2. Online Profiles
Social media links people together from all over the
world
With the click of a mouse or the touch of a finger you
can learn many things about somebody you’ve never
met before
Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Instagram all have
profiles where you can view and see the person’s name,
date of birth, hometown etc.
3. Privacy Features
Social media platforms usually offer some sort of
security measures
Facebook allows you to only be seen by friends of
friends or only your current friends
Twitter has the option of protecting your tweets, only
allowing approved followers to view your thoughts
Google+ has the option of disabling the ability for
somebody to re share a post you have made
4. Creating Your Account
Social media websites always ask for private
information when creating a user account
Your first and last name and your age, including date
of birth are almost always asked for
Typically you will also be asked where you live, city and
country
5. Retrieving Username or Password
When you create an account on Facebook, Twitter and
Google+ for example, you are asked security questions
in case you forget your username or password
These questions usually ask for personal information
Facebook and Twitter both ask for your phone number
if you can’t remember the email address used when you
created the account
6. Who Has Access to this
Information?
When you put your information on the internet it is
available to many people
Social Media websites get the funding they need to run
from the users
When you sign up for Twitter or Facebook you don’t
pay money but you do pay with your personal
information
These social media platforms give your information to
companies
7. Clicking Away Your Privacy
By using Social Networks you leave yourself vulnerable to having
your personal information on the web for many people to see and
take advantage of
Facebook is the best at tricking you into allowing large
companies to use your info
Facebook offers games on users’ timelines, once you click the
button to play the game you have just given permission for your
personal information to be used and you probably were not
aware
8. Large Companies and Your
Personal Information
Many large companies use social media to market their
products the best way possible, by knowing many
personal things about the consumers
Facebook gives out users information to companies so
that they can continue to run the website
In Japan, Nissen Co. LTD is a catalog company that
actually personalizes over 200 million catalogs to
individuals based on the information retrieved from
Facebook (Siciliano, 2009)
9. Deleting A Social Media Account
If you decide you want to simply delete your twitter handle,
Facebook profile or Instagram account think again
With Facebook you can only “deactivate” your account
meaning that information is never gone
On Twitter you can delete your account but your tweets can
still be viewed, they will always be on the web
Once you delete your Instagram account you may think you
won’t see your photos online anymore but a company may
already be using your photo for advertising courtesy of
Instagram
10. Location Data
The most popular social media websites today now
have a feature that shows your location when you
tweet, post a picture or update your status
This allows anybody to know your location once you
make a post
11. Terms of Service
Whenever a person signs up for an account on a social media website
there is always a terms of service or conditions page(s)
The print is usually small and very dull which in turn makes it difficult
for the users to actually focus, read and understand what the terms and
conditions are
In 2011 a survey done in the UK showed that only about 7% of people
actually read the terms of service (Smithers, 2011)
The same survey showed that 58% of adults said they would rather read
an instruction manual and 12% would rather read the phonebook
(Smithers, 2011)
There were 21% of people polled that have actually been harmed by not
reading the terms and conditions (Smithers,2011)
The terms and conditions usually hold very valuable information. For
instance the instagram terms of service state that they are allowed to be
paid by companies for the right to display your username, photos and
location date (Patel, 2013)
12. Identity Theft
Social Media accounts make it very easy to be targeted by
someone who may try to steal your identity
According to PC World, about one third of social
networkers have a minimum of three pieces of information
available on their profiles that could lead to identity theft
(Siciliano, 2009)
Information such as names, phone numbers, addresses,
and mothers’ maiden names are just a few of the things
that could help a thief steal your identity
When polled about privacy issues with social networking,
80% of people say they are concerned yet about 60% of
them don’t even know their own privacy settings on their
profiles (Siciliano, 2009)
13. The Good and The Bad
Pros of Social Networking Cons of Social Networking
Easy to use Without proper
Fast and effective for precautions your privacy
keeping in touch with can be invaded
friends and family Can sometimes lead to
Stay connected to the conflicts between work
world life and personal life
Creates great business Your data can not be
opportunities easily removed from the
internet once it is posted
14. Conclusion
After doing research on the topic of privacy within the world of Social
Media I have discovered how unsafe users are with their information
Nobody would go to a complete stranger on the street and start
showing them photos of themselves or their family or friends but we
would allow them to view our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and
Google+ profiles
Without taking proper precautions through the many privacy features
available with Social Media networking websites we leave ourselves
vulnerable to problems such as identity theft
Social Networking does have it’s upsides but with good there usually is
some bad
All in all if we just take that extra time to turn on some privacy
features, read the terms and conditions and just have some discretion
then we can all enjoy the many wonders of Social Media
15. References
Badminton, N. (2012, November 30). Nikolas Badminton: Who's in Charge of Social Media Privacy?. Breaking News
and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Retrieved February 28, 2013, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nikolas-
badminton/whos-in-charge-of-social-_b_2220624.html
Charkham, A. (2012, August 25). 5 Design Tricks Facebook Uses To Affect Your Privacy Decisions | TechCrunch.
TechCrunch. Retrieved February 28, 2013, from http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/25/5-design-tricks-facebook-uses-to-
affect-your-privacy-decisions/
Hill, K. (2012, October 25). How A Company Takes Full Advantage Of Access To Your Facebook Information - Forbes.
Information for the World's Business Leaders - Forbes.com. Retrieved February 28, 2013, from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/10/25/how-a-company-takes-full-advantage-of-your-facebook-
information
Komando, K. (2011, December 8). How safe is your Facebook profile – USATODAY.com. USA TODAY: Latest World
and US News - USATODAY.com. Retrieved February 28, 2013, from
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kimkomando/story/2011-12-09/facebook-privacy-settings/51748420/1
Patel, N. (2012, December 18). No, Instagram can't sell your photos: what the new terms of service really mean | The
Verge. The Verge. Retrieved February 28, 2013, from http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/18/3780158/instagrams-new-
terms-of-service-what-they-really-mean
Siciliano, R. (2009, July 23). Robert Siciliano: Identity Theft Committed Using Social Networks. Breaking News and
Opinion on The Huffington Post. Retrieved February 28, 2013, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-
siciliano/identity-theft-commited-u_b_243305.html
Smithers, R. (2011, May 11). Terms and conditions: not reading the small print can mean big problems | Money |
guardian.co.uk . Latest US news, world news, sport and comment from the Guardian | guardiannews.com | The
Guardian . Retrieved February 28, 2013, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/may/11/terms-conditions-small-
print-big-problems
