image thumb81 Social Networks: How Private Is Your Privacy?

Private! Kindly keep that word, it looks good only with the movie Saving Private Ryan and soon enough that will be the only way to talk about it generally in the modern era. I am being skeptical but that is exactly what I feel, you don’t? Pretty soon you will, without a doubt.

That was just to set a tone for the discussion around privacy. It used to surprise me how come I started receiving links from porn, gambling sites and others where I had never been, people adding me to their list, those I never came across. I am talking about the Pre-Facebook, social network era, times when we had quite a lot of privacy online, but that has been changing; very rapidly. Think of it, I make an update on my profile and it appears to everyone on my list, which I am not bothered about, given I know each person in one way or the other. But change the scenario, take for example rushing through your Facebook transition (privacy settings) and never really caring about understanding the options and your information is out for the public, all across the globe. Now did you really want your contact information for everyone online? Definitely not! But sorry that just happened.

Everyone of spends an awful amount of time, including myself; but honestly I don’t trust the web at all. Yet like everyone else is, I am actively putting content out there, my information to gain some momentum online, again the same thing many of us are already doing. Do you think you are the only one using the social network? No, the social networks continue to utilize you. Haven’t you seen it already? Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect, OpenID, etc? They appear to be easing your life online aren’t they? They are, but what do they gain? Accessibility to each and every action you take across the Web and use it to learn about you. Doesn’t it surprise you to see ads that appeal more to you now, appear closer to what you really want? Thank you social networks, you have made Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, etc the fishing grounds for marketers. No wonder we have strategies tailored for a businesses’ influence online, the rise in demand for Social Media Specialists.

Your information remains secure and you have the sense of privacy. But those very social networks, secure and protective can have any news, the most personal making ripples online. Take for example Tiger Wood’s case, he never knew how stories will circulate across the online world and the social network that one of the groups on Facebook has more than 139,000 members (you can one too If you Have Also Slept With Tiger Woods, not that actually). Now, Tiger Woods even in his wildest senses would have made any such news public, it just wriggled out from one person to another, before some Einstein decided to create a fan page. Celebrities have something more to worry about other than the Paparazzi; the social networks. And who is spreading the word around, us, each and everyone of the users who have so much value for individual privacy but little concern about someone else’s. Is this right? Shouldn’t these Social Networks take an action and actually help someone else’s embarrassing moments private? While you cannot really control the Entire Web every instant but the more controlled bodies should act more responsible. Is it that simple? Sadly enough, it is not and each reason is quite debatable on its own.