Social Media Privacy. Communications & Media Research Paper

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Social Media Privacy
Introduction
Social media privacy is gaining more prominence never than before. The issue of social media privacy is informed by the emerging social media platforms that include Twitter, Facebook, Weibo, YouTube, Pinterest LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp, amongst others. People are sharing a wide range of personal, business, and general information on these social media platforms. However, a critical problem associated with social media utilization has been popping up on many occasions; this trouble relates to social media privacy. Are the unintended audiences accessing and using our private information for their good? Are people accessing unauthorized information and using it to advance their interests? Are there organizations that collated our private data for commercial purposes that include advertising without our knowledge? These are some of the probing questions that can reveal the extent of social media privacy. All is not lost; social media comes with immense benefits, but it must be treated with caution because it may reveal classified information, promote unauthorized use of personal data, and allow cyberbullying. This paper seeks to unravel a diversity of concepts that surround the theme of social media privacy.`
Usage and Benefits associated with Social Media
The exponential growth in the social media industry has brought significant development in the communication sector. It has become possible to disseminate information to a broader base of an audience than never before. Increased utilization of various social media platforms has been witnessed all over the globe. In a survey done in 2016 (Greenwood, Shannon, Andrew Perrin, and Maeve Duggan), the findings depicted Facebook as the leading platform in usage, and there was a notable increase in usage and adoption of other social media platforms. Gil de Zúñiga, Homero, Nakwon Jung, and Sebastián Valenzuela, (2012, pp. 319) ranked Facebook second to Google. The survey by Greenwood, Shannon, Andrew Perrin, and Maeve Duggan (2016), traced social media consumption since 2012.
The said national survey deployed 1520 adult respondents; the heart of findings indicate that 79% of Americans use Facebook, 24 % ( Twitter),31% ( Pinterest),29 % (LinkedIn), and 32 % (Instagram). The survey indicates intense social media penetration. Greenwood, Shannon, Andrew Perrin, and Maeve Duggan (2016) survey results showed that older adults were joining Facebook, and young adults were using the Facebook platform at high rates. The survey findings further showed that women use Facebook more than men; the results stood at 83% of females and 75% of male Facebook adopters and users.
The Instagram usage responses showed that the young population commonly embraces it; about 59 % of the respondents who use Instagram fall on the age category of 18-29 years, while 33 % of its users range between 30-49 years and paltry about % of Twitter users were above 65years. The gender pattern of Instagram uses parallels that of Facebook; more females use Instagram than men. On the use of Twitter, the younger population demonstrated higher use of Twitter than older groups, and it appeared to be most popular amongst the educated class. LinkedIn took a popular position amongst college graduate and high-income earners. From the same survey, women were observed to use Pinterest more than men.
Social media platforms are used by users to connect with others and also act as a source of news. There are arrange of messaging apps that perform similar roles; these include chat boxes, posting anonymously, deletion, and viewing. The increased accessibility and better affordability of smartphones have boosted the growth of social media platforms. Besides, these platforms can be used and applied across a range of devices that include computers and small android devices.
The use of social media has broadened over time. Social media space is contemporarily used to shape opinions, disseminate information, educate, inform, and influence. In the light of the emerging social media technologies, many have questioned the role the social media play. Do social media allow people to get informed? Does it distract people from public engagements and deepen civic disengagements? Or it boosts swallow relationships? (Gil de Zúñiga, Homero, Nakwon Jung, and Sebastián Valenzuela, (2012, pp. 319).In the survey by Gil de Zúñiga, Homero, Nakwon Jung, and Sebastián Valenzuela, (2012, pp.319), the results indicate that the traditional media use as via offline and online tend to nurture political construct. The use of social network sites was a key positive predictor of people’s social capital, better civic engagements, and enhanced political participatory patterns amongst the citizens.
Social media networks play a critical role in the maintenance of social relationships. It has provided a space on which people can interact, exchange pleasantries, and date. It has started and even ended relationships. Social media have allowed some relationships to survive despite the existence of physical distances. Some argue that social media has ruined relationships since it can be done merely via the available networks; this reduces relationship commitment and better interactions. Some investigators believe that social media networks can provide opportunities to interact and act as a means of reducing loneliness.
In a mini-review study, Leist (2013, pp.378-384), it was observed that social media networks could serve as platforms through which the aging population can maintain and secure social relationships. The author posits that aging people can engage in meaningful social interaction if they can join online discussion forums and social media platforms. The author opines that the aging groups can receive social support and get informed during difficult times, irrespective of geographical locality. The aging population is also faced with a number of illnesses that are associated with aging processes. Thus, a social network platform can allow accessibility of health information such as disease prevention, diagnosis, and management. In one of the descriptive online survey, the results showed that 59% of patient respondents showed that use Twitter platform to enhance their knowledge and exchange advice, 52 % of patient cited face as a source of social support and guidance (Antheunis et al., 2013, pp. 426-431). The authors observed that the health professional respondents use used LinkedIn (70.7%) and Twitter (51.2%) for issues that entails communication with colleagues and for marketing purposes. The authors further identified barriers that curtail the use of social media networks; patients cited unreliability of information and privacy issues. The health professionals cited social networks' inefficiency and lack of adequate capacity to implement (Antheunis et al., 2013, pp. 426-431). Thus, it can be concluded that social networks can act as a springboard upon which public engagements can be implemented, elicit public discourse, inform and educate. The education sector is also a potential beneficiary of social media networks. Education via social media comes with many benefits. Courtesy of the emerging social media technologies, both teachers and students can communicate and engage in learning activities (Faizi et al., 2013, pp.50-53).
The usage and application of social networking services are continuously gaining popularity and is becoming an integral part of contemporary communication. Young people are enthusiastic social media users, and they commonly access social media platforms via phones and computers. Social networking platforms offer space to engage diverse discourses that include politics, education, cultural analysis, health, and sociology. Collin, Philippa, et al. (2011, pp.8) defined social networking as a web-based platform. According to the authors, the web-based platform allows one to create a public or semi-public profile, create a list of users who one can connect with, view across the list of users within the system, and their pattern of connection.
The social networking platforms bring several benefits to users (Collin, Philippa, et al. (2011, pp.12-). First, they lead to the enhancement of media literacy; this aspect encompasses technical literacy, critical, content literacy, communicative and social networking literacy, and Mobile media literacy. Secondly, social media networking can be used as leverage in the education sector. Social media content, such as blogs, can complement formal education and better learning outcomes. Thirdly, social media platforms have promoted the art of creativity. The increased emergence of social technologies has provided seamless possibilities for individuals to create content and distribute it at ease. Fourthly, the availability of social media has boosted self-identification expression and wellbeing. They offer a platform through which individuals can air opinions, post photographs, and negotiate public life—this a way of self-expression and identity. Fifthly, social media networks establish an interpersonal relationship via messaging, video-calling, and sharing of daily pleasantries. Sixthly, they create a sense of belonging and collective identity. Lastly, it enhances civic engagement and political participation
Privacy Concerns
Privacy is a torn in the flesh in the social media industry. Many are worried and feel that they lack control over their personal information. A significant portion of the population suspects that organizations and government authorities are tracking them. Privacy violations have been boosted with the merging trend of data-driven products and services; this is characterized by analysis of consumer patterns without knowing that they have been tracked. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram, are the contemporary billboard that individuals can share their individual opinions, share pictures, and communicate what is going on in their lives. Some individuals may even share information that ought to be private. Trusted friends and relatives can get what one posts, but other viewers can get a glimpse of such a post. Criminals, spam-bots, cybercriminals, and vindictive individuals can access such posted information and used it for malicious reason...