Social Networking and Privacy

Social networking has become an extremely prevalent and essential form of communication in our society. The sites are used by a multitude of companies and individuals alike to express current and new information, and to update interested people in a very fast way. The social network that I use is Facebook. I don’t have other sites like Twitter because Facebook fills my own personal social networking needs. I access Facebook all the time through my computer, and check it multiple times a day. I don’t have Internet on my phone; otherwise I am sure I would use Facebook on my phone. There can obviously be problems that arise with maintaining boundaries and regarding privacy, but I generally see social networking positively. Social networks are great ways to keep up with people and to share information, you just have to understand who your audience is, and expect that other people who you may not wish to see the information, may be able to. I set my privacy settings on Facebook to fit my needs, highly manage and control who can see what on my Facebook. I do this because I use my own Facebook account to keep in touch with my friends and siblings. I would rather not change my Facebook page to suit future employees or for work purposes.  That is my main concern that I have, as I enter the work world, and a conflict that I will have to face eventually. One good thing is, that there are new more work-oriented social networking sites that have become popular, and keep personal life separate from work. I think that what you reveal on your social networking sites and the information you provide is at your discretion and you should control who sees that information and understand your audience. I haven’t run into any extremely bad instances of over sharing, but there have been times when I have realized that there are individuals able to see pictures, status updates, and posts that may not the best individuals to see it. It is hard at times because people use similar social networking sites in different ways. For example my high school friend’s parents have Facebook and have sent me friend requests, and while I would love to keep in contact with them, Facebook, for me personally, is not the venue for this. It can be a sticky situation because I do not want to offend them, but would like to keep boundaries that other friends have chosen to relinquish. I think the best way to hand a social network in regards to privacy, is to understand what you personally want to use the site for, and to set up your privacy and edit yourself to fit those needs and boundaries. It also never hurts to remain a little more private on the Internet and to keep some boundaries regardless of your audience. I plan to use a different site for workplace interactions and friendship interactions, that way I can share a funny Youtube clip to my friends without worrying that my boss would think it wasn’t appropriate.