Social Media Explosion: Article Analysis

Privacy has become a prominent topic in academic and social debate throughout the country. In “Term of Service” by Jacob Silverman, Silverman argues that American citizens today are unaware that their private information is often shown and are no longer safe from the public eye. After all, the integration of social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter has made it impossible to keep anything private. Sharing life events on social media has become the new social norm in the United States. However, this new trend has left the online community with a false sense of security, leaving them venerable against data mining, profiling, and unknown surveillance issues by third party miners across the country. With no end to this threat, how can causal social media users defend themselves without any assistants? The federal government should adopt stronger privacy laws like they have in Europe. They should come up with a digital bill of reforms to help better protect the online community, better inform the public about data mining threats, and companies should get government approval for any data retrieval before they are used for financial gains.

There is too much information shared online that risk the privacy of others. Users also visit the internet and leave information that may damage their reputation in future. Fleck and Johnson-Migalski (2015) explain that social media may lead to unprofessional medical information reaching people. They also argue that social media may lead to sharing of client information violating the doctor-patient relationships. In addition, social media may also lead to loss of credibility when medical professionals share information that is contrary to advice they give to a patient. For instance, a doctor prescribes no alcohol to a patient then post pictures enjoying

Private information that was previously segregated now becomes easily accessible to employers, colleagues, recruiters, and clients, among other perhaps unintended audiences” (Abril, 2012, para. 4). Yes, most social media sites attain privacy settings but one must always remember there are hiccups in everything on the internet and no guarantees leaks will not occur.

"We collect the content and other information you provide when you use our Services, including when you sign up for an account, create or share, and message or communicate with others” (Hachman). Each day people live with a false security that they are protected and maintain a sense of privacy. Citizens misplace their trust in social media and technology, and divulge their personal information in ignorance of the repercussions that may arise. Users say the advances in technology and social media will not affect their privacy; however, it is proven that these advances can be a harbinger of both danger and discontent.

In his essay, “Get Over It,” Jeff Jarvis argues that “ . . . our supposed privacy crisis, . . . could result in our missing many of the opportunities the net affords to connect with each other and with information” (430). On the other hand, Andrew Keen, in “Sharing is a Trap,” states that “. . . this increasingly ubiquitous social network . . . is invading the 'sacred precincts' of private and domestic life” (426). With all the posting, tweeting, and blogging privet lives have become open to the public. SMS, emails and even calls are being traced, recorded and reviewed every day, you are not safe on the internet. Keen’s argument regarding social media is valid in regard to the transformative nature of the Internet, privacy and “publicness.”

Facebook. Instagram. Whatsapp. All which are categorised as social media, which we are all familiar with. Social media has been ingrained into our lives; we use them every day. Without social media, we would be lost for many reasons: It has encompassed both our personal and professional life, as its purposes ranges from using it for work purposes to simply having a chat. However, have we ever stopped and wondered at what cost? Little do we know that social media can be used as a tool to scrutinize our personal lives. We have been lied to about having freedom on social media, the Government has the ability to look at every single thing we are doing on it. This is a purely disgusting act, people deserve their privacy, and taking that away from them is – in the kindest manner- absolutely horrendous.

There is a rising dominance of social media sites that allows users lives to become increasingly transparent. With full information about ones activities available for everyone to see, it blurs the line between personal and impersonal information. Personal information like where you were, and your private life information are now things that everyone feels free to share, and by doing so dismantling the boundaries of personal information.

Furthermore, the tendency that it will be fine even if you do not keep privacy is getting stronger year by year. One of the reasons is because technology is developing rapidly in the world. This evidence is that a lot of people bring with them their smart phones and computers to the evidence of this. Stefano Taddei said, “The results suggest practical implications for online social network providers, most of all with regard to privacy policies in online environments” (2013). In the future, the providers will develop and affect us positive and negative through using technology.

Privacy is a topic that has impacted this new generation more so than others, and more than likely will continue to do so. It has been the source to much controversy and issues in the past decade. Additionally, it seems like privacy is only becoming more of a hazard rather than a blessing to users of social media and modalities of communication. Therefore, underscoring this topic and examining its effects, will possibly lead to an understanding of the rise and potentiality of this sensitive subject. Moreover, in some form or another, people have stumbled across this topic and that is why it is crucial that it is addressed, so that people can have an understanding of the problem.

This essay will discuss the way social networking sites affect the nature and limits of privacy. There are various social networking websites e.g. Facebook, MySpace, Youtube, Twitter, Google Buzz, and many others with various privacy settings and in the past several years billions of people have joined these social networking sites.

The United States is a culture of sharing. People share their personal lives on almost every aspects with social media such as Facebook and Twitter. The idea of free online services have attract people’s natural instinct to indulge themselves into these free services. What they do not know is how these “free-services” ask in return. Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat have revolutionized how people connect with one another and the way people retrieve resources, which also allows massive private information accessible to organizations. In the article called “Twitter’s Lucrative Data Mining Business” published in The Wall Street Journal, Elizabeth Dwoskin talks about Twitter’s disclosure that its company has “$47.5 million came from selling off its data to a fast-growing group of companies that analyze the data for insights into news events and trends” (Dwoskin). Although the internet has opened doors to many business opportunities and innovations, it has invaded social media users’ private information and often exposes them to unauthorized organizations such Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat for monetary gain. Legal standing has make it possible for these companies to appropriately set user’s policies regarding the disclosure of user’s privacy, but people often disregard on how companies are distributing their information that may expose their privacy to unauthorized organizations.

Social Media is a current way in which people are using to interact with one another daily. Since the launch of various Social Networking Sites (SNS) its been a huge attraction in a new way to share information with others and correspond with interests of your choice in many different forms. Although social media sites allow users to share information with friends and other sites on the internet, many people are unaware of how their privacy is getting out. Now that the expansion of global connection through these social media networking sites are so highly present in todays society, giving us easy access to information, the lack of one's privacy is being diminished. Everyday peoples privacy rights are

Social media is defined by internet-based websites and networks that create a virtual platform for online users to share ideas and information, build social communities, and create a space for self-expression. As of 2018, an estimated amount of 2.6 billion people in the entire population actively have social networking accounts. As the digital age becomes more prevalent, and thus expanding, social media enterprises, such as Facebook, are devising ways and software that enhance marketing. These methods, however, have recently triggered criticism for collecting information that users may not want to be meddled by unknown parties. Seeing how this infringes the right to privacy, it can only be resolved by refraining from social media.

Social media has become a worldwide addiction. Some use social media to post their fondest moments; others to post private information not suitable for the world to know. This private information is sometimes discovered by important people like college admissions officers or potential employers. Research explains that most parents, employers, and colleges are not concerned about social media being a bad thing (Source D). Some would say it is an illogical practice to spy on people’s private profiles.

However, Abram’s call for individual’s responsibility of privacy by limiting access to certain information is impossible due to the very nature of social media. In Alice E Marwick and danah boyd’s 2014 article, Networked Privacy: How Teenagers Negotiate Context in Social Media, they argue that because social media is, as previously discussed by Werbin and Fuchs, a networked environment that thrives on sharing user-generated data (Marwick & boyd 1054). Furthermore, Marwick and boyd explain this argument through a paraphrased statement from new media studies scholar Jenny Sunden (2003), which states, “to exist online, people must type themselves into being” (Marwick & boyd 1054). In other words, each “like”, post, and comment all contribute to our existence online; to use social media we must put ourselves and our information online. Moreover, rather than focusing on Abram’s individual responsibility model – which Marwick & boyd call “access-control list” –, Marwick & boyd suggest that their “networked privacy” model – where privacy becomes the responsibility of each member of the social media network – fits our social media platforms better (1064-1065). In other words, through their study of how American teenagers manage privacy online, Marwick & boyd conclude that it is incredibly difficult to maintain privacy on social media, because one shared photo to a few friends on Facebook means the responsibility to keep this information private transfers to these friends (1064). To