Guaranteed: This post will make you think before you put information into social network profiles.
I often wonder why people put so much personal information into their social networking profiles -- from their actual birthday to their favorite books and movies. Forget privacy, we simply don't have any. And if you were going to comment that this is what we get for spending so much time online, try reading the privacy agreement on your credit card, or your medical insurance.
Everything online is there forever in one form or another. Think before you add another stupid sharing app - would I want a potential client to see this? Would I want my family to see this? Would I want this on the first page of the newspaper? If the answer to any of these questions is "no", don't put a photo from a wild party, account of your breakup, etc, etc., online.
And remember, reporters looking for information about you will surely look to see if you're on MySpace, etc.
Everything you say can come back to haunt you. Online, everything is forever. Comments you make on blogs, in forums, in social media groups, etc. will all show up in searches on your name. Think twice before you hit "submit" or "send."
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Comments
Interesting video. There is no doubt that whatever you put online is pretty much available to the public whether it is public or not. You know "an arrow once shot" and all that. So it is important use prudence. Thanks for pointing that out again.
That being said this video smacks of a ittle "conspiracy theory" over reaction. The connections with the CIA are interesting, but given the Six Degree rule I bet we all have some connection to various government agencies.
I myself new a guy, who new a guy, who's mother once dated a guy who' brother worked for a company who's had a director who dated a girl who's brother was a mailman.
Just kidding Bl. Your point is well taken and we should all be wary of giving too much information online.
The people who really have been hurt by these networks are the young people who posted all kinds of crazy stuff on myspace when they were stupid and imature and now employers will routinely "google" their names during a pre-employement check.
We used to be able to define ourselves based on our current beliefs and behaviors but now the bad history, or good history, follows us whether we want it or not.
Another problem is people with the same name. I googled a guy I was dating and got all kinds of weird things. Until I could get a site with a picture, I couldnt be sure it wasn't him.
I do have a lot of information posted on my site on the 'About' page because many people told me to personalize my site to increase business. I worry about being 'out there' to that degree but I think there is a positive, at my age, to defining yourself clearly and reduce the opportunity for misunderstandings.
One prominent thought for me is the old saying "behave as if everyone is watching" because, as you point out, the system is saving the information so that those who are not watching now, can catch the rerun at their own leisure.
Finally, I have a business networking site and, for obvious reasons, I would highly recommend using but carefully editing your facebook, myspace and other entries so they only carry the most acceptable content.
A few points on this post. First of all Facebook was the first large scale social platform where you put real information because your FB friends were real friends, unlike Myspace. If you put up false information to make yourself look 'better' there was a social screening process where you would be ostracized. Secondly, once-upon-a-time it was a walled garden for college students and to this day facebook pages aren't indexed and don't pop up on Google. Finally, we are just experiencing the first generation of original FB users entering the workspace, so many of these issues haven't been addressed.
It is easy to judge college kids, but you didn't come join Facebook till long after it was heavily embedded in college social life.
If you want an honest reflection on the history of Facebook from a students perspective read this post:
There is a new web 2.0 service to counter the trend of overly public photo and video sharing. 2Pad was developed by 3 French entrepreneurs as the only private photo and sharing service. Using the latest in web technology, such as Ajax, 2Pad allows you to privately share your media from your personal gallery.
Simply start by sending your media via email to 2pad@2pad.com and 2Pad automatically creates your personal gallery.
Think of it as one of the first services to take the privacy back from the over sharing that social networks such as Facebook have promoted.
Comments
Interesting video. There is no doubt that whatever you put online is pretty much available to the public whether it is public or not. You know "an arrow once shot" and all that. So it is important use prudence. Thanks for pointing that out again.
That being said this video smacks of a ittle "conspiracy theory" over reaction. The connections with the CIA are interesting, but given the Six Degree rule I bet we all have some connection to various government agencies.
I myself new a guy, who new a guy, who's mother once dated a guy who' brother worked for a company who's had a director who dated a girl who's brother was a mailman.
Just kidding Bl. Your point is well taken and we should all be wary of giving too much information online.
Posted by: Harry hallman | 11.24.07
The people who really have been hurt by these networks are the young people who posted all kinds of crazy stuff on myspace when they were stupid and imature and now employers will routinely "google" their names during a pre-employement check.
We used to be able to define ourselves based on our current beliefs and behaviors but now the bad history, or good history, follows us whether we want it or not.
Another problem is people with the same name. I googled a guy I was dating and got all kinds of weird things. Until I could get a site with a picture, I couldnt be sure it wasn't him.
I do have a lot of information posted on my site on the 'About' page because many people told me to personalize my site to increase business. I worry about being 'out there' to that degree but I think there is a positive, at my age, to defining yourself clearly and reduce the opportunity for misunderstandings.
One prominent thought for me is the old saying "behave as if everyone is watching" because, as you point out, the system is saving the information so that those who are not watching now, can catch the rerun at their own leisure.
Finally, I have a business networking site and, for obvious reasons, I would highly recommend using but carefully editing your facebook, myspace and other entries so they only carry the most acceptable content.
Thanks for the great video!
Jill Roy Jolley
www.jillsconsultantlist.com
Posted by: Jill | 11.24.07
Thank you for the reminder to use discretion and common sense when divulging information online.
Harry and Jill's comments provide important points of balance to the issue of privacy that affect us from here on out.
Posted by: Kas Kunz | 11.26.07
One of the things I believe we'll see in 2008 is greater demand for control of our own data. I have it on my list of predictions.
Posted by: B.L Ochman | 11.26.07
A few points on this post. First of all Facebook was the first large scale social platform where you put real information because your FB friends were real friends, unlike Myspace. If you put up false information to make yourself look 'better' there was a social screening process where you would be ostracized. Secondly, once-upon-a-time it was a walled garden for college students and to this day facebook pages aren't indexed and don't pop up on Google. Finally, we are just experiencing the first generation of original FB users entering the workspace, so many of these issues haven't been addressed.
It is easy to judge college kids, but you didn't come join Facebook till long after it was heavily embedded in college social life.
If you want an honest reflection on the history of Facebook from a students perspective read this post:
http://senithomas.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/growing-up-on-facebook-a-tale-of-a-students-transition-from-college-to-the-real-world/
Posted by: Seni Thomas | 11.26.07
There is a new web 2.0 service to counter the trend of overly public photo and video sharing. 2Pad was developed by 3 French entrepreneurs as the only private photo and sharing service. Using the latest in web technology, such as Ajax, 2Pad allows you to privately share your media from your personal gallery.
Simply start by sending your media via email to 2pad@2pad.com and 2Pad automatically creates your personal gallery.
Think of it as one of the first services to take the privacy back from the over sharing that social networks such as Facebook have promoted.
Posted by: Susi | 01.07.08