Facebook has evolved quite dramatically in the past few years. With simply 1 million users back in December 2004, it now boasts over 500 million active users today. To respond to this influx of active users, Facebook underwent major changes in hopes of improving the site’s convenience. But these changes brought criticism and controversy, due to the site's handle on user privacy.
Of course, we have to realize that engaging ourselves in this type of community is, in a way, voluntarily allowing the World Wide Web to indulge in our information, and it’s a pretty dangerous world out there. There is no doubt that predators exist, and although they may be in small numbers, we have to acknowledge them and act accordingly in order to keep ourselves safe.
Facebook has grown to be a major business platform, with big corporate names all jumping onto the bandwagon. Are the eyes of advertisers dangerous, too? Possibly. But honestly, I don't think they're much of a threat, since I believe they have their computers do all the programming for them and their goal is not to stalk, but to advertise. Besides, ads are what keep the site running. If we refuse to allow advertisers to have access to our social-networking life, we might as well say 'bye-bye' to Facebook.
The important thing here is to be careful of what you put online. What do I do to protect my privacy? I make it a practice to think before I post. I also make sure that I have my privacy settings tweaked to my liking. However, I have yet to go through an intensive modification of my privacy settings - which I do plan on doing in the future with the help of this handy chart put together by the New York Times. Also, I tend to protect my privacy by not visiting the site very often. I log on occasionally to see how things are going, but I don't involve myself in it as much as other people may.
Different people have different reactions to these privacy settings. I've thought about how different people approach Facebook and its privacy settings, and decided to illustrate my thoughts in the picture below.
I'll have to admit that I'm a tad bit of "The Paranoid." Which one are you?
(Click to enlarge.)
