Social Networking and Privacy

Technology advances has created a new way to network. When I think of networking in the past, I see men in suits, shaking hands, certain people meeting certain people. This was your way in, to society. However, now one can meet certain people easily. Facebook has changed the way we communicate with the rest of the world forever. Contacting people on the other side of the world is only a click away. We have the privilege of getting to know so many more people than we normally would. You could be facebook friends with a friend of a friend and they could be looking to hire someone for a job and there you go. You're connected. You're in.

Other sites, such as linked in, offer these similar opportunities as well. I have an older cousin who told me that the sole purpose of her being on facebook is for her job. These networking sites are a great way to stay in touch with many people at the same time. However, being in touch with so many people can have it's down sides. For example, can you trust everyone you are facebook friends with? Would you normally let them hear personal conversations between you and closer friends? Well, facebook welcomes them into that inner circle.

Writing on people's wall, tagging pictures and statuses are all fun ways to stay connected, but they can also have serious consequences. The internet is different from a face to face conversation because it is permanent. Almost anyone can go on facebook and see the video you posted on your friend's wall last week. And if this video is less than flattering, than there could be issues that come from this. So these types of situations beg the question: What is privacy regarding the internet?

On one hand, people feel as though they should have privacy over all internet activity. On the other hand, people are making a conscious choice to put information on the internet, so it should be public. I believe, first of all, that privacy depends on the age group. For example, my high school had access to our myspace and facebook accounts. Due to this, many girls got in trouble for inappropriate pictures of them drinking and smoking. However, I think monitoring these kids is acceptable. They are underage and if they know they are doing something they can get in trouble for, than they shouldn't be broadcasting it.

However, I feel as though once you enter college, your accounts should be private to anyone you are not friends with. I think this is especially important when college students begin looking for jobs. If a job can look on your facebook and decide whether or not to hire you based on information and pictures, than that is ridiculous. As we saw at the beginning of our class, facebook is not an entirely accurate representation of who we are as actual people. So we should be given privacy from perspective jobs when it comes to social networking.