For many of us, the use of social networks via the internet has become second nature. We use it in the morning, during lunch, at work, and before we sleep - and we can't seem to get enough.
Social networks on paper are a great idea, as there are many different uses for one. It brings an unparalleled amount of connectivity, allowing people from all over the world to connect and interact.
It allows information, whether social or not to transfer almost instantaneously, and with the viral nature of social networks, we can see why social networking has taken the internet by storm.
In general, people use social networks for personal use. They connect on it, add friends, interact with lost friends, make new friends etc. It becomes a secondary source for them to discover up-to-date information and news about their friends in ways that would have been impossible without social networking. To that end, users can often find more information than they might have expected. Things such as location, emails, phone numbers, birthdays, all of that can be easily found if the user filled out their profile.
Furthermore, many companies have now taken advantage of social networks and it is almost mandatory for any new company hoping to gain customers to have a presence on these social networks. Corporations have it in their best interest to foster a good relationship with their fans and consumers, and social networking is the definitive answer in doing that. By providing a direct line of contact to their consumers, social networking can become the two-way street needed for open, honest communication that haven't been present in most corporations and company priorities for some time.
However, with all this newfound connectivity, it also presents many issues. The first is that of privacy, and invasion of privacy. As we know, the internet is a great thing, and can be a great source of information - when used correctly. When used incorrectly, privacy can be hard to manage. For example: in 2012, one of the Zuckerberg family, Randi, posted a picture to her Facebook (and it was meant to be private, only viewable by friends). However, another user obtained the photo, and posted it to Twitter. We find out that while Randi specifically set the privacy settings to "friends only", the user unknowingly circumvented that because she was friends with another of the Zuckerberg family, which by association, meant "friends of friends only" were the same as "friends only". (Greenfield, 2012)
Issues like this crop up very so often, and while this particular issue was fixed quickly, there are other more serious issues with social networks.
In another example, scammers often target social networks and can be quite successful in doing so, running off with personal information (such as credit cards, SSIs, etc), and installing malware and other malicious tools on a user's computer.
Most of the time, these scams are pulled off by impersonating a person (using personal info available on their page) on social networks, and sending links to the person's friends. These links typically lead to phishing sites, where unsuspecting users can download malware or enter personal information that is promptly sent to the scammer. (Patterson, 2013)
As with all "good" technology, there are typically people that attempt to take advantage of it. These are a small portion of the "dark side" of social networks.
Greenfield, Rebecca. "Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private." The Wire. The Wire, 26 Dec. 2012. Web. 06 Mar. 2015. <http://www.thewire.com/technology/2012/12/facebook-privacy-so-confusing-even-zuckerberg-family-photo-isnt-private/60313/>.
Patterson, Emily. "New Wave of Phishing Scams Uses Facebook Info for Personalized Spam." BBB Consumer News and Opinion Blog. BBB, 25 Jan. 2013. Web. 09 Mar. 2015. <http://www.bbb.org/blog/2013/01/new-wave-of-phishing-scams-uses-facebook-info-for-personalized-spam/>.
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