Lori Andrews' article Facebook Nation is enlightening. Andrews articulates how social networking works for others more than for the social networker. This is based on profit. Giving up one's information for others to profit is not what governments are meant to do, they are meant to protect its citizens; nonetheless, Facebook takes us into unchartered waters:
"Social networks are taking over many of the traditional functions of government without any legal protections for their citizens. The underlying economic goal of social networks--monetizing personal data--is invisible to their citizens and may in fact be herding them into a land that they wouldn't want to inhabit." [13]
Relatively speaking, social networking is still in its infancy and perhaps has more 'evolving' to do. While I am curious and participate (until recently) in social networking, I cannot help but feel powerless over my personal information and safety as a citizen. This is exposure taken to another dimension, has its risks, as we can see from the article; on the other hand, we build our own digital community, larger than the regular social networking methods can offer. I suppose we, as well, evolve along with digital social networking creating a "digital" persona along the way, the question is...how do we protect ourselves, is there a guarantee, or could there ever be one that would protect us from harm? As citizens, our governments have that obligation but, Facebook Nation??
"Social networks are taking over many of the traditional functions of government without any legal protections for their citizens. The underlying economic goal of social networks--monetizing personal data--is invisible to their citizens and may in fact be herding them into a land that they wouldn't want to inhabit." [13]
Relatively speaking, social networking is still in its infancy and perhaps has more 'evolving' to do. While I am curious and participate (until recently) in social networking, I cannot help but feel powerless over my personal information and safety as a citizen. This is exposure taken to another dimension, has its risks, as we can see from the article; on the other hand, we build our own digital community, larger than the regular social networking methods can offer. I suppose we, as well, evolve along with digital social networking creating a "digital" persona along the way, the question is...how do we protect ourselves, is there a guarantee, or could there ever be one that would protect us from harm? As citizens, our governments have that obligation but, Facebook Nation??
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