Social media and privacy: why you should be glad your mum is on Facebook
February 24, 2010 at 2:46 pm 3 comments
Have you ever been glad that your mum’s* on Facebook? My guess is you haven’t — at best you’ve been amused (or snarky, like these people), at worst you’ve been downright angry (like this lot).
Over the past couple of years, there’s been fairly regular news coverage (in The Washington Post, on the ABC News Web site and on NPR, among other places) of the increasing number of older people on Facebook and the ‘problems’ that’s causing for people who don’t want their mums to see what they say and do online.
The way I see it though, your mum being on Facebook isn’t a problem at all; it’s a good thing — and not just in the “your mother gave you life, the least you can give her is a phone call” sense, either.
Image courtesy of Melanie Milan
Instead, your mum’s presence on Facebook is a good thing in a “there’s no such thing as privacy in social media” sense. It encourages you to think twice before you post an inappropriate status update, drunken photos from a frat party, or a link to a questionable video. It serves as a reminder that anything you put online is going to be seen by lots more people than the 20 or so friends you had in mind when you posted.
Depending on your privacy settings, anything you put on facebook could be seen be at least your 200+ other friends (which could easily include your professors, employers or future employers), and might well be seen by hundreds of other people too.
In a world where employers apparently reject candidates because of their inappropriate Facebook photos or status updates, and where it’s possible to calculate 8 digits of someone’s Social Security Number using just her birth date and hometown, anything that reminds you that your online private life might not be as private as you’d like can only be good thing.
So I think we should all be glad that our mums are on Facebook, (but maybe start managing their access to our profiles, too).
Incidentally, my mum is my most avid (only?) reader on this blog – anything you’d like to add, Ma? :)
*Sorry AP Stylebook, but this is an international blog, and I can’t bring myself to use ‘mom.’ I just can’t.
Entry filed under: Assignment. Tags: facebook, privacy, social media.
1.
Simon | February 25, 2010 at 2:47 am
Good points, Mads. “Marry in haste and repent at leisure” is a good proverb for all forms of electronic communication, I reckon. Once it’s done, it’s done……
Mind you, it probably says a lot for the risk-avoidance attitude of corporate employers these days, if (eg) the semi-public evidence of the follies of youth is regarded as sufficient reason for disregarding an otherwise good candidate.
Do some employers have “no social networking ” policies, I wonder?
Also, just to make the point that your Dad also reads your blogs!
2.
maddymilan | February 25, 2010 at 9:48 am
Point taken! Nice to know I have two regular readers :)
Good point about the risk-averse attitude that lots of corporations have, particularly toward social media. I don’t know of any that have a ‘no social networking at all’ policy, but more and more are setting out guidelines for what is and is acceptable social networking behavior for their employees.
After getting over my initial (European) outrage over the idea that your employer should be allowed to dictate what you can and can’t do outside work, I know see that those kind of policies might make sense. Shel Holtz (a prominent communication/social media blogger over here) makes a good point that social media policies are actually a good idea for employees because they at least warn you that your company is watching you and remind you of what you can be dismissed for. Full blog post is here:
http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/social_media_policies_neednt_be_draconian._but_you_do_need_one/
He also says that eventually HR departments will stop judging people for their youthful follies too, once we’re all more used to social media in another good post of his:
http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/recruiters_shouldnt_care_about_that_facebook_picture_of_your_beer_pong_game/
Hope you enjoy the reading!
3.
alyerowe | March 9, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Interesting post, Maddy! Neither my mom nor my dad participate in a social networking site of any kind. In fact, my mom still considers checking e-mail to be quite the display of technological know-how. I’ve always considered myself lucky, I’ve never had to worry about them snooping on my Facebook, but I’ve also noticed significant disadvantages.
For one, it makes it harder to stay in touch. As your parents are out of the country, I’m sure you can commiserate with how hard it can be to work out convenient times to call and catch up. Sometimes, I sure would like to just throw a quick hello and recap of my week on her page or even send a quick tweet to find out how long to microwave a potato. Unfortunately, I don’t have that luxury.
At this point, I’m still waiting for my parents to embrace texting…