WeeklyBlog#5: Facebook Privacy

There is no doubt that facebook is very popular and growing rapidly.
According to this Youtube video:

• Facebook has 400 million users all over the world (Actually it reached 800 million right now)
• Americans spend 7 hours per month on average (more popular than wiki or google)

This is only a few facts about Facebook and you can see clearly that Facebook has now a big impact on people daily lives.

Facebook connects people all over the world, enabling you to communicate with your friends who are in different countries for example. All you have to do is just to log in Facebook and Find friends there.

However, Facebook also has a big issue.
It is privacy issue.

There is little or no privacy on Facebook.
Facebook contains numerous personal information, including their names, addresses, phone numbers, birthday, educational history...etc And these information can be accessed by developers, advertisers, and even hackers easily, according to this.


Information has got a power in this information technology era.
Personal information is very valuable to a lot of different advertisers and hackers who are trying to collect personal information as much as possible.

One of examples is this:

When you are surfing on the web, these ads pop up. These ads are not displayed randomly, but know your preference and interests. Ads are customized to you by cookies and so on. This helps advertisers to sell and promote their products and services. Thus, you have to be very careful and be wise that you are always been watched and tracked online, that your purchase decisions could be influenced by them. According to the youtube video that I mentioned earlier, 33% of users are fans of brands because they can get discounts and special offers.

Also, hackers and identity thefts are looking for your personal details.

They try to steal your banking card number or use fake personal information.
According to her blog,

 "The danger that has become most apparent on the Internet in recent times is the threat of identity theft and misuse of personal information. Many people trust their personal information being shown on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, but that personal information can be used against you without you even knowing any other person had access."

One more thing. People often misuse Facebook and they get into troubles.

According to this article, Facebook could ruin your future job interview or even your future. In this article, it says that:

"Facebook has been known to destroy some reps and even get people fired and/or arrested. That's why it's so important to protect your privacy, especially if your idea of fun involves strange drinking rituals and casual sex with old women."

Some people make fun of themselves and upload funny pictures or write things that might be considered to be inappropriate. You might think that you are just joking, but some people may take it seriously and this can get you to be in troubles.  Also Facebook can hurt relationships as well. This happens when you write about bad things about people that you do not like or making fun of them or mentioning their personal information.


So when you are using Facebook, you have to be very careful what you write and upload there. Protect yourself and your personal information by setting private settings and do not add people who you do not know.


Lastly, I don't really like Facebook to be honest. This is not only because of privacy issues as I said earlier. The main reason I do not use Facebook is because I don't feel Facebook is a reallly "social" networking. It is much better to talk face to face than using facebook. This way, you can know each other more, sharing the same experiences, not sharing "like" buttoms on Facebook. Why do you need to talk online when you can call them or meet up for lunch or something. I think this is more socializing. It is more meaningful to spend time with your friends or family than chatting with people online who you really don't know well in real life.
I know facebook is great that you can keep in touch with people no matter where you are. But I feel that some are spending too much time online and not interacting with real world.


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Question for final:
How many hours Americans spend on Facebook on average??