Honestly, the use and privacy of these accounts are entirely up to the user. I look at it from a simple point of view; if you don't want it online where it can be shared, interpreted and picked apart then don't post it. Once again, in all honesty, the only people that may benefit from social media and that social media may help are celebrities. Celebrities can use their social media accounts to promote their brands, provide needed publicity and whatever other reasons they conjure up for being in the public eye. These people are bringing more awareness to their brands and products.
Take actors for an example, if their social media accounts are used enough, have the correct managers or writers, their brands will continuously flourish and prosper. Their social media assistants or whoever they hire will shed light on their upcoming movies and films for the actor's fans to see. Also, using their accounts for movie promos and previews are a beneficial part of having an account in the first place. Another way for the actors to successfully promote themselves is to promote a sense of relating. If they were to post a dat night or a day out to the park with their kids then their fans will more likely want to purchase tickets to go see their movies because the fans will think, "Wow, Will Smith does do the same things as me."
For non-celebrities, social media may not be as promising because for one, you do not have as huge of a following. Some people may be very very popular which may ensure a decent following. Also a brilliant and flourishing brand to back you is never a bad idea. But back to the discrepancies within social media and social networking.
These discrepancies are what can be categorized as "the dark side" of social networking because of the false sense of security that these accounts provide to its users.
Privacy within social media accounts are constantly called into question by its users. For an example, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg's sister, Randi Zuckerberg, found herself calling into question her own brother's company privacy settings. According to "Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private" by Rebecca Greenfield, Ms. Zuckerberg became sensitive about privacy and asked a few people to take down a family photo taken on Christmas Day 2012 that she posted to an app called Poke app. One tweet reads:
@cschweitz , not sure where you got this photo. I posted to friends only on FB. You reposting it to Twitter is way uncool.
She continues on:
@cschweitz would really appreciate if you would delete the original tweet where you posted the photo. No need to spread it further. Thanks!
You would think that Mark Zuckerberg's sister would be more familiar with Facebook's privacy settings. Apparently not. The complexity of such privacy settings only proves my previous point; if you don't want it online where it can be shared, interpreted and picked apart then don't post it. In this case it wasn't even that serious because the Twitter user who posted the picture didn't spread any negativity. It was simply a repost. Ms Zuckerberg, as a celebrity by family association should have thicker skin.
Another reading about Facebook privacy, "Who Cares About Facebook Privacy? Students Do" by Mark Parry, provides brief details by two researchers who wrote a paper which proves that teenage users between the ages of eighteen and nineteen do indeed care about their accounts' privacy. Of their research, they say:
“Over all, our data show that far from being nonchalant and unconcerned about privacy matters, the majority of young adult users of Facebook are engaged with managing their privacy settings on the site at least to some extent,” the researchers write.
Remember, if you don't want it online where it can be shared, interpreted and picked apart then don't post it!
In my humble opinion, the future of social media may lead to a darker side if that's even possible. These settings will continue to be filled with trickery and its users will continue to display their vulnerabilities until it is too late.
Both readings provide a well amount of research and information.
Citation
http://www.thewire.com/technology/2012/12/facebook-privacy-so-confusing-even-zuckerberg-family-photo-isnt-private/60313/
http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/who-cares-about-facebook-privacy-students-do/25877
No comments:
Post a Comment