Self Disclosure and Social Networking

After reading the online article about whether or not society puts too much personal information on online social networks, I would agree that yes we do. The article gives examples of what could potentially happen if an individual reveals too much info about where they live, where they work, and where they are at every moment. Assuming that everybody is our “friend,” society feels comfortable putting statuses about personal situations or social gatherings.  What the article reveals is that sometimes putting certain comments could also give others a chance to invade a person’s privacy.

I would agree that people will reveal more information online rather than in person because 1. It is not face to face, 2. Most of your friends are already people you know, 3. It’s an easy way of networking and 4. Everybody else has their information revealed so why not they?

Now that online activity has increased tremendously within the years, certain websites allow us to inform others of what we are doing or where we will be throughout the day.  For some, putting this type of information can be seen as revealing too much but for others it’s more of a convenient way of knowing what others are up to. Allowing ourselves to openly reveal personal information over the internet can be seen as showing our side that people do not normally assume us to be.

When things are done over the internet, it is easier to confront on another or reveal something. When things are done face to face, it is harder to avoid or stay away from subjects. The internet allows us to create different images about ourselves by asking us who we are, where we’re from, and our interests. Most of the information that is added onto our profile is what our friends and families already know [sometimes]. In class, someone revealed that they would not add someone as a friend from their family because they didn’t want their family members seeing who they really are rather than the person their family thinks they are. Having links that allow others to contact us is another reason why people will post contact information about themselves.

Lastly, following the latest trends in online activities are was makes the internet so popular. In other words, if other people are doing something which relates to what others are doing than it must be okay to follow along. An example of this is Twitter. Twitter allows users to post status updates about what an individual is doing at almost every minute of the day and not post anything else. Thus, if everyone is doing what is the latest online trend than people feel comfortable tagging along. Overall, the article really opened my eyes and let me see that websites can sometimes be too revealing and we should be more cautious of what we put on our profiles.