Hacking Social Software, The Public and Communities Discussion

This is a really good topic especially in this day and time of the popular social media. Social Media has sucked me in because I am normally a very private person. When I first joined Facebook back in 2009 I bee lined straight to the privacy settings to make sure I was private as I could be. But then I soon found out you really aren’t that private even though your profile states private. This is why I was always afraid of hackers. Even though your page is private doesn’t mean that someone can hack into your account. That is why it is scary for teenagers because they love to be public which makes it worse for hackers. I was once hacked before at a coffee shop in the suburbs through the shady connection of their Wi-Fi. I had to wipe my laptop clean after that incident.

So it really is something when teens navigate social media because the majority of them aren’t private nor do they care. Social Networks are not really private they are public. There is always a way to find this “private” person. You can find the private person through mutual friends online on social network site Facebook. Unless you are blocked you can still see ‘private’ people through comments and tags and through direct messaging. So, how private are you?

Teenagers rule social media and most of them are public online as they have no fear and want to be found. I have cringed year after year watching my son’s Facebook profile stay public. I have my son’s pass code still I changed it to private one time and he changed it right back to public. Go figure-but this is the truth. In the reading, Social Network Sites: Public Private or what the author spoke of a female teenager online, “She is also quite likely to keep her profile visible to anyone so that she can find others in her peer group (boyd 2006/Pg. 2) Teenagers need to be found. They need to be liked and they like to be accepted so social networks is a breeding ground for these types of groups. It’s like being in a gang meaning belonging to something great.      Therefore, if that desire is strong there is no need to be private because everyone wants to be found. The reading also stated, “Social network sites are yet another form of public space.” (Boyd 2007, Pg.2) This quote proves my point as to how people view social networking sites. It is just like hanging out at the park, movies or for kids and teenagers hanging out at the mall or the cool place where teenagers and tweens meetup after school. Everyone including adults are on their cellphones connected to some group on social media. For myself, Facebook is a social media site for family and I mean all my family on all sides and in all states. This is the only social media site that I can find everyone if need be.

One of the unfortunate thing is that since social networking is really public if teenagers or adults are looking for work they better make sure their online profiles are squeaky clean because a lot of employers can get access to their profiles and find out something negative that can kill their chances in getting a job even if the applicant think that they were doing online was innocent. With regard to hacking this is an invasion of privacy along with employers looking into prospective clients but unfortunately, we can’t do anything about it. Social Networks sites are not public and a lot of times unsafe.