Tweeting and the art of self-invaded privacy

Written by Mat on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 6:28 - 3 Comments

Tags: blogging, opinion, social networking, twitter

Ever since Adam Carolla went off the air earlier this year, morning drive talk has been sparse, boring and pretty lifeless. This morning, however, John Ridley’s quick commentary on KNPR at least gave me a short smile and of course something to rant about.

It’s no secret that social networking as a whole fascinates me, but in a different way than most. To this day, frankly, I still haven’t figured it out. I’ve been in this game long enough to remember SixDegrees and watch the MySpace explosion, see the mess that Second Life and Facebook are becoming and now, there’s Twitter. At least with SixDegrees and MySpace there was an actual theme, and even with Second Life and Facebook I can almost understand why, but Twitter is a conundrum in itself.

Being the professional that he is, I couldn’t say it all any better than he did, so here is Mr. Ridley’s post/comment:

At the risk of sounding like that old guy in Gran Torino telling those “young punks” to “get off my lawn,” it’s gotten to the point that whenever I hear somebody talking about Twitter or twittering or tweeting it just makes my little tummy want to hurl.

I haven’t tweeted once in my life, but I’m sick of hearing about it already. What once may have been the cool way of letting a hundred people know that you’re about to go mow your lawn now has the feel of a used-to-be-fresh means of communicating. So yesterday, like two-way pagers. And AOL.

To be honest, I think tweeting jumped the shark long before ultrahip CNN got into a Twitter match against superdown Ashton Kutcher. Back when politicians started live-tweeting responses to the president’s demi-State of the Union address, Twitter had already taken on all the cool of your mom getting a tattoo.

I imagine, I hope, twitterers are ultimately headed for the social networking retirement home that’s the current residence of Second Life and MySpace.

But my real issue with social networking sites isn’t their faddishness.

It’s the hypocrisy that goes with them.

We claim to be a nation of people who take our privacy very seriously. Just mention the idea of warrantless wiretaps and expect to get hit up with a congressional investigation.

But give somebody an avatar and a URL, and he can’t tweet, post or hyperlink enough personal information about himself to as many people as possible.

Seriously, does valuable broadband space need to be taken up with announcements in that creepy Facebook third-person-ese that “John is enjoying two-for-one margaritas with the rest of the IT Team at T.G.I. Fridays”?

Where is the expectation of privacy anymore? Or, more correctly, where is the expectation that people will keep their private nonsense to themselves so that those of us who still like to communicate personal information with one person at a time don’t have to get caught up in somebody else’s e-mail circles or listen to their one-sided cell phone conversations?

No, I don’t know what’s hipper; to Facebook or to Twitter. I just know for me, personally, discretion never went out of style.

To be sure, Mr. Ridley, like myself, operates a blog which most people view no differently than Twitter might be, but there is a distinct difference. For him, the blog isn’t an outlet for sharing personal details and interacting in a social sense so much as it is a platform for discussing social concerns where technology comes into play, just like this blog is a sounding board for issues that affect areas that I teach.

Of course Mr. Ridley’s post was lambasted almost immediately in the comments. The one that got my gourd was “I say keep your old-fashioned opinions to yourself and off the air.” There is a certain virtue to old fashioned opinions, and just as the person who wrote the comment feels it appropriate to air his discontent over the post, Mr. Ridley certainly has the right to voice it.

[read "Keep Your Tweets To Yourself" here]

3 Comments

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Mat
May 12, 2009 16:16

See…exactly what I mean…
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/05/12/zzomg-twitter-porn-names-is-a-phishing-attack/

Mat
May 15, 2009 8:35

And another interesting article on switched.com (http://www.switched.com/2009/05/14/12-ways-technology-threatens-your-privacy-and-how-to-protect-yo/) about 12 threats to privacy:

1) Phishing (you mean paypalphish.cn doesn’t belong to PayPal?)
2) Malware & spyware (no stupid comment for this one)
3) Social networking sites (ahem)
4) Photo and video sharing (the GPS tagged kind especially)
5) Histories of Your Web Use (depends what you’re trying to hide, eh?)
6) Targeted advertising and cookies (Snickerdoodles, mmmm)
7) Cloud computing (why not just add Sharing to every folder on your computer?)
Electronic medical data (with the cost/lack of insurance these days especially)
9) Public wi-fi (you might as well strip down and just ask for it)
10) Loyalty Cards from Retail Stores (special note here since many use RFIDs – ummm, duh, Mifair was hacked quite some time ago)
11) Risks at work (they mean surveillance cams, keyloggers and the like)
12) Cellphones (do you REALLY know if your GPS is being transmitted, and when you turn it off, are you sure it is?)

Manya
May 15, 2009 14:48

I’ve had this internal battle for some time with the privacy vs. keeping up with the masses thing. To me, much of so-called “social media” (I really hate that phrase) is faddish. Along with every bubble comes opportunity to hack and exploit for means of making a quick buck, or even to prove a point. Everyone these days, especially on Twitter, is a maven, guru, serial entrepreneur, god, ninja, or success coach of some kind. Many people jump on these as an opportunity to, what else, make some money. Others innocently participate because their friends say it’s cool, but they are unaware of potential dangers and how to protect themselves, or at least be a skeptic.

Yes, I am a hypocrite. I do value my privacy but tweet like a fiend. I hate being advertised to, yet I keep a Facebook profile with so much personal data in place they can can sense when I need a new toothbrush and serve me a coupon. However, I have always said I have to keep up with the changing landscape and be a bit of a chameleon, and so I do. I just have to find a balance between giving too much information and not giving enough. Part of my profession is staying involved, trying what’s next, and make sure I participate in all that is popular. Anyone trying to have a web presence for themselves or their company should participate. I’m leaving a digital footprint wherever I go, but I am conscious that I am doing so, and am careful about what gets left behind. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for most.

I have personally witnessed, in real time, someone getting fired over an update on Twitter – from initial “tweet” to this person’s boss creating a Twitter account to indicate disapproval with a response “tweet.” The next morning she was let go. Because this stuff moves so fast, people tend to leap without looking or thinking of the consequences. I have numerous different filters on Facebook in order to maintain my networks, but without tarnishing my image or my company’s reputation since, in a sense, I represent my company on the internet, especially because I clearly state who I work for. I am careful about what I say, how I say it, and to who. Someone is always watching, and search is far more advanced today. I’m leaving a permanent record behind that will not only affect my company’s reputation, but more importantly, my own. It could affect future relationships, job opportunities, and who knows what else. Many HR departments are using social networks to screen candidates.

I think it is important for people, especially students, to understand reputation management. Use the privacy tools provided with many social networks to filter and control what can and cannot be seen by the public eye. When in doubt, don’t put it on the internet. We talk about how much we care about privacy, yet are willing to give out everything about us without question. Perhaps when we’re freely giving it out our information it makes it feel less invasive? Either way, there will be a rise and fall, just as there always is. Hopefully not too many will look back on their digital trail and say “what the heck was I thinking?”