During college (about 10 years ago) I signed up for my first
social media website, Facebook. I didn’t
know anything about it but it was a cool, fun way to interact with both college
friends, home friends and family, I didn’t think about the possible dangers
that could come with it. I feel like we are living in a different world of
social media, there is a higher awareness of the dangers, threats and
crimes. Hiding behind your computer
screen doesn’t mean we are not responsible for our actions, good or bad. “Cowardly internet ‘trolls’ who post vile
abuse on Facebook and Twitter will be identified to their victims under laws”
(Slack, 2012).
Communicating online it is still important to have etiquette
or netiquette as it is so cleverly referred to now. Three practices I find to be very important
are: 
- · Remember the Human- No matter if you are leaving a comment, responding to a blog or writing an email, there is a person on the receiving end. Always try and think how you would feel.
- · Make yourself look good online- Your written communication is still a reflection of yourself. Make sure to proofread everything before posting, check for grammar and spelling mistakes, give credit when credit is due, and be polite.
- · Be forgiving of other people's mistakes- No one is perfect, even you. We are all human and we are all going to make mistakes, say something silly, or make a grammatical error, just let it go and move on (Learning@CSU Guide).
Everyone loves to update his or her social media websites
with a new post, tweet and picture but we need understand how to do this and
protect ourselves at the same time. “As
the popularity of these social sites grows, so do the risks of using them.
Hackers, spammers, virus writers, identity thieves, and other criminals follow the
traffic” (Microsoft, paragraph 2). Some
of the ways I find it most helpful to protect you are:
- · Assume that everything you put on a social networking site is permanent. Even if you can delete your account, anyone on the Internet can easily print photos or text or save images and videos to a computer(Microsoft).
- · Type the address of your social networking site directly into your browser or use your personal bookmarks. If you click a link to your site through email or another website, you might be entering your account name and password into a fake site where your personal information could be stolen (Microsoft).
- · Think about the information that you post, could it provide clues to hackers regarding what your password is to all your accounts i.e., social media, bank accounts, emails and more (Microsoft).
- · Understand your privacy settings. Select the most secure options and check periodically for changes that can open up your profile to the public (Sicillano, 2011).
- · Be suspicious of anything that sounds unusual or feels odd. If one of your friends posts, “We’re stuck in Cambodia and need money,” it’s most likely a scam (Sicillano, 2011).
- ·
Think twice about applications that request
permission to access your data. You would be allowing an unknown party to send
you email, post to your wall, and access your information at any time,
regardless of whether you’re using the application (Sicillano, 2011).
Thinking about all the negative possibilities of the
internet/social media could scare anyone from not wanting to sign up but when
used correctly it is an amazing way to connect yourself, brand and company to
an endless amount of possibilities.
References:
Colorado State University. (2016). Core Rules of
Netiquette. Retrieved from,
http://learning.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=4
Microsoft. (nd). Social and security center. Retrieved
from
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/online-privacy/social-networking.aspx
Sicilliano, Robert. (2011, July 13). 15 Social Media
Security Tips. Retreived from, https://blogs.mcafee.com/consumer/15-social-media-security-tips/
Slack, James. (2012, June 11) The unmasking of internet trolls: New laws will make websites
responsible for vile messages unless they reveal identities of bullies. Retrieved from, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2157937/New-laws-make-Facebook-Twitter-responsible-internet-trolls-unless-them.html#ixzz419J0FAdz
This is a great post and provides good tips! Your comment about posts being permanent struck me as a significant. Regardless of whether you think posts are temporary or not, someone always has the option to screenshot or save your content before you remove it. I started looking around for more on this subject and found an interesting and maybe frightening fact! "Thanks to the ubiquity of photo-sharing websites like Facebook, 82 percent of children in 10 Western countries have a digital footprint before the age of 2, according to a study by internet security firm AVG. The U.S. led, with 92 percent of American children under 2 appearing in online pictures, the report said".(Milian, 2010).
ReplyDeleteChildren who don't even have social media accounts are growing up into a digital footprint of their lives. This article was posted in 2010, which means these numbers have likely grown significantly. It also made me think about a privacy tip we haven't talked about yet. I think that sharing with your friends, family and colleagues that you prefer to keep photos or information about yourself private is important. If you don't like to be tagged in posts for a particular reason, sharing this openly with your network is a great way to save yourself the trouble of having to remove content.
Reference
Milian, Mark. (2010). Study: 82 percent of kids under 2 have an online presence. CNN. Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/10/07/baby.pictures/
After this weeks reading was really when it struck me that things we post are permanent. There is even an app to remind us of all the things we have posted (time hop), and the slightly stupid things we thought were cool.
DeleteHaving a kid makes me scared of the future. I signed up for social media at 20 and felt like I knew everything and no one told me about all the scary things that could/would and do happen. After all the things I have read this week it makes me want to run away from social media and never give my kid access or a phone ( which is not possible). I have a co-worker who explained that teachers are now incorporating cellphones into their lessons by having kids download apps that will allow them to interact in educational games. I feel like I am an old soul, who is ready for non digital books, letter sent by the post office and encyclopedia's to make their way back around.
Thanks for the article, I really enjoyed reading it and realized I'm a culprit of it .. waahhh. :(
Vicki,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! It was very informative and drew attention to many unspoken rules of social media that we tend to forget.
“Remember the human” was the part that struck me as most important. When engaging online it’s easy to forget you’re talking to a person, and many times we become desensitized. It is hard to “remember the human” when you do not see someone’s immediate reaction to something you say/post.
This is most likely why there has been an uptick in online bullying. Internet Safety 101 noted, “80% [of teens] think it is easier to hide online bullying from parents than in-person bullying” (n.d., para. 15). Because of the anonymity the Internet provides, people feel more comfortable saying things they would otherwise not say to someone’s face. However, this is no way to conduct yourself online.
Employing proper netiquette techniques is crucial to being successful online. Your tips provide great framework for conducting yourself professionally online.
Additionally, you mentioned, “be forgiving of other people’s mistakes” and this is also important. Social and digital media are evolving fields and many times we are learning as we go. Online behavior is very much a balance of engaging in a fun, innovative way and maintaining professionalism.
Your digital footprint follows you everywhere, and you have to be conscious of that.
References
Internet Safety 101. (n.d.). Statistics. Internet safety 101. Retrieved from http://www.internetsafety101.org/cyberbullyingstatistics.htm
Your three points on netiquette seem simple enough, but are many times forgotten in the personal world of social media. In Microsoft's research supporting the article "Take Charge of Your Online Reputation", "only 44 percent of adults actively think about the long-term consequences of their online activities" (microsoft.com, 2016). In short, we are haphazardly posting information that could potentially be dangerous to both our online reputation and privacy.
ReplyDeleteIf you are already active on social media, which most of us are with multiple accounts, now is a good time to step back and evaluate your online reputation. Microsoft advises to start by searching your name with several different search engines, reviewing both text and image content. Happy with what you find, great, but you should set up a schedule to routinely check.
If the content does not reflect how you want to be perceived or if you feel your personal information is too accessible, act quickly. Review and make changes to your privacy settings. Contact persons and organizations that have falsely posted information about you or have posted content that you feel portrays you in a bad light.
In short, take control of your online reputation and be diligent about managing it. Make sure it is true to who you are and shows the best of who you are.
Take charge of your online reputation. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2016, from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/online-privacy/reputation.aspx
Vicki,
ReplyDeleteI love your three practices when it comes to online communication: remember the human, make yourself look good online, and be forgiving of other people's mistakes. When it comes to the online community, it is easy to get emotions going where frustrations roar (especially politics) but one must remember that we all have an opinion and are able to display those opinions online. We must "remember the human" and realize that everyone has their loves, their dislikes, and their own way of communicating, and we must think before lashing out. Anytime I see a post on Facebook, for instance, instead of getting angry and writing a mean rebuttal, I like to acknowledge that person has a right to say what they did, and to make myself look good online, I just skip over it or unfollow that particular individual.
When it comes to privacy and protection, it is very important to follow the steps and guidelines that were given to us to read. Basic knowledge of how the online community interacts and works is significant in the understanding of how to set your privacy settings and adjust those settings to your liking for every social site you are on.