We are all aware of the increasing issues in privacy on social networking sites such as Facebook which is definitely the most common network around. I recently read and article by JoEllen Redlingshafer in which she mentioned how her friend was unable to get an internship because of his Facebook profile picture which he later changed as well as his name on Facebook to his first and middle name. There is a lack of privacy although users should be able to personalize their privacy settings and limit what they show to their friends on social networks. But the reason why there is no privacy is due to free networks for all users. These include Facebook and Twitter.
Social media sites need to concentrate on privacy now that the networks are well stabled and used by millions across the globe. It was stated in the article that users only have free access as the companies allow advertisements. I myself realised that this is so true. For example, when we log in to our social network accounts a set of cookies record other sites that we view. This is good for advertising agencies and companies wishing to promote themselves. Although, there is a lack of privacy for users as they always feel someone is watching them and that their personal information is at risk. Social media sites need to change this in the future. The only explanation was that if users want complete privacy then they would have to be charged in order to block all cookies. This would never work as I cannot see most Facebook and Twitter users paying for subscription unless it is a small fee which is unlikely. According to Gallup 65% of Facebook users are concerned about viruses and a recent incident was where some account holders were tricked into passing a code into their browser which gave hackers access to their profile. This would have lead to so many issues and users accounts would have been changed and their information must have been stolen by hackers. All these are the outcomes of a lack of privacy.
In contrast it is also true that smart users i.e everyone using Facebook should either delete their account if they find it is too risky and if they feel they have critical and private pictures or messages on their accounts. At the end of the day most social networks are made for sharing information and that is the whole point of adding your friends and communicating with them. Another procedure of keeping your profile private is by blocking certain friends and users from viewing you pictures and posts. This may be long but if privacy is an issue then it must be done. I myself have certain settings on my account to keep my tagged photos private from certain people on my account. But I do agree that sites need to focus more on making these networks safer for users to use and avoid any hacking. The sites will get better and grow if there is sufficient security in place.
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