Social Networking and Privacy

In terms of Internet and privacy, my train of thought always aligned with the view that privacy is not needed unless you have something to hide. I never felt that I had anything to hide; therefore I never considered privacy online to be a major factor or of major significance. The concept that when you post a facebook status, picture, tweet or blog you are potentially posting it to the entire world never really scared me. Rumors of employers and colleges viewing applicant’s facebook profiles worried me slightly, but seemed outlandish and I figured that there was nothing on my facebook that was atypical of any other student my age would display. However, little by little I slowly started realizing that the content of my facebook page did not reflect the complete well-rounded adolescent I wished to present to older persons of authority. This was in many ways not even my own fault. The nature of facebook is social, and just as many college students partying and drinking are a palpable portion of my social life, and to the dismay of the appearance of my Facebook page rarely do people take pictures of you studying. I found that the majority of the content on my Facebook page was party related and showed a mere portion of the individual it represented. In this way I began to begin to realize the importance of privacy, especially on Social Networking sites. These social networking sites are a place for people to interact with their friends in a manner that is typical of their relationship. The content and attitudes I express in an informal social environment with close friends differs significantly from how I interact in a professional environment. I feel that it is entirely unfair for employers to evaluate a applicant based on content from a Facebook page because they are transferring information from a social realm and assume that it reflects the individual’s professional capabilities. However on the other side of the spectrum, if someone posts pictures and information online that can be viewed as evidence of a alcohol or drug problem that could hurt the company or is demonstrative of likely behavior that would be harmful to a company it would be risky for a company to hire someone without investigating them on a Social Networking site, such as Facebook.

The goal of the Internet was to share information quickly and across great distances. We have achieved and surpassed this goal beyond any and all expectations. We have expanded and broadcasted ourselves to the world, and only after we have displayed all that we please to share with the world we consider the repercussions of disclosure to the universe. While in some ways I feel that the notion that if you have nothing to hide you don’t need privacy is applicable to the internet, it is an interesting debate. For in some ways when one actively participates online they are sacrificing some privacy in order to interact with others online. But at the same time information about people who do not choose to share it online is exposed and that is indeed a violation of privacy. I have several friends who choose not to use Facebook, Twitter or blogs but information about them and private information can be found if the Internet was to be scoured. It is a new dilemma of the modern age, for many a times I have over shared onlined and regretted it heavily. Just as we learn to use moderation interpersonally we must learn to moderate the content we post online because privacy or no privacy that is something our generation needs to learn to do as the Internet is here to stay and we need to learn to use it appropriately.