We would never approach a stranger in the street and tell them all of our likes and dislikes. We would never contact a known criminal to tell them our exact location on a night out. And we would never bring out a photo album full of drunken photos to show our grandparents when they come to visit.
So why do we have a Facebook account?
Nothing on social media is completely private.
Before the Internet came about, we had control over all things listed above. And we still like to pretend that we do. We are in denial.
Yes - Facebook allows us to control our privacy settings, so only the people we select are able to view our profiles.
But Facebook also allows our friends to control their privacy settings, and, effectively, ours too.
The above screenshot from Facebook.com displays Facebook's current privacy setting options, regarding a user's profile and tagging.
The circled option refers to our friends.
So in the case of our friend's privacy settings, that option will refer to us.
So whatever we post on our friend's wall could be available to a worldwide audience, and we wouldn't know.
It is impossible to exist online to a selected number of people. Having a Facebook account opens up hundred of doors that people can open to access your personal information.
So the default settings are the most open, meaning that users will have to instantly change their settings if they wish to remain as private as possible.
Why is this?
The above screenshot from Facebook.com states that the information is available to anyone in order to maintain the idea of the "social network." If these settings were private, people would never be able to connect.
In truth, most people are aware that their privacy settings online are not full-proof. So why do we take the risk?
I'll finish this blog post with a simple answer to that question from John Friedman, Marketwatch media columnist:
"We're hooked. I am hooked. People are addicted to Facebook. It's like a narcotic. People love being on Facebook. They like having their artificial friends and their universe and they won't leave."
References
Online Video
jeetz05. 2011. Social Media Privacy [online video]. 24 October. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9pFMSKPXSk&feature=related [Accessed on 5 April 2012]
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