What Risks Can Be Affiliated With Social Media?

Privacy has become a prominent topic in academic and social debate throughout the country. In “Term of Service” by Jacob Silverman, Silverman argues that American citizens today are unaware that their private information is often shown and are no longer safe from the public eye. After all, the integration of social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter has made it impossible to keep anything private. Sharing life events on social media has become the new social norm in the United States. However, this new trend has left the online community with a false sense of security, leaving them venerable against data mining, profiling, and unknown surveillance issues by third party miners across the country. With no end to this threat, how can causal social media users defend themselves without any assistants? The federal government should adopt stronger privacy laws like they have in Europe. They should come up with a digital bill of reforms to help better protect the online community, better inform the public about data mining threats, and companies should get government approval for any data retrieval before they are used for financial gains.

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.

"We collect the content and other information you provide when you use our Services, including when you sign up for an account, create or share, and message or communicate with others” (Hachman). Each day people live with a false security that they are protected and maintain a sense of privacy. Citizens misplace their trust in social media and technology, and divulge their personal information in ignorance of the repercussions that may arise. Users say the advances in technology and social media will not affect their privacy; however, it is proven that these advances can be a harbinger of both danger and discontent.

From different online social media websites to virtual adventure games, software that helps people meet, talk, and work with others is getting billion of online users. The use of social media comes with a price, though. Every photo upload or click of a “like” button deposits users' personal data online, many of which gives businesses the statistics they need for advertising. To some, such data being collected is an invasion of privacy, but social media supporters say it is a little price to pay for the benefits of online socializing. Meanwhile, people criticize

Social networking sites give their users an easy way to share information about themselves. However, many users are quickly finding that the information they intend to share with their friends can all too easily find its way into the hands of the authorities, strangers, the press, and the public at large. For example, job recruiters are looking to these sites as well as performing more traditional background

In the social networking arena, users voluntarily divulge personal information online that, prior to the digital age, would have been considered private and restricted. Without careful and fierce examination of information prior to submitting it online, users unwittingly and certainly unwillingly subject themselves to threat of privacy intrusion.

These days it seems like social media is just as much a part of everyone's daily routine as brushing their teeth. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, YouTube...seems like just about everyone's got a profile on one or more social media sites. In fact, according to Edison Research, over 2/3 of all Americans over the age of 12 use social media, and 75 million users report checking those sites multiple times per day. While it may not be quite the “15 minutes of fame” we were all promised at some point in the future, what this means is that most of us at least have the potential, if we're not careful, to have our information made public to a worldwide audience. While this may sound like an attention-seeker's dream come true, it can also be very

Recently more teenagers than ever have multiple social media accounts, and it’s not uncommon to see a group full of teens sitting together, glued to their phones, sitting in silence. The author of Hazards of Social Media, Brittany Tate, includes that studies have shown that this could be bad for both mental and physical health reasons. Teenagers that are hyperactive texters and excessive users of social media are more likely to try cigarettes, try alcohol, be binge drinkers, use illicit drugs, be in a physical fight, and have sex.

Not only does mobile phone use have the potential to hinder our cognitive abilities, it also has negative implications for well-being. Shiffrin, Edelman, Falkenstern and Stewart (2010) administered a questionnaire to 99 undergraduate students that measured subjective well-being, internet usage, perceptions of computer mediated communication (CMC) versus face-to-face (FTF) communication, and level of extraversion. Participants consistently reported that CMC was less beneficial that FTF communication; they indicated that FTF communication was more enjoyable, and significantly more beneficial for getting work done, building relationships, increasing emotional closeness, and making plans. Furthermore, the number of hours participants spent on the internet per week was significantly negatively associated with subjective well-being. These findings suggest that internet use and CMC may be detrimental to relationships, social support and well-being. Schiffrin et al. (2010) noted the rise of a new internet paradox, in which individuals consistently report less fulfilling communication online but continue to increase the amount of time they communicate with others online, while indicating that CMC has no impact on their well-being.

Despite the overwhelming concerns regarding online privacy, people continue using technology and share their information on social media. According to the article “We Want Privacy But We Can’t Stop Sharing” by Kate Murphy, a journalist for the New York Times, she claims that “it’s hard to argue for the value of privacy when people eagerly share so much achingly personal information on social media.” In other words, people

Social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook have created a new ethical dilemma for many businesses. Corporations, small businesses, and even universities are struggling create policies to manage their employees social networking behaviors. Social networking access, particularly for recruiters, can provide personal information about potential employees, which would otherwise not be available. A business must follow statutes and guidelines when disclosing information to the public. Individuals on social networking sites have no such constraints. Employees can and do make comments about their employers online. Employers can and do watch what employees post online. Any individual can send or post potentially damaging information

We exchange personal information for sheer ease of use and more personalized services. This is the kind of exchange we readily approve of on the internet on a daily basis. Accepting the terms and conditions of the privacy policy agreement of say Facebook or Google; gives them access to your preferences and interests leading to a more enriched and involved user experience. We seldom think of the implications of just handing over the access to our personal data especially on the social media but computer scientists and policy experts believe that such innocuous bits of self-revelation can be amassed overtime and reassembled by computers to help create a picture of a person’s identity.

Social media is very dangerous now a days. It can cause many problems because of the amount of people that are connected on social media. There are many reasons that social media is dangerous because of people who get on their and try to lure children. Parents need to make sure they pay attention to what their children are doing online because it can potentially hurt them later on in life. Although many people believe that social media is very helpful because it allows people to connect together, it is clear that social media is very dangerous due to cyberbullying, affects on face to face interaction, and private information being spread.

In our ever changing environment integrating the use of technology into our daily lives has exponentially increased over the last thirty years. The innovative results technology has created leads to a robust amount of valuable opportunities for social expansion found in the areas of commerce, medicine, occupational, and education. As the population continues to integrate the use of technology into their daily lives the expansion in technology use has also resulted in numerous negative exploitations, especially on social networking websites (SNW). Social networking websites are frequently targeted by those who threat to attack SNW registered user’s private lives. A frequent doubt that embarks the user’s thoughts is one that questions SNW’s ability of properly securing stored user information. Society also questions the possibility of SNW’s cultivation of user stored information and whether these websites will broadcast the information to unwanted public, such as advertisers. This is a heated confrontation between SNW users and the websites themselves. The question of whether the information projected on SNW can become a potential threat to society 's privacy can be easily answered, yes. As a SNW user myself I believe that many of SNW’s have the inability of properly securing user stored information. The low security creates a threat to society’s privacy; it also has the capability of creating a potential monetary gain from cultivating and distributing stored information.

As the Internet has grown to become a popular tool, it has also left people’s information available to the world such as their address, email or telephone number. Most people are aware of the risks involved with posting online and often implement privacy features on social media allowing only friends and followers to see their information. However, these actions are not enough. An analysis by Li, Li, Yan and Deng