Most of us believe we have a right to privacy. How far that right goes is a matter of strong debate and a good share of legal wrangling. While most of us agree in general that privacy should be protected, how private can we hope to be in the age of social media? If you use Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and the hundreds of other social networking sites and services, do you give up some of your right to privacy?
Of course you can make yourself “private” on most social networking and social media sites. You can allow only friends or connections to see your information–it can be sliced and diced in a number of different ways.
However, to take full advantage of the world of social networking, and to be truly “social”, you really should forgo the privacy shields for being open and accessible.
I read recently (in an article linked from a Twitter posting (tweet) from a business associate no less!) that 99% of 18-24 year old Americans use social networking/media sites. This upcoming generation now entering college and the business world will be the most openly networked generation ever. Their lives will be trackable, linkable, and very unprivate.
You can find almost everyone you’ve ever known online, complete with recent photos–family, friends, kids, homes, vacations–work history, education history, opinions, comments, likes, dislikes, etc. It’s truly amazing. And, perhaps a bit overwhelming, and for some, absolutely frightening. If you go a step further, you can find maps to someone’s house, their work, aerial photos of their home and neighborhood, street-level views, names and phone numbers of neighbors, and much, much more.
How much privacy can you expect, if any, if your life is digitized and uploaded for the world to see? Is the line being redrawn? Is there offline privacy and online openness?
We’re already witnessing some of the backlash–a village in England blocked a Google Streetview car from entering their town. Entire countries have blocked Google Streetview photos, and numerous people file requests to have their homes removed from the service. Some governments are cracking down on the openness of the web, demanding sweeping censorship controls from Google, Yahoo and others. Is this just the tip of the iceberg?
I know a bunch of people who have canceled their MySpace and Facebook accounts, along with other services like Twitter and Plurk, or severely limit who they connect with online and the information they share.
Will a new kind of Luddite fight back against the social digital wave and take it even further? I’ve read some articles recently about families calling it quits and moving to the proverbial “middle of nowhere” to take back their lives and get out of the rat race, the always on world, to get back to the land, grow their own food, raise animals, and enjoy life at a simpler, slower pace off the grid.
As social media matures and expands, it’ll certainly be interesting to see what becomes the norm in terms of privacy.
For marketers, there’s a fine line between openness, transparency and relationship building and invasive consumer communications. Have you ever posted something about a brand on Twitter and minutes later find you’re being “followed” by that brand? For some, it’s cool. For others, it’s just plain creepy.
It’s a brave new marketing world.
