Social Networking: The Death of Privacy? Essay

The use of social media by colleges and employers may increase as time goes on. Although some may say people have a right to personal business, it is not personal if it is posted to the public. To avoid people from looking at one’s social media, keep the page

Private information that was previously segregated now becomes easily accessible to employers, colleagues, recruiters, and clients, among other perhaps unintended audiences” (Abril, 2012, para. 4). Yes, most social media sites attain privacy settings but one must always remember there are hiccups in everything on the internet and no guarantees leaks will not occur.

So many users of the internet blindly browse and post on these sites without any thought to the online identity they are creating for themselves. Shares, tweets, hashtags, likes, and comments all combine to make up an amalgamation of marketable information. In November of 2016, an average of six thousand tweets were made per second, and ninety-five million Instagram posts were made per day (Sayce; Parker). Facebook “has become the largest database of personal information ever collected,” says Richard, and Facebook takes advantage of this. With almost two billion users, Facebook has no shortage of information to gather (Sparks). They do this mainly for targeted advertising. There is no small profit to be made in this. In 2011 Lori Andrews wrote, “Facebook made $3.2 billion in advertising revenue last year, 85% of it's total revenue.” However, Facebook and other internet corporations also relay data gathered on users to the

On the one hand, some argue that social media is a main factor of the disturbance of privacy. Social media, especially popular ones such as Facebook or Twitter are known to leak and collect personal data without the user even knowing. Despite the fact that there are large amounts of privacy settings that are offered on these sites, they are not much help to protect a user’s privacy. A great deal of job applicants, students, and employees are being demanded to hand over their Facebook and other social media passwords over. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is an organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country” claims that “The privacy line should

Higher education law attorney Dana L. Fleming voices her controversial opinion in favor of institutionalized involvement in social network protection in her article “Youthful Indiscretions: Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?” (Fleming). Posted in the New England Journal of Higher Education, winter of 2008 issue, Fleming poses the question of responsibility in monitoring students’ online social networking activities. With a growing population of students registering on social networks like Facebook and MySpace, she introduces the concern of safety by saying, “like lawmakers, college administrators have not yet determined how to handle the unique issues posed by the public display of their students’

Social Media began affecting our communication and relationships as early as 1969 when the first internet service provider become available to U.S. universities. In 2002, Friendster, the first social media website available to the U.S. was created and gained over 3 million members in just over 3 months. One year later, MySpace launched. In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg, a 24-year-old Harvard student, created Facebook, an online social networking service. This service was originally a way for students to interact. Today it is the world’s largest social networking service and allows over a billion users to connect though posting photos, sharing links, and comments which all appear on a “News

Acquisti and Gross point out that the unprecedented growth of online social networks including but not limited to Facebook and MySpace has brought with itself serious security and privacy concerns. In this particular study, the authors found out that privacy issues do not discourage individuals from being members of the network. Further, the authors also found out that even individuals who happen to be rather concerned about their privacy reveal a great deal of their personal information after joining the network. This study is highly relevant to my research as it clearly demonstrates that individuals do not take privacy issues seriously on joining Facebook. As the authors point out, the study in this case secured its support from the "CMU Berkman Faculty Development Fund, CMU CyLab and the Data Privacy Laboratory." Thus in addition to being relevant, the study can also be regarded credible.

Social media is a way people can share their lives with each other by just the click of a button. This allows people to access an unlimited amount of information in seconds. People can post everything from family vacation photos to their political views at any time, and this can reveal more about a person than they realize. On most social media accounts there are privacy settings which allows a person to control who see the content of their account. By sharing information that everyone can see, people are making their private lives are more public. Universities have begun using social media as a way to keep track of their current students and their prospective students in and outside of school by monitoring what they post. Even if students

Facebook is a social networking site that is free of charge for its users. It allows the individual the opportunity to stay connected with friends and family, sharing updates, photographs and user status. The company grosses more than $1 billion per quarter in advertising revenue and online games (Ritholtz, 2014). In this respect, Facebook is much more that a social network. It is a versatile and sophisticated corporation that has revolutionized the way people share their lives and communicate. Their mission is “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what’s going on in the

Companies and colleges could use social networking sites to decrease liability. Some people argue that it’s an invasion of privacy and it’s they’re right to post and think what they think is right and still get into a good respectable college. This could cause danger on campus or in working corders to other students and or employees. It helps colleges and businesses find out if their applicants are doing anything that can ruin their reputation or are doing anything illegal. Director of admissions at Harvard college, Marilyn McGrath, said: “If students make it public it’s public information,” (Cartwright 1). Danger on campus is a huge problem, but businesses and colleges could ruin their reputation by hiring the wrong person.

Elizabeth Victor reveals the fact that when we upload any type of content to social media platforms it isn’t always secure. So it is crucial for users to understand how to use the privacy features that the many social media sites have to offer and each one of these sites has its own settings, some more complicated than others (Isentia, 2014). Elizabeth Victor takes the time to explore the privacy settings of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google Plus, and LinkedIn. The research conducted and given is strictly fact, no bias involved, Isentia and Elizabeth Victor go step by step on where to change your privacy settings on these specific social media sites. Elizabeth Victor (2014) notes that, “There are three places to set privacy on Facebook, the privacy tab, your profile, and your photo settings. You have to go to your privacy settings in the tools tab by clicking on the lock icon” (p. 1). Elizabeth Victor (2014) concludes

Social Media is a current way in which people are using to interact with one another daily. Since the launch of various Social Networking Sites (SNS) its been a huge attraction in a new way to share information with others and correspond with interests of your choice in many different forms. Although social media sites allow users to share information with friends and other sites on the internet, many people are unaware of how their privacy is getting out. Now that the expansion of global connection through these social media networking sites are so highly present in todays society, giving us easy access to information, the lack of one's privacy is being diminished. Everyday peoples privacy rights are

In this day and age, social media has become an integral part of our lives. It has created a platform for people to share information instantly and communicate with people all around the world. Facebook is the most outstanding example of successful social media network. According to the first quarter 2015 earnings announcement by Facebook, the site has achieved 1.44 billion active users per month, and 65% of which are daily active users. Other social networking sites such as Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn are also a powerful means of communication. With such a large audience, social networking sites provide ample opportunities to acquire information, network, and connect with friends.

Facebook is currently largest social networking site in the world based on monthly unique visitors – attracting 130 million unique visitors every day (Alexa Inc. 2012). The site’s popularity exploded in 2007 and it bypassed its social networking rival, MySpace, in April 2008 (Phillips 2007). Over the last few years Facebook has impacted people’s social lives in various ways. With its availability on modern smart phones, Facebook enables users to continuously stay in touch with friends, relatives and peers wherever they are in the world as long as they have internet access. It can also group people together who share beliefs and interests and has been known to even reunite lost family members and friends through its enormous social reach

Facebook, a social networking website, has changed the way people communicate with each other. A social networking website is an online platform that allows users to create a public profile and interact with other users on the website. Facebook has even changed our most personal and private conversations and how they are conducted around the world. Since the internet’s birth in 1983, this trend of online communication has been growing. Created in 2004, now registered with more than one billion participants, Facebook’s user numbers surpass even the top four social networking websites combined. According to Wikipedia statistics, Instagram has 300 million registered users, LinkedIn has 200 million users, Classmates.com has 50 million users, and Flickr has 32 million registered users. To be further convinced of the claim that Facebook indeed changes the way we communicate, you would only need to create your own Facebook account and start participating in their social networking experience. Technology and internet usage is fused into every aspect of our society including the style of communication. The launch of Facebook in 2006 also enabled other devices such as touch phones, interactive tablets, and even advanced cars with their own networking capabilities starting in 2007. Facebook is a multibillion-dollar company and is highly recognized for connecting more people than other networks. Facebook’s long-term success can be attributed to providing entertainment, world news, and