Facebook/Myspace...

The articles did not seem too surprising to me. For the most part, the majority of college students or people around the age of 18-25 (or younger) like myself engage in facebook or myspace. I could relate to the articles closely, because unlike second life and etc. I am an active participant on these sites. Danah's article posed an important question: Does a friend equal a friend? This sounds ridiculous, but it actually makes sense. In the past, I have been guilty of adding people I did not recognize, but I have also denied a friendship because I simply did not know them. In all, it is basically one's own preference of who they want to add, and how much privacy they want to have. In my case, I think one matures on facebook the longer they have been on and the older they get. I initially as a freshman would accept people I maybe did not know, or add as many people I remembered from class to simply gain more friends (popular status). Anymore, as a Junior I am a bit more relaxed and carefree in other words not so much eager to gain a friend if I really do not know them. Since facebook came about in 2000 it is a fairly new space compared to other spaces. It has definitely grown since then in terms of more applications, but also the privacy standards as well. Anymore, people who are on facebook do not necessarily have to be a college student or even a younger person; even parents can get an account! Honestly, it sounds a bit scary to me in where our generation is leading to! However, the topic I would like to put the most focus on goes back to privacy. I initially did not think I needed so much privacy having facebook or myspace. I mean I did not really think much of it. If I knew the person, I'd add them. If I did not know the person and they messaged me I'd ignore it if I wanted to; No big deal. However, After our class discussions, it really made me think how important privacy is. Privacy is all we have to protect us; if we give it all away, then what it left of ourselves? Privacy can be used to block off stalkers, people we simply do not like, our exes, professors, or even the company we work for! The example I have related to privacy is one that I got from my Career Development class (ASCS Q299). The funny thing about this is that after our class discussion of a professor posting "inappropriate" facebook photos amongst the classroom, I go to my next class and little behold the same thing happens to me! This particular class talked about trying to get a job, and how facebook infringes with that a lot of the times if everyone has access to your profile. My teacher directly puts a couple photos up of a couple classmates drinking or passed out luckily having their face covered. However, I was so shocked that teachers would do such a thing! I was embarrassed that maybe my face would be the next slide! It did give me a reality check of wow we are growing up and these things really matter and can effect our careers. It goes back to the Wired article of how an employee actually lost their job from these snooping companies. The question is what is considered too far? The answer would most likely be that we position ourselves in certain ways, a certain manner. If we do not want our boss or someone else seeing a particular picture or information one has to take into their own hands certain types of privacy or to simply not have them in open eye. What is posted online is bound to get everywhere, and that is what we really have to take into consideration. A friend once told me, do not give your whole self (all your secrets), hold a little back it may save a little pain.