Social Networking...Is It Really That Safe?

One of the articles that I found really interesting and I could definitely relate to was Anders Slbrechtslund's article, "Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance." He argues that social networking is anchored in surveillance practices. The majority of us have Facebook, some have blogs, Youtube, etc, and what we post online seems to be interesting to all of us and tend to see nothing wrong with it. We have developed the idea that people "creep" everybody else and Anders discusses how it has its benefits.

The word surveillance is etymologically associated with the French word surveiller, which translates simply as to watch over. The verb suggests the visual practice of a person looking carefully at someone or something watching from above. The term "watching over" has become a metaphor for all other monitoring activities. The general perception of surveillance is that it occurs from the top down. This means that the people at the top is the person in power and watching the people at the bottom that have no control as to what those higher of them can see or do with their information. "Surveillance can be seen as a "flat" relationship or even in favor of the person under surveillance, either negatively as actively resisting the gaze or positively as exhibitionistic empowerment."  People can see what we post online, as well as us seeing what they post. It is a win-win situation but at the same time...we are not sure as to what those people could do with our information and that is what scares not only me but the rest of society.

Sharing information and photos definitely has its perks, but at the same time it can be extremely dangerous. Sometimes we do not have the idea in our head as to if what we post online is acceptable or not. We tend to post random stuff that has no effect on anybody and really is pointless, without even realizing if it is even safe. We need to make sure that before we post anything, we will not regret it a few days, week, month or even a year later. We need to make sure that what we search online is safe and credible and will not destroy our "secret online" identity.