The author of a report which features the personal details of 100 million Facebook users says he released the information to highlight the privacy issues associated with social networking. This has received widespread media pick-up because it is captivating, and a classic attention-grabbing scare story. But it is not the massive scandal it might appear to be. People who don’t want to share their personal lives online don’t. And people who are happy to be open about their information online aren’t going to stop using social networks just because of this report. Facebook scare stories are nothing new (as we said in a post not long ago). So is this a complete red herring? Should we care in the field of healthcare communications?
It’s important to keep an eye on trends like this for sure. The number of people who have signed up to Foursquare, in which your online friends can track your actual geographic location, is high enough to suggest people don’t care too much about privacy.
There is nothing to suggest people are going to stop using social media because some long forgotten (but reassuring) concept of privacy will all of a sudden return. Fears are often quickly calmed when the ‘reasons for’ come in, and the bottom line is that if people see the benefits of these systems and genuinely want to use them they will be willing to take a little bit of risk. It’s likely we’ll see more educated users of social networks, but if people are willing to share with trusted parties where they are on a map, they are going to be willing to share sensitive healthcare information if approached in a professional, trustworthy manner and there are clear benefits to be gained.
Tags: Facebook, Foursquare, Virgo, Virgo HEALTH, Virgo HEALTH PR
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I read this thought provoking blog post a few weeks ago and have been pondering it. Basically I totally agree but also totally disagree with it!
Having a presence in the online world leaves a legacy and it means taking personal responsibility for your ‘brand’. I agree that the FB scare story was low to no impact, but I am pleased that FB, back in May this year, made setting personal privacy easier. Back then I blogged about this topic and encouraged people to look in a rational way at how they set their privacy. On the FB front this is not simply a dichotomous ON or OFF decision, it is a sliding scale across a range of different parameters.
While the ultimate aim of being social should be transparency and openness, I don’t believe that the default setting for social media platforms should be fully open for all to see. The default should be informed consent that encourages transparency and openness, having been given clear information to help an individual consider the implications. I am not advocating the dreadful 30 pages of terms and conditions mumbo jumbo that legal departments (of iTunes et al) are so fond of, rather a few pointers to explains privacy (and implications), that encourages people to actively select the level of privacy, on a scale, that they want for themselves.
There are massive benefits to engaging in social media, my life is genuinely enriched by it. We just need to do it with open eyes and not play into the polarised debate on privacy, but spread the word that privacy is about a range of choice – a choice that should be encouraged.
[...] Purkins wrote a blog post a few weeks ago that has had my mind whirling. The post read: The author of a report which features [...]