The end of privacy on social networks
10.11.2009
“A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others.” This is how Wikipedia defines social networks. But are they so useful, harmless and safe? In the recent years social networks like Facebook or MySpace have become vastly widespread all over the world. The reasons for this could be many. Recently, a research from Swiss sociologists and scientists has been made which exposes that most of the people who are logging in social networks like Facebook are simply narcissistic. Moreover, a survey among over 1000 American students has been done which states that 57% of them use their social network profile just to get more attention to them or of egomania. That need for more attention drives people to display everything from their lifestyle in their social network page. Furthermore, there are functions and application, for instance in Facebook, which allow people to put information about their family tree. Even not going so far, your birth date, full name, place of birth and a picture of you are enough for people to monitor, track, and even find you easily if they want. An example: to use some fancy, nice-looking, amusing application in Facebook, you should first allow its access to “some” of your personal information. It is mentioned nowhere what kind of information it will use and how much of it. Canadian sociologists are even going further stating that social networks like Facebook destroy the trust in relationships. They have studied the behaviour of around 300 students, who had their own Facebook page, and realised that during the examination jealousy, doubts and suspicions between the partners rose.
