The ‘Social’ in Social Media
There is so much to do all the time, I think that a day should have more than 24 hours!
Internet has made information so accessible that if someone is looking for it, it is readily available at all times. Google has become a verb and life’s so easy with information a couple of clicks away, I wonder why did they have books in the first place! I realized in the past few weeks that it was much easier to find out what’s happening around you, by using twitter! For those who joined us late, Twitter is a website that lets users share 140 character messages with the entire world.
Unlike SMS, twitter is a broadcast service. SMS is meant for an intended list of recipients, while twitter messages are for everyone to see, making it public, and therefore social! It is funny the way the meaning and definition of ‘Social’ has changed. Anything, which is not private, can be considered Social. The more open you are, the more Social you are.
If you can share the dirtiest of your secrets in public, chances are that you will have a good fan following!
Websites like Facebook, MySpace etc have brought everything in the users’ life in public domain, all in the name of Social. It is easy for people to know things about others that otherwise would never be in the public domain.
What makes life worse is the number of companies that use the API of these Web Applications. In user language, these companies are providers of the numerous quizzes, cute quotes, comparison reports, photo tools, games and all that jazz on Facebook and MySpace.
People continuously add these applications, opening up their profiles to the providers, and also allowing the provider to access the information of all their friends.
This means that if I want to protect my profile from potential spammers, ID thieves or just want to keep my private life private, I will have to ask my friends to not use these applications. With the increasing number of people getting on to the Social Networks, it gets all the more difficult to keep a tab on how and where can your information be distributed. Currently, I do not know how many people read the TOS and Privacy Policy and all the other fine print of these applications. I think most people don’t even realize that these parts require any attention.
The next posts will have the details of protecting profiles in Facebook for a start.
Please protect yourself and help others.
September 13th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
I have complete agreement on this. Hate to admit but I have never checked the privacy policy’s myself.
I believe no one checks these details. Terms and Conditions are the best suited terms for everyone online, cause they get a “YES” more often than anything else wo a moments thought.
It also just goes to show how much trust the consumers online are showing during their online activities. Its really remarkable the way these sites have evolved themselves and bonded with people globally.
My guess to why people are so carefree wrt being online is cause its not affecting them directly or physically. Even if its causing any damage to them, its unknown for a long time till its BIG.
It will be good to know what can one do to protect oneself – awaiting for the next post.
Be quick – am very much an active participant of online social netwroking and would want to be safer asap