narcissism taken to a new, supermetabolic extreme — the ultimate expression of a generation of celebrity-addled youths who believe their every utterance is fascinating and ought to be shared with the world.”
With this, Facebook becomes a different type of social network when it is being consumed in different ways. Unfortunately though, the disadvantages of this can go beyond our newsfeeds being monopolized with peoples’ Farmville updates and bombarding statuses that no one cares about. Like any other overindulgence, it seems that if Facebook isn’t used in the right proportion, it can have unforgiving consequences.
I've noticed in the recent months that Facebook's interface more than ever allows people to see every like, status update, and more that their peers post instantly. By Facebook doing such, it's given the outside networks the power to view any and most information on it within minutes. Micro-blogging could be viewed as being a tool to quickly browse and understand what normally would be a complexed status, by its shortened length, but the reality is, that just as fast as you can understand how bad a day your peer is having, so to can a future employer. Which make all the information posted hold an importance and relevance to your future.
ReplyDeleteA great example would be of the 16 yr old girl who was fired from here office job for changing her status on Facebook that she was bored. Which implies that she to busy with other things like Facebook. This instance is one of many that puts a stamp on the importance of the information we post. Just as quickly as it is sent out, that information can be retained.
-Paul Kornegay
In response to Clive Thompson - Brave New World of Digital Intimacy
ReplyDeleteI meet someone out at a bar, and the first thing I think to do when I get home is to look them up. Are they "normal"? Do we have common interests? What friends do we have in common? Does he even have a facebook?
To me, knowing someone that doesn't have a facebook, isn't normal. It makes me question, what do they have to hide? why don't they want people to see what their life is like? I think it's brave to not have a facebook and admire the person that chooses to not have one, yet I would still question their normality. Because these days it is a social norm to be a member of facebook and participate in the online world, I would find myself uncertain of someone I met that didn't have one. Any one of my friends on facebook can get to know me just by looking through my pictures and videos online. It that fastest way to get to know a person in less then 10 minutes. Its a way to keep yourself involved in your social community.
I find digital intimacy very entertaining, though may seemingly be useless information, it helps you get to know a character. It speeds up the process of getting to know one-another face to face. We like to brag about the fun things we're doing; concerts, parties, vacations etc. It tells your social network what you're up to. It gives strangers a general background of what you're like, and if one day you'll actually be real life friends. The news feed of facebook is interesting in that you don't have to sit there and read every post, you basically skim to for the stuff that interests you, and when you find something that a friend of yours has posted, it's fun to see what's on their mind or what they're doing.
Maybe certain people in society view the news feed as a waste. who cares what people are doing throughout their day, but it certainly is interesting when you want it to be. Anyone can view anything in a negative light, same goes with social networking. You get the people that appreciate it, and you get the people that knock it down.
My first encounter with social media sites did not go as well as I had planned. My cousin created me a Myspace when I was in 8th grade. My mother was NOT happy. She, like many other people, realized that my information was not exactly private and that anyone could search me. She harped on the idea that what I put out there is out there forever, much like “The Web Means the End of Forgetting.” I, of course, just glared in return, not understanding what I was doing wrong. As time went by I, believed what Danah Boyd said: “The role of an educator is not to condemn or dismiss youth practices, but to help youth understand how their practices fit into a broader societal context.” My Myspace was long gone, but I created a Facebook behind my mother’s back. SMSes, as these articles choose to abbreviate them, are a part of our culture. It is so true that you feel like you know people so well just by reading their “ambient” updates of their mundane lives. I learn almost all big-news from Facebook. And I do feel the need to make sure I am portrayed the way I want online—my friends cannot control my image. Sure it is overwhelming to have a massive amount of friends and I also find myself struggling to juggle seeing different groups of friends in person because I still think that is very important, but is comforting to know that people can really only tap out at “around 150 people: the “Dunbar number,” as it is known. The rest are weak ties — maintained via technology.” Some people though, do not know how to handle Facebook. Teenagers that are way too confident in all their partying need things like ReputationDefender and self-destructing info sheets. It is a shame that people have to judge Facebook profiles from the outside, but like many others, I find it impossible not too. The day that I see my boss drinking beer on his Facebook and I think nothing of it, in my opinion, is still a long day coming.
ReplyDeleteSocial networking has come a very long way over the years. I first began using online social sites when I was around the age of fourteen. It is very safe to say that my parents had a field day, “how could you put yourself out on the internet like that”, “anyone can see what you do”. Those were only two of the scripted lines my parents would say to me if they weren’t forcing me to delete it. Overtime, they began to be more okay with it as I got older. One of them even has a Facebook now, which I am not friends with because we both agree it would not be fair. How ironic right? Five years ago and they wanted my account information and now they don't want to be my friend? I'll take it. Social networking sites have evolved from Myspace all the way to Facebook and Twitter along with new privacy settings.
ReplyDeleteIt is very true that what a person puts on their webpages should be thought out first because even though it might be safe and fine at the time, it may haunt you in the future. All these years I thought that my Facebook was completely safe because of all of the privacy settings I have set on it. If you are not my friend, you cannot see a thing and if you are my friend, only a certain amount can be seen. Twitter on the other hand, mine is completely public. I should probably change it after reading these articles. I had never realized the damage a website can do for someone in the long run. After reading these articles I think that it is in my best interest to go through my privacy settings on Facebook and Twitter and reset some things and maybe get rid of some things also. I do not want anything coming back to haunt me at a later date.
The first social network I became a part of was MySpace. And because of its reputation, I refused to tell my parents I had one. When MySpace started to get big, all I would ever hear my parents say is how bad it is. They would try to convince me that everyone could see where I was from, how old I am, what I was doing, etc. But, I was one of the girls who put a fake age, fake hometown, and altered name. After reading Dana Boyd, Social Networking Sites: Public, Private or What? I realized that I never really knew what was public or private on my profile. All I do recall is being able to add and control my “Friends List”. Once MySpace fell off the face of the earth, I knew I had to make a Facebook account because it was the new social network that everyone was talking about.
ReplyDeleteOnce I made my Facebook, I deleted my MySpace, or at least thought I did until a friend brought up a picture that I had posted to it in 8th grade… Very embarrassing. I realized at that moment I couldn’t delete every aspect of my MySpace. That goes to show that in Jeffrey Rosen - The End of Forgetting, he was completely right that the internet does not forget anything. I have an overabundance of pictures on Facebook and I’m sure I’m not the first to say that a handful of them are not completely appropriate. At the same time, my pictures and commentary isn’t much different than the people I am “friends” with.
After reading all three articles, I realized that as much privacy as I thought I had on Facebook, I was wrong. Without being friends with someone, I can still see things that tell me about their life and interest. For instance, their “relationship status”. This is one thing I know every Facebook user is fond of. When one person becomes in a relationship it is visible for everyone to see. But what pathetic is, anyone can see when that “relationship” is “complicated” or even over. Clive Thompson - Brave New World of Digital Intimacy, lets us realize how digital Intimacy, is all over the place. Whenever we go on Facebook or any other Social Network, we can see who is single or who just got dumped and it becomes the topic of the day. Because everyone can poke in anyone’s business on Facebook, their personal relationship is now is their “Friends” hands.
In response to Jeffrey Rosen - The End of Forgetting
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in middle school it was before the time of facebook, and myspace and many other social media sites. What sites I did have were picture sites. A place where I could store my pictures and friends could go on the website to look at the pictures. They couldn't comment, they couldn't tag or 'like' any of my pictures. That was the beginning for me with social media. I was Historian at my school, so photography was very important to me. I LIVED for photography. I took pictures everywhere I went; recess, classroom, sleepovers, play dates etc. I recorded it all. I finally had a place to share all of my pictures without printing them out and bringing them in to school. Everyone told me (in person) how much they loved looking through my pictures and how funny they were, because they were of everyone. As this continued, more sites became available for picture posting. What started as Picturetrail or photobucket, soon became more advanced and had sites like Worldisround. Worldisround became more social for me. Friends from other schools could find my pictures, and even comment on pictures. It helped us get to know each other and communicate through picture commenting. Then came friendster, myspace and eventually facebook. My picturetrail and worldisround were soon forgotten and left alone for years and years. It wasn't until I was in my first year of college, 2007, and decided to go on a hunt for my old picture pages. I found them! I've been through so many computers and lost so many pictures that I was so thrilled to have found a site that saved all of my middle school and half of my high school pictures. It was adorable to look through the pictures I had of everyone that I was still friends with to date. I transferred them all on to my facebook to share with everyone. They were a huge hit.
I was excited and thrilled to share those photos with everyone, perhaps because they were appropriate for all eyes and enjoyable for the people in them to see. it was like reliving the past, without the anxiety of "oh god what did I do last night". Perhaps if the photos were incriminating and unflattering I would not be so fond of my photos still being accessible and viewable to all.
Though there are things online that can make me feel regret, or embarrassment, I embrace the fact that we are at "The End of Forgetting". We not only have visual memory of our days/nights out, but we also have friends that wont be forgotten either. Though some people may have pasts that haunt them online, what we do online is who we are and how we express ourselves to be portrayed, whether we make mistakes or not. Embrace the memories, grow from them, learn from them, and move forward.
My first social networking site was a myspace that my friend made for me. After months of judgement and ridicule she forced one on me by taking my email and making me one. After having it for awhile i got use to it but it was never that big in my life. I carried that over into facebook by spending only my bored time on it and trying to keep the information i give out to people to a need to know basis. However, many people dont follow the same suit, they would rather give out vital information to who ever may come by or show insight into how a person is or acts through post and pictures. The privacy invasion that occurs from facebook is only due to the people who put their information out there to be invaded on. The use of social networking sites is very useful when one needs to see who a person is in a different light.
ReplyDeleteThe news feed application on facebook is a stalkers way of stalking easier. While it has some upsides like the fact that while you are doing what you went on facebook to do you are able to get a look into your friends activities without interrupting what you came on to do. It is still a little much do to the fact that anything you post can randomly pop up right in all of your friends face. While this is true about anything on facebook the news feed application brings it to the forefront making easy access to your every move right at everyone's fingertips.
ReplyDeleteThe use of social networking sites for researching purpose is a very smart, yet sometimes looked down upon, action. Social networking has become just as public as walking up to someone in person. However, many people still feel its a private forum. But in reality the information posted is just as public as standing on a building and screaming about yourself. And because of this it is perfectly understandable as to why people will use social networking sites to see a different side of the people they need to know about.
ReplyDeleteI started using Facebook when I was a freshman in high school. Privacy on my account now, compared to when I first started to use it is a major factor to me. I would much rather not have people that I am not friends with be able to see my pictures and information about me. I am very careful about this now that I am older and understand why privacy is so important. When I was first starting out, I just had gotten over myspace and started to use facebook since it seemed like everyone was. My parents when I was in middle school and was using myspace, had access to my account. They wanted to make sure they were protecting me from people I didnt know, making sure I wasnt becoming friends with strangers, and putting everything about my life out there on it for people to see. When I first started using facebook, my parents didnt know about it. I saw people were connecting to my high school by saying where they go and what year they were graduating and so forth, so I felt the need to do so as well. Well the administration of my high school would go onto our facebooks to see what our pictures were and what we were posting and so forth. Some people got ISS for there pictures having a red cup in them symbolizing that they were drinking. I was a good kid, I never drank in high school. Still the fact that my school was going on our facebooks made me freak out a little, so I deleted mine. A month later people were asking why I wasn't adding them as a friend and I told them I deleted mine. They claimed I was wrong...and I was very wrong. If you searched for me, I was still there. I thought I deleted it! But it never did. It just shows that what you put on the internet doesnt go away. And privacy, and what you post should be a major factor and people should think before they post just anything to the internet. It never goes away. Children who are in middle school who are creating facebook accounts I feel shouldn't be allowed to use them. They are too young and there is just no need for them to have one in my eyes. Parents should have total control over what their children do online. If they delete it, it actually NEVER goes away. Children can also add people that they never heard of before just for the fact that they want more friends. They need to be very conscious of this because it could be anyone in this world. Privacy on social networking sites has gotten better I feel but could still be improved. There is always room for improvement with these sites!
ReplyDeletePeople always tell me that they can tell how I am feeling by the way that I am standing or the look on my face, basically I am known to be an open book but you don't have to open it to know how I am feeling. I am currently apart of the Facebook and Twitter community. When social networking started, Myspace was the next big thing.
ReplyDeleteLike most other kids, I started one with out my parents permission. I never understood why a 13 year old child would need to have a social network if we did not even have cell phones yet.
Soon after Myspace exploded into the schools, assemblies started to occur on internet safety. Quickly my parents found out about my Myspace and made me delete it. Then as I was approaching the end of high school Facebook was the new social network and I quickly jumped on that band wagon. I have always tried to keep my Facebook private but being friends with others, it makes that a little hard. Friends can tag pictures of you and unless you have a smartphone you have no way of knowing that until the next time you log on.
Also as we have seen in the news pictures can be very deceiving. These days kids are more concerned with how many friends they have or how many followers they can accumulate. It was just the other day I was talking to my best friends younger sister and she had said to me, "I made my twitter account public because I thought who is going to want to kill me on twitter." the reality is that many people can find you on the internet and just not through twitter.
The internet is a dangerous thing to mess with. Nothing is ever deleted, it is just simply put in a trash bin until someone goes looking for it.
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ReplyDeleteThese articles really made me a bit concerned about all of my profiles. When I first got a Facebook, I let all of my information be public to the world. As a got older, I realized that was something that is very naive of me to do. That led me to allow my friends and friends of their friends to see my info. Now that I have gotten even older and into college I realize I will be getting jobs soon and any information that I may not want on the internet will maybe somehow get out and I know now that this information needs to be covered. After reading these articles, I went to my Facebook profile to make sure that all my information could be seen by only my friends, except four simple, or not so simple facts. My name, the school I attend/attended, my work place, and some of my interests. Some people may even think that information is a bit too much, but at my age, and a college student, I personally believe that is just the right amount. Maybe as I get even older and eventually have a job, all of my information including those four facts will be private and only seen by my friends.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to learn that there was no such thing as a “news feed” when Facebook first came out. Although, many people where upset that the news feed was invented, I personally don’t know if I could function through Facebook without it. I may have never experience it, but the concept of searching for specific information just seems to be too much work. I also did not realize how many “friends” I had on Facebook and Twitter. Out of my 818 friends on Facebook, I would say maybe 50 are considered my close friends/family. I do have to say, the people who I am close with, I tend check out their Facebook is a little more in detail than I would any regular person to find out a little more information about what is going on in their lives. One little post can connect to several other posts on different profiles. It is difficult sometimes because some stuff that is posted to your Facebook, you do not necessarily want to be on there for others to see. Here is when your privacy control comes in and you get to choose to get rid of the information or keep it. However, even with this control, that information will always be on the internet.
As I have gotten older, I really take into consideration what I am posting in general. Before I make a post, I think to myself is this appropriate. Lately, I have not been on Facebook to often to be posting much, so really, my friends are in control of what is being posted about me. Twitter is another story. I try to be as appropriate as possible on twitter, but going though every tweet I have made after reading these articles, I do notice that I use a decent amount of profanity. This shows that it is not always others who are posting this unfortunate information, but it could you. I find that these new programs they are developing are really beneficial to people who are stuck in these situations. We all grow and get older and learn to become a more mature adult. As kids and teens we make silly mistakes that may come up in the near future and could hurt our chances. These programs give everyone a second chance to show who they really are without the other, not so good, information that Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and other social networking sites provide for us.