Do People Have a Distorted View of Privacy Now?

As these social networks have developed, I can't help but wonder if our generation has a warped view of privacy.  Social networks have allowed us to take all the intimate details of our lives & plaster them all over the internet for millions to see.  Of course, there are "privacy settings" that give you the choice to select who you want to see what.  On Facebook, you can choose to allow only friends to see pictures, statuses and more.  With Twitter, users are allowed to lock their tweets and force people to "request" to follow them.  However, I feel like even if you take precaution and lock your page off from the world, somebody can still see what you post.

I also feel like our generation has lost the ability to determine what is appropriate for the internet and what isn't.  In my parents' day, you didn't go broadcasting your drama all over the internet.  Many young people willingly post any problems or troubles into a status or tweet.  I'm not really sure if it's because we want to see how many people are interested in our lives, or if we truly just don't know better than to keep our private lives off the computer.

Either way, I feel like social networks have totally changed the way that we view privacy.  We see absolutely nothing wrong with posting our phone number on the computer, or telling the world that we're arguing with our parents.  This may seem like a purely negative result of social networking, but there is a bright side.  There have been many criminals arrested after posting facebook statuses or tweets telling their whereabouts or what they are guilty of.  Yeah, this may be a stupid thing to do, but it's actually more common than most people think.  Here's a few examples -- Facebook Leads To Criminal Capture ; Teenagers Vandalize First, Facebook Later

The Big Boom. . .of Twitter

If you go out and ask any college student, what social network is running the world right now, they would more than likely say Twitter.  Twitter was created in 2006 and was similar to Facebook.  The difference was that Twitter consisted of ONLY status updates that were no longer than 140 characters.  What made this network even more appealing is the fact that you could update your twitter status from ANYWHERE as long as you have a phone with text messaging.  You could also post pictures from your phone into your status and allow all the world to see.  For whatever reason, people were fascinated with the idea of telling their whereabouts at any point and time in the day.  Another factor that could help Twitter's popularity is the many celebrities that hopped on the trend, tweeting their fans and making themselves more easily accessible to the public.  While Facebook is still heavily used, I think it's safe to say that Twitter is gaining fast on its competition.  The most appealing thing about Twitter is its simplicity.  It's so easy to use, even though at first it seems confusing.  It seems as though these days, more people have given up texting because tweeting their friends usually gets their attention.  As a matter of fact, the next time you are in a college classroom (a boring one at that), look around and see how many students are on their cell phones.  I guarantee you that most of them, if not all, are on Twitter, tweeting their lives away.

& Then There Was Facebook..

Not long after the creation of Myspace, Mark Zuckerberg & his college roommates created Facebook.  At first the site was limited to Harvard students, then was available to students in the Boston area.  It was later offered to all college students, then high school students, and finally to anyone age 13 and over.  Like Myspace, Facebook offered users a place of their own on the internet.  The only difference is that Facebook was much simpler, with the same layout used for all users and no profile songs.  At first, Facebook lagged behind Myspace, but by 2009, it was the most used social networking site, replacing its top competitor.  In October 2010, there were over 135 million users, and it is estimated that 41.9% of Americans have a Facebook [Source] .  From personal experience, I loved Facebook so much more than Myspace, and was an avid user throughout my freshman and sophomore years of college.  It allowed me to keep up with lost friends and classmates.  However, Facebook lost it's appeal once my parents decided to hop on the bandwagon.  The fact that Facebook was so simple proved to be both a gift and a curse to much of the younger population of its users.  As more and more "older" people joined Facebook, more people 25 and under began searching for a new social network.  This leads to the creation of Twitter, the social network that is ruling the world at this very moment.

But before we go into that, it must be mentioned that Facebook made such an impact on the world that there was a movie made about it's creation and success. As we speak, the movie is winning Oscars, proving that people are fascinated with the development of social networks.  Here is a preview from the award-winning film:

Where It All Began...

Of course, the story of social networking has to start somewhere.  In 2003, a man by the name of Tom Anderson created a social network, and named it Myspace.  I'm sure if you are under the age of 25-30, you, at some point, had an account with Myspace.  Myspace was light the match that started the social networking fire. This site allowed you to interact with people, whether you knew them or not, via the internet.  You no longer had to call them up to talk, you could simply type out a message and send to the desired user.  Also, Myspace was different in that you had your own little space of the internet that you could call your own.  You were able to customize it with different backgrounds, your favorite songs, and your favorite bathroom mirror picture.  Myspace took the world by storm, especially the younger part of the world.  There were millions of users, with the 100 millionth user joining in August of 2006.  By late 2007, Myspace was deemed as the leading social networking site.  However, many technical glitches & the creation of an even bigger social networking monster, Facebook, led to the demise of this network.  If you had an account on Myspace, you may remember how slowly your computer moved while visiting the site.  Problems like this drove many away from the site, but even today, there are still millions of users around the world, hoping to socialize with friends, old and new. Although, Myspace is viewed by many as a thing of the past, it is still very important to mention in the history of social networking, as it is the site that started it all.

Here is a clip of Tom Anderson speaking on his newfound success about 3 years ago:

Stay tuned for the story of Facebook, the social network that really changed everything...

What's the Point?

I have been given an assignment in one of my courses.  That assignment is to explain, in a blog, how someone or something is changing the world through technology.  Upon receiving this assignment, the most reasonable & logical topic to do was 'social networking'.  Social networking is something fairly new, however, everybody is familiar with it and the way that it works.  I feel as though every reader will be able to relate to this topic as everyone has an account in a social network, whether it be myspace, facebook, twitter, or even skype and oovoo.  Over the next two months, you will see how social networking has totally changed the world.  I will start by explaining the 'history', so to speak, starting with myspace & ending with the network that is ruling the world as we speak -- also known as Twitter.  Then I will cover various aspects of our lives, & explain how social networking has changed them, whether it be for the better or the worst.