Facebook and Online Information: The Good, the Bad, and the Lessons Learned

Life without Facebook. For many people, especially young college students, this seems impossible. Unthinkable. Surely only existing in nightmares alongside Freddy Kruger and Michael Myers. But today, those people have no need to worry, Facebook is active and only growing more and more popular, currently holding over 500 million users, 50% of which log in at least once a day [1]. It is perhaps the greatest example of social networking sites and will be the focus of this post. But what exactly is Facebook? How has Facebook and other social sites changed how we view posting online?

To answer that, let's first look a little deeper into Facebook and what it offers. If you are already a facebook user, or a user of other social networking sites, much of this may seem obvious to you already.

The Good
With tools available for users to post photo albums, stories, social updates, comments, videos, create groups and even live chat, Facebook offers it's users unrivaled communication options and is one of the most popular social networking sites in the world. With their information listed, each user can join networks they feel they are related to, such as the school they are attending, or city they live in, the purpose being to allow for possible meeting with others within the network, allowing for possible friendships, relationships, or networking. Introduced in September of 2006, a "News Feed" application was launched, a list appearing on a user's Facebook homepage that showed current and popular activity relating to their friends and networks [2] The data that appears in the feed is not requested from each user, but simply automatically collected and used, based on a users actions, without the user being aware. This allows a user to keep updated on what their friends are doing, providing possible conversational topics and gossip. Each user has their own personal page, where they can post their picture, interests, hobbies, and even personal information, such as their email, phone numbers, address, and birthday. In the end, Facebook is a social networking site, and the basic ideology behind it is to allow people to maintain communication with others, regardless of distance, making keeping touch with old, current, and new friends relatively easy and enjoyable.

But is putting so much personal information on the internet a smart decision? Ask yourself these questions:
1. If called over the phone by a unknown company and asked for your birthday, cell phone number, and address, would you prove the information?
2. If approached by a stranger and asked for photos of your recent vacation, would you allow them to look at your pictures?
3. If a stranger informed you that they attended the same university as yourself, and asked for a copy of your class schedule, would you provide one?

If you answered "no" to any or all of these questions, I encourage you to look over your Facebook profile page and see what information you have listed. So why would anyone post the info that is seen so commonly listed on Facebook pages? The answer to that is false security, which leads us to...


The Bad
Due to the widespread use and availability of online technology, we have developed incorrect and possibly harmful ideas about online security. Not regarding hackers and the forceful robbery of our bank accounts, passwords, and identity, but regarding the safety of the information we knowingly post online. As sites become more and more popular and are used more and more frequently they begin to "penetrate their users' everyday life and, as pervasive technology, tend to become invisible once they are widely adopted, ubiquitous, and taken for granted". User's believe that since their friends, family and themselves have not been exposed to misuse or abuse, their current habits are without risk. Some users, even when victim to abuse, will continue to use social networking sites, as it is seen as part of daily life and needed to fit in with their friends, coworkers, or classmates [2][3]. In one study, only 64% of users knew about and actively used privacy settings intended on filtering visible information to the public, and 70% still posted personal demographic information on their pages [4]. It may surprise many users that their personal page can found using common search engines, that companies use Facebook to look for information on future employees, and possible incriminating information on current staff. And above all, complete strangers have easy access to their personal information and conversations. Not all users actually personally know each individual on their "friends list", and this opens up a huge possibility for data phishing, stalking, or harm of themselves or their friends. How many of your listed friends to you actually know and trust?

Do you trust each of these 596 people?

Is it Facebook's fault for making such methods available to potential threats? Although Facebook certainly has not enacted policies and options to completely secure it's users, choosing to leave public searching available to increase find-ability, the majority of the fault for these incidents lies with the users themselves. But can this change?

Lessons Learned
With proper knowledge and education, users on Facebook and other social networking sites can make a much stronger effort to protect themselves and their friends. Reading the terms and conditions of a social site is usually required, but most users are not aware of the terms, many ignoring them completely [2]. But there are simpler ways to protect yourself online, such as exploring and using options that constrain what information is available to be viewed by whom, and who can search for and find you. Also, if it is not needed, do not list personal demographic information or other personal info such as class schedules or phone numbers. It is up to each person to take a step back and look at what they have posted online from a defensive standpoint. Think of your information as being viewed from an outside, unknown source and take steps to make sure that nothing is available that will put you at risk.

With social networking now an integral part of our everyday lives, we must evaluate what we make public and understand the risks of the world wide web. Social networking sites have opened up communication and organization with new ways for users to plan and stay in touch with one another, but with such popularity, misconceptions have been formed about online security and have lead to abuse and theft. Only with a defensive look at their own online identities and knowledgeable understanding of the privacy tools provided to them can users truly ensure that their information and activities will not be at risk.

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[1] facebook. (2010). Facebook Statistics. In Facebook. Retrieved August 30, 2010, from http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics.
[2] Debatin, B., Lovejoy, J. P., Horn, A.-K. and Hughes, B. N. (2009), Facebook and Online Privacy: Attitudes, Behaviors, and Unintended Consequences. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 15: 83–108. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01494.x
[3] Luedtke, J. (2003, July 17). Toward pervasive computing—RFID tags: Pervasive computing in your pocket, on your key chain and in your car. DMReview.com. Retrieved September 22, 2007, from http://www.dmreview.com/article_sub.cfm?articleId=7096
[4] Jones, H., & Soltren, J. H. (2005). Facebook: Threats to privacy. December 14, 2005. Retrieved September 30, 2007, from http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/6805/student-papers/fall05-papers/facebook.pdf