Social Networking and Privacy

Social networking has become necessary in our world today. It has changed the way we communicate and interact with each other on a day to day basis which has led to many positive and negative consequences. Before social networking existed, communication was through the phone line or snail mail. Now, news and information is easily available because of social networking. We are able to instantly update what we are doing at any given time, while being connected within a web of many friends. Although Facebook has been the main source of social networking, Twitter has become another tool for instant updates with and to the friends on your site. I believe social networking is here to stay and will only grow and expand as technology advances.
There are many positive aspects that come from being able to network socially through websites like Facebook and Twitter. We can get news updates immediately. What these sites also do is allow people to stay connected with friends from years ago or meet new friends. I personally use Facebook and Twitter everyday to keep up with close family and friends while also using the network to share some interesting facts about myself….well at least I think they are interesting facts.
As with everything in life, where there is a positive, there usually is a negative. And that is the case with social networking. It may bring us many great things, but it can also bring us problems. Privacy is a huge issue when dealing with social networking. People put too much personal information on their profiles which gives unwanted people access to information you would rather keep secret. Also cyber bullying can become a concern for those using Facebook and Twitter due to the public access of the information. That is why the privacy selection should be used on these sites.
All in all, I use Facebook and Twitter daily to keep people updated with what I’m doing because I want to be transparent. I will never write anything on Facebook that I wouldn’t want my parents to read. It’s a good thing too because my parents are also in my community on Facebook and Twitter.