Just recently I have become more familiar with different social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Digg etc. I have seen the advantages and disadvantages of both, and recently some of the downfalls have been standing out in the news.
For example, a man was using twitter for his personal use recently and said a few things that could backfire.
He said, "Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.” Which was then replied with, "Who is the hiring manager? I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web."
This just shows that we have to be careful what we say on the Internet, because it might end up in the wrong hands at the end of the day.
I think this example shows how we are now expressing ourselves on the Internet, in ways we might not have before, and how this is enabling our identity and personalities, but sometimes things do not need to be said online where anyone can see it, especially our co-workers and bosses.
This shouldn't make you feel like you can’t be yourself on the Internet, or that you have to hold back your true feelings, you just have to be careful who is allowed to see your site, and if something could potentially be seen by someone inappropriate, then take the right measures to ensure your work or anything else important will not be affected by this.
Popkin, an msnbc online writer, has a good rule to live by, “Never post anything you wouldn’t say to your mom, boss and significant other.”
Another example I found in current events was this new idea of “people search engines”. This means there are sites out there that are designed to let you dig up information on friends, foes and anyone in between. It releases information on what you have been searching, what kinds of music you listen to on Pandora, and even who you have in your address book.
This idea seems scary that anyone can see your personal information at the click of a button. But, the author of this article, JR Raphael from PC World Magazine, gets into something deeper. Something we have been talking about in class. He says that even though this service provides information that may seem insignificant, the cumulative effect of seeing it all together, is very powerful.
He says, "A lot of people know that they have a public MySpace page, a lot of people know that they have a public Twitter album. But, when combined together, it's not one plus one equals two -- you actually create a new identity."
This relates back to what Bugeja says about having dual consciousness due to this ever-evolving technology. Maybe he is onto something….?
I think these two examples show how new technologies are enabling us to share our true identities, but in the end, these advances might be harmful to our “real-lives”. What do you think?
Read the whole article about people search engines here:
http://tech.msn.com/products/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=18632762
Those are both awesome examples. It is scary to think about this whole other identity that can be created through combining the known online pages. I wonder what kind of reaction this people search engine will have if it is created.
ReplyDeleteI also do agree that we have to be careful with everything we put on the internet. Just like in class today how we were talking about employers who look on their potential employes facebook and myspace pages. You want to depict yourself in a way that creates the image you are really going for in a lot of different settings and stages of your life you know?
I agree that the idea of anyone seeing your personal information at the click of a button is scary.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that people have to watch what they say online because how it can affect them in their non virtual world is also a little scary. its kind of like juggling two worlds, you are one way your thoughts and ideas and before the internet it was easy to have a life at work and a life at home. But that reality no longer exists. People at work as to be your friend on facebook, you feel bad saying no when you are friends at work and you will see them almost everyday. But do you really want your two lives intertwined? You bring up some interesting thoughts!
This is an interesting post, but I feel the other end of the spectrum is being left out as well. This is not say that I feel like everyone should say everything they want/feel online, but I do think that the idea of people search engines and things of that nature would be embraced by the community. Just the thought of reconnecting with someone who you went to school with, or a old friends seems kind appealing to me. Now I do understand that this same concept can get into the hands of perverts and criminals, but I think that risk is actually quite minimal. We take the same kinds of risks when joining social networking sites or chat rooms, but there is not an overwhelming number of distress calls against these things. As for the other case, I feel that if you're going to post something online, there will be people who see it. So there is no real surprise there for me, I just sort of view that particular dilemma as seeing some write for a newspaper and get burned for it. These two particular examples, however, were quite interesting, and I wholeheartedly agree with Popkin's quote.
ReplyDeleteI think this topic is a simple one, but is constantly being discussed on what needs to be done about it. Furthermore, I think that it is common sense that what you put out in cyberspace will most likely be viewed by whomever wishes to track you down. I don't see how it's any different from real life scenarios. It's not like you'd go stand in front of a crowd and say something as bold as people say on social networking sites, like the Cisco remark for example. The reason why you wouldn't announce your opinions so boldly would be because you may be worried that it could get back to who ever you were talking about. Like I said, it's simple, what you don't want people to know, don't say! It's not an infringement of our freedom of speech. It's just a matter of what is appropriate to say. People need to learn to keep some things to themselves!
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