Although contradictory in its title, this post does bring to light something I have recently been thinking about: ‘How private can you be on social networks?‘ I have a wide variety of social media accounts and use a huge list of tools in order to perform my daily activities effectively and efficiently. With it, comes an element of risk in allowing so many entities to be able to access my personal information. Can anyone really uphold a certain level of privacy when regularly engaging on many different social media platforms? Are people taking the appropriate measures to make sure their private information remains secure?

Privacy and social networking are like chalk and cheese when you think about each in its element. Privacy is predominantly when someone restricts access to particular personal information, such as their location or age. Social networking on the other hand is in fact almost the opposite, letting people connect and engage through means like providing particular information so that their profiles are searchable and connectable. So, can you really have social privacy?

Well, it is possible to have social media accounts and talk exclusively to friends and family or to not provide any personal information and hide behind an anonymous identity, in order to remain private and secluded. But could you participate in discussions, engage with people and build relationships and not let contacts know anything about you? I am not sure how long they would remain your contact if this were the case. There has to be some middle ground, with users taking precautions yet allowing a level of openness.

Most social media platforms have some sort of privacy options, such as with LinkedIn, that you can set to allow either everyone or only personal connections to view your profile. Both social media platforms and software tools also usually have a box you can tick or leave blank, that states whether you would like to share your information with third-party companies or software, for advertising or promotional use. The problem with many tools, especially ones involving Twitter or Facebook, is that in order to use them you have to allow them access to your profile. Even with restricted access, this is a little worrying. Stack up ten or twenty different software tools and platforms and it is almost impossible to track who hold what information about you.

Security of user information should be of utmost importance to social networking sites, yet incidents have still happened where personal information is sold/leaked/stolen.

In recent news, Mark Zuckerberg closed off his Google+ account so that he was unable to be tracked, with one article saying: ‘Facebook king values his own privacy, though not always others’ (The Enquirer, 13/07/11).

With the blogosphere and social media networking sites now having the ability to be fully integrated, you have to be careful what information is publicly available. Security risks are of concern, yet the highly influential social media platforms are probably of more thought to users as a way to connect, interact and engage. I believe unless accounts are hacked or personal information is made completely public, then users will continue using social networking sites in the manner they have become accustomed to. It is the social networking sites responsibility to alleviate our concerns by providing safeguards, yet it is ultimately the users own discretion that needs to be used in deciding what information they use and of course, users have to provide some information to remain active and engaged. If user information is not abused, then I don’t think any individual who is involved in social networking is too worried about their privacy. There are just too many benefits to being actively engaged in social media for individuals in the modern day.

• Do you think its possible to have social privacy?
• Have you taken any precautions to protect your personal information on the different social media networking sites?
• How private do you think you can be on a social network?
• Has privacy ever been an issue for you when you engage in social media activities?

I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and concerns…