I'm sure by now you've heard the stories of people losing their jobs because of a Facebook post: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-fired-2011-5?op=1 The internet is chock full of information about how people are not thinking before they act when using technology.
But for our second post I thought I would bring up a more important point about data. What is going on with all this information that we share and post online? Are you aware of privacy settings on most of the social media sites you use? How is your personal information being used? Here's one way: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-opt-out-of-facebook-plan-to-sell-your-browser-data-2014-6
So for our blog: What's your thoughts on Facebook using your data to sell products? Are you cautious about your social media use? Any horror stories you want to share?
I think Facebook using our data to sell products is annoying, but also clever. Some people are smart enough to know not to fall for these advertisements while others who don't know how to spend money wisely or are gullible waste their money on this. Also, there are people who don't know any better and this is where they're taken advantage of. I am pretty cautious about my social media use. I always clear my history, occasionally change my passwords, and carefully analyze anything I post. I delete my messages and things I post out of habit, too.
ReplyDeleteKnowledge is power as you eloquently point out. If you don't know you will probably be taken advantage of.
ReplyDeleteHere's some good tips for protecting your data and privacy: http://billmoyers.com/2014/03/13/tips-for-protecting-your-privacy-online/
ReplyDeleteI don't like or encourage the fact that Facebook is using a person's personal data and information to sell certain products. Even if you have your account on complete "lockdown", meaning that you have everything on private, including your profile picture, and only people who are your friends can see them, the government can still somehow hack into anyone's accounts and steal their data and use it to their benefit. This is not only involving taking things that aren't yours but it can also cause a person's reputation to get destroyed. For example, when searching and applying for a college, these days, one of the first things that the college does, after reviewing grades and what not, is check if the applicant is on any social media websites. If the college sees something that they don't like, you automatically get checked off the list for that college. However, this issue does not affect me because I don't have a Facebook account. I don't see the need to have one either. Yes I do have accounts with other social media sites but, I'm smart about what I post and what I say.
ReplyDeleteGood Grace. Great points, however it's getting harder to avoid not participating to some degree. But consider this, does not having a Facebook page make you look like you have somethign to hide?
Deletehttp://business.time.com/2012/08/08/does-not-having-a-facebook-page-make-you-suspicious-to-employers/
I think using Facebook to sell products is very smart of them. The million users of Facebook however may be annoyed because they just want to be on a social network to connect to their family and friends and they shouldn't be interrupted or disturbed by these ads. I am very careful in what I post on Facebook. I only post things having to do with family related functions and I don't add people I don't know. I also do not post anything that I'm frustrated about on Facebook. Also every once in a while I change my password.
ReplyDeleteI think its kind of creepy that FaceBook can access my data. I think its an invasion of privacy because people can misuse my information. I really don't want to see ads anywhere.- it's annoying . I don't really use FaceBook that often so I'm not greatly effected by this. I am careful with what I post online because you never know whose out there whether a stranger, universities and even future bosses. I try to be smart when I'm on social media sites.
ReplyDeleteI also don't like how Facebook is using our information. Facebook might have good intentions like trying to make facebook the a sort of "base" like google but most people would find it creepy that facebook is using information from the other websites you go on. Although the article says that fb users can pick the ads they want to see it's not the same. This also goes to show that although you have your account as "private" it's not in it's entirety.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are all quite informed about how to use social media carefully. These college students however are going to be in a lot of trouble:
ReplyDeletehttp://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/city-address-violence-nh-pumpkin-fest-26316153
I think that Facebook using my data to sell products is an invasion of privacy and I don't think it's fair that they are able to put a price on my personal information. I wouldn't even mind if they asked me first before they did that. I am very cautious about how I use social media and I hate using websites that use cookies because they collect my information and I'm never always interested at the same things at the same time so showing me the same type of ads annoys me to the brink of insanity.
ReplyDeleteI think Facebook is completey out of line for using my data, it is not okay to sell people's data to other companies for money. Many people are oblivious to their privacy being invaded. I'm sure many people will cancel their accounts in the future because Facebook is getting out of hand. Taking personal data just to put ads on your phone is ridiculous. If I didn't ask for ads beffore why do I need them now. Seeing the same ads will get boring to many users quickly so there is no point in them doing this.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know who Julian Assange is?
ReplyDeleteJulian Assange was the editor-of-chief and co-founder of WikiLeaks. It became well known after US. secret documents were released to the public for anyone to see
DeleteJulian Assange is the founder of Wikileaks; Wikileaks is an international, online, non-profit organization that publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media from unknown sources.
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DeleteGood. Mr. Assange was recently in the news because he met with the CEO of Google, Mr. Eric Schmidt. Mr. Assange criticized Google and other companies like Facebook by saying: "you need to rememeber that when the product is free, you are the product."
Deletehttp://www.vogue.com/3300203/julian-assange-interview-when-google-met-wikileaks/
Julian Assange is an Australian journalist who is the founder of Wikileaks. Wikileaks is a online non-profit that publishes news leaks and classified information from unknown sources...
ReplyDeleteJulian Assange is a journalist, computer programmer and activist. In his early career he was a hacker and computer programmer. He developed a talent for hacking. He used his genius IQ to hack into the databases of many high profile organizations. After getting into trouble he decided to purse a career in computer programming and software development. He created the website WikiLeaks to collect and share confidential information on an international scale.
ReplyDeleteJulian Assange is an Australian journalist and activist as well as the editor-in-chief of controversial website, WikiLeaks, which publishes leaked government documents.
ReplyDeleteJulian Assange, a computer programmer, activist, and journalist, is known as the founder of the website, Wikileaks. Wikileaks is a Web site intended to collect and share confidential information on an international scale.
ReplyDelete