public or private
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 by Sion
I cannot define whether Social network sites are ‘public’ or ‘private’. It is difficult to define ‘public’ or ‘private’ without referring to the other. The boundaries of public and private become less clear in SNS. And I think it’s also true to say it’s not something people always give a huge amount of thought to when posting.
“Social network sites are defined as websites that allow participants to construct a public or semi-public profile within the system and that formally articulate their relationship to other users in a way that is visible to anyone who can access their profile. (boyd & Ellison, 2006)”
The growth of social networking sites is forcing us to redefine what we mean by private. People co-opt the media in their own interests to create privacy for themselves, to explore their identity and self-development away. Someone may consider their photos on Facebook as private, but yet that much information is online, archived, cached and searchable. Delete away but content has a way of resurfacing. What we believe it is a private might not a private anymore, but public. We need to aware that there is nothing private online. If it needs to be absolutely private, keep it off of the internet. That will be the only way.
“Social network sites are defined as websites that allow participants to construct a public or semi-public profile within the system and that formally articulate their relationship to other users in a way that is visible to anyone who can access their profile. (boyd & Ellison, 2006)”
The growth of social networking sites is forcing us to redefine what we mean by private. People co-opt the media in their own interests to create privacy for themselves, to explore their identity and self-development away. Someone may consider their photos on Facebook as private, but yet that much information is online, archived, cached and searchable. Delete away but content has a way of resurfacing. What we believe it is a private might not a private anymore, but public. We need to aware that there is nothing private online. If it needs to be absolutely private, keep it off of the internet. That will be the only way.