When we use social media, it is
important to consider our online footprints and how we give out information. On
my end of things, I have accounts on Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook,
and LinkedIn. I would say that for Snapchat, Facebook, and LinkedIn, I am
pretty moderate. For Snapchat I mostly send my friends funny pictures and
generally don't share information. I rarely use Facebook but I only post if it
is something I would be comfortable with everyone seeing. Like Dr. Smith has
mentioned in class, the thought of Facebook selling my information also keeps
me away from it at times. And LinkedIn is only used for business purposes so I
just list my professional and community service experience. I treat Instagram
similarly to Facebook, yet I post more frequently and include more things like
vacations and events. As for YouTube, I watch videos but I never post any
unless I absolutely have to for assignments.
So how can these be viewed by an
outsider? Someone on Instagram could see my physical appearance, who I spend
time with, where I have gone on vacation, etc. but I have a private account so
not everyone has access. Then for Snapchat, I doubt people really save data
from my account as posts disappear within a day and if somebody screenshots or
replays anything I get a notification. And then for YouTube, people would not
learn much directly about me but they could probably see what sorts of videos I
like. With Facebook, however, everything is public so anyone could pick up on
what I look like, where I am from, and where I went to school. LinkedIn is
similar where I have to pick and choose what I feel comfortable showing to the
public. It's a scary thought to imagine stalkers going through all of our
social media. So information has to be managed accordingly.
Alexis C. Madrigal on The Atlantic
article brings up how Facebook saves information about what we like in order to
encourage purchases. While this may seem innocent at first, he explains that
Facebook "the product" works through Facebook "the
business" and that "Facebook has 242 million North American users,
and if 50 percent of them would feel uncomfortable with Facebook’s core business
practice, then that’s a lot of potentially angry people" (Madrigal).
If this article is anything to go off of, this is very much an invasion of
people's privacy. Add this to the compare-and-despair effect that social media
already has on people and social media can really harm an individual both in
terms of self-esteem when they are missing out on something and in terms of
privacy when media like Facebook sell personal information.
Link to article:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/facebook-users-still-dont-know-how-facebook-works/580546/
