Last week I spoke about Social Media and Privacy at the Australian Computer Society in Western Australia. I was anxious going into the first presentation because the topic is so broad. I wasn't sure what the audience was going to expect. Because I was limited to an hour, I decided to narrow in on how personal privacy can be eroded in social networking environments.
Big Brother Meet Mark Zuckerburg
Privacy is valued differently by different generations and I was acutely aware my American upbringing during the Cold War defined my feelings in a way younger generations can't appreciate. (It seems vendors don't value it either; Apple was fingered for violating the privacy of iPhone users.) As a fan of social media, the last thing I wanted to do was incite paranoia. As the room filled with people of all ages, I knew we were in for lively debate.
Paradigm Shift in Social Norms
Tim Lisko, aka @PrivacyWonk, generously answered my Twitter appeal for information and provided me with excellent resources to fuel my research. He also illuminated the driving force behind all concerns about privacy issues in social media, as noted by social media researcher Danah Boyd. Historically, human conversations were private and made public only through concerted effort. In a social media environment, all conversations are public unless you explicitly make them private and that's not always easy to accomplish. While on the surface this seems obvious, once you become comfortable operating in a social network you often forget about your own privacy. You revert back to the idea you're having normal human interactions which we're conditioned to know are private.
The Comfort of Strangers
With over 200 mature social media tools in operation, it's hard to make generalisations about the way we behave when we're using them. Still, nearly all of them rely on basic human nature. In a post by Alexander Korth at ReadWriteWeb, he outlines what creators of these tools know for sure:
- We're more reserved in face-to-face situations with people we know. We perceive greater risk, and are therefore more private, when communicating with people we know.
- Social networks provide a game-like atmosphere where collecting friends and building big followings are desirable. A plethora of articles and blog posts have been written about the value of quality over quantity of connections in social media. Why? Because we're wired to think more is better and there's no such thing as too much.
It's much easier to confide in a stranger, especially if you're in the comfort and privacy of your own environment.
Mixing Business with Pleasure
The appeal of linking to strangers and building big networks is exacerbated by the fact most social media tools don't have very good ways to segment your connections. When a tool does have this feature like Twitter lists or Facebook groups they're ineffective or rarely used. Even when they are implemented, people often relax their own rules and usage as they become more active in the network. It's often the classic case of good intentions. Networks quickly become a jumble of everyone you know – and many you don't – as you become entrenched in a favourite channel. The most effective way people segment their networks is by using different tools for different groups, i.e. LinkedIn for professional networks, Facebook for family and friends.
As I said in the beginning of this post, privacy is a broad topic. Ascertaining your risk requires recognition about how the tools work and how we relate to people we encounter while using them. Regardless of your position, it's important to understand social media is designed to encourage people to abandon privacy. We connect with people we don't know and we do it often. And, perhaps most importantly, social media is happening in real time. Our networks are interrelated in ways it's hard to comprehend. It used to take days or weeks for a town gossip to inflict real damage. Reputations can be ruined on a global scale within minutes.
How is this information reflected in your own experiences?
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Image credit: Ya Internet by miss karen, on Flickr
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