The purpose of the facebook project is to test the privacy of facebook. The overall group consists of seven people in total and three subgroups. There is the delete group, which I am a part of, the deactivation group, and the control group. As part of the delete group, I deleted an alternate account seeing as how it would be social suicide to delete my own. Facebook has become the way people, predominantly younger than 30, communicate. I also took part in the deactivated group just to see what it was like. I didn’t need to take a log but I can summarize what it was like. Most of the information provided was first hand experienced.
One the first day of deactivation, close friends started texting me, some assuming that I deleted and then blocked them. After I explained it was part of a project, things went back to normal. The next few weeks went by with a few urges to post random things that were unimportant. I was never much of an avid facebook user, but I could understand how the absence of facebook to some people could render them socially ostracized, not intentionally, but because they would be out of the social
loop.
Data, Methods, and Ethics:
As stated in the introduction, I deleted and alternate account as opposed to my actual one. This, along with other data that I have researched is what I will be analyzing. The overall goal of this project was to determine whether or not facebook was upholding its privacy claims, in that the information that is being put up (political information, sexual orientation, private information, what we’re doing, and our relationship status) are not being viewed by outside parties that are not part of the users immediate friend group. I also deactivated my own account to take part in the deactivate group.
Analysis:
Facebook is an area where people socialize both directly and indirectly. Every post, like, and comment is meant to be viewed by all of a users friends. The issue with such readily personal information is whether or not it could be considered a violation of privacy. Privacy is something where personal information is meant to be shared with people with whom we are close with and trust them enough to tell them certain information. With that information being said, it can create a stronger bond between friends as it shows familiarity and trust. Yet, with social media sites such as twitter, MySpace, and facebook, these social dynamics have changed so drastically, that it has undermined what constitutes a friendship and has allowed certain information to be openly available that the user may not want people to know.
One thing that I have noticed about facebook, is that it is growing. Fast.
About 300,000 people a day fast
So fast that some businesses are becoming dependent on facebooks “like” system in order to stay in the game. If you visit a website, odds are it says like us on facebook, when the user presses that button that information shows up on the person’s facebook feed which allows their added friends to view what it is, and hopefully, “like” it themselves. Now this in itself is not directly violating the user’s privacy as it is being put on their wall feed and can only be viewed by his or her friends. However it is being breached by larger companies such as Wal-Mart, Target, and other large brand company names. When a person “likes” or posts with certain key words, advertisements appear that are meant to be directed to the user. While reading this, I noticed that the advertisements were in direct relation to my past posts (after I reactivated my account) that were directed at me directed at videogames, comedians talking about specific politicians that I have posted that I’m not favorable, and various others. The problem with this is that our information, any facebook user, is having personal information relayed to large brand companies in order to develop better advertising campaigns. That means that the information that the user thinks is limited to their feed is being perused by people they have never met in hopes that the user will buy something.
But at least people and websites can’t access the user’s photos, relationship statues, or that post about how the user just loves to go for moonlit walks on the beach, much less use them to promote themselves. O wait, they can. If you have a facebook, odds are you’ve come across an application like 21 Questions, Flair, JibJab, or Farmville. These applications will ask you something like this:
Note how the application, upon accepting, can access the users friends information. That means, any one of the users 400 facebook friends could have granted access to their friends information; meaning that you don’t even have to be using the application for it to access your information. All it needs is a friend to grant it and boom, now the internet has hold of that photo album of that one night in college that wasn’t deleted.
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