Social Networking Websites' Lack of Enforcement Towards Their Privacy Settings Leads to Easier Access of User's Personal Information, An Increase in the Number of Fake Profiles on the Internet, and a Less Safe Internet Worldwide

There are more than three million Internet users worldwide, yet only 38% of these users are comprised of real people. With 74% of Internet users not being the person they claim to be behind the keyboard, the Internet is often viewed as not a private and safe place.  The lack of reliable privacy settings provided social networking websites increases the misuse of people's personal information and the creation of fake profiles as well. 

Teenage Demographic Ages 12-16 is Most Likely to Engage With People of False Identities Due to Their High Usage of Social Networking Websites Compared to Other Age Demographics and Their Lack of Attention Towards Privacy

Teenagers are the most susceptible age demographic to engage with fake profiles due to their large presence on social networking cites and their lack of attention towards keeping their personal information private.  In today's society, the average teenager spends 44.5 hours per week on social media websites. These teenagers, generally ages 12-17, devote endless hours a day sharing and encouraging others to share their personal information on social media. Most teenagers, however, are completely unaware of how unsafe the sharing of photographs of themselves and their personal information on the Internet can be. According to a study conducted by Peer Research Center's Internet Library Survey, the average teenager shared approximately twice the amount personal information in 2012 compared to what they shared in 2006. The study showed that from 2006 to 2012, there was a 12% increase of teenagers who posted photos of themselves on the Internet and a 22% increase of teenagers who posted videos of themselves on the Internet.  In a similar study conducted by Peer Research Center's Internet Library Survey in 2013, and as shown on the graph below, teenagers ages 12-17 were asked which five aspects about their personal information they share most on their personal profiles.

By Internet users having the ability to access this much personal information of just the average teenager, it creates an extremely unsafe viral environment. The Internet automatically stores any piece of information ever posted. When a teenager posts their personal information, it is forever on the Internet for anyone to access. The permanent access to personal information that should be kept private gives people who are looking to create a fake profiles all the right tools to do so.  Although most teenagers claim to keep their profiles private and report high levels of confidence in their ability to manage their settings, they are blind to how often people, such as sexual predators and pedophiles, misuse people's personal information.  Today's popular social networking websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, do not provide enough privacy settings to prevent the creation of fake profiles using people's personal information and photographs. 

Sina Lee, Women Studies Professor at the University of Maryland, describes in the interview below her beliefs on why people create fake profiles and how the easy access to one's personal information to create fake profiles affects her views on Internet safety today.

Privacy Settings Provided by Social Networking Websites Leaves Settings in Hands of the User and Leads to an Increase in the Amount of Fake Profiles on the Internet Today

The lack of descriptive and enforced privacy settings by social networking websites, such as Facebook, has opened a huge doorway for those who seek to create fake profiles. Although each social networking website has their own set of privacy settings and provides the user give consent to a privacy agreement when they first create their account, the extent of these privacy settings is completely left in the hands of the user. Privacy on social networking sites are mainly designed to be specific towards what the user is comfortable with.

However, results of a recent study conducted by Brandtzaeg, which observed how users felt about privacy settings,  showed that users do not like having the option to control their privacy settings because they find them confusing. Privacy settings are often viewed to be a burden to the website and people avoid setting them in a way that best protects their personal information because of such. The lack of enforcement from the social networking websites on privacy perpetuates the creation of more fake profiles by making it more accessible to attain other people's information. It also promotes "stalking" in allowing a user of any social networking site to be able to locate the exact location of another user. In regards to Facebook, there are currently no mandatory restrictions from profiles to people they do not know or are not considered "friends" with online. Although Facebook's terms of service document states that users are not allowed to have more than one Facebook personal account of accounts on behalf of other people and a Facebook user is not encouraged to make an account if they are under 13 without the consent of a parent, users continue to do so. In fact, Facebook's most recently updated regulatory filling data shows that 8.7 percent of its 955 million monthly active users worldwide are still comprised of duplicate or false accounts. 

MTV Series "Catfish" and Dateline NBC Series "To Catch a Predator" Illustrate the Extent to Which False Profiles Can Go and How These Fake Profiles Have Affected People's Outlook on Internet Safety                                  

Fake profiles are often created as an escape for people to portray someone they are not.  As illustrated in MTV Series "Catfish", produced by Nev Schulman and Max Joseph, and the show "To Catch a Predator", produced by American television journalist Chris Hanson, people are not always who they claim to be behind the keyboard. These reality-based documented television series exposes people to how easy it is to steal another peoples' identities through gathering of personal information shared on social media. As seen on the MTV series "Catfish" people have been in online relationships up to several years with other people they have never even meet. Through phony photographs and heartfelt conversations, people often believe these "fake" profiles are those of real people. Shulman and Joespeh illustrate the intense and vigorous investigations it takes in order to solve the anonymous identify behind the fake profiles that are such a large part of peoples' relationship lives as well. In the Dateline NBC Series "To Catch a Predator", producer Chris Hanson creates fake teenage profiles, generally ages 13-15, in order to catch detaining male adults who contacted these teenagers over the Internet for sexual liaisons. These males, often referred to throughout the show as "predators", were then told to meet with a decoy under the pretense of sexual contact, where they were then confronted and arrested by police. Both the TV shows "Catfish" and "To Catch a Predator" draw people's attention to the issue that the majority of the Internet population consists of untrustworthy, non-real people. 

Facebook Influences Its' Users Opinions on Pop-culture, Entertainment, and Conservative and Liberal Political Views Based on Age Demographic

It is evident when examining my personal Facebook feed that there is a preponderance of entertainment based reporting and promotion on Facebook as opposed to political updates or news or world events. An individual’s Facebook page content is directed by his or her circle of "friends", so by definition their friends opinions and "likes" become relevant, creating the user’s "newsworthy world". As a basis of comparison, in analyzing a Facebook page of someone in the 45-65 age demographic, the postings are focused much more on opinions regarding recent world news events, including political positions both liberal and conservative. Examples of these topics are the recent speech by the Prime Minister of Israel visiting the U.S. Congress, Hillary Clinton’s email mishap, and the fiftieth anniversary of Selma. The Facebook "world" of a college age user highlights topics determined to be relevant to this age category by the posts they make, for example sorority fundraisers, recent college acceptances and birthdays and even Jimmy Fallon videos. Facebook has the ability to create a "world" relevant the specific topics of interest of each individual user, which then become the focal points of its embedded advertising. The platform of Facebook also allows those with more liberal views to speak freely in this open format. These views can be political and often critical in nature.  Perhaps the public forum of Facebook allows more liberal comments to be made freely, especially if the person posting his or her views feels they are “among friends” and therefore more comfortable expressing themselves.

Teenagers are often influenced by the material their friends "share" on Facebook

The Facebook newsfeed of a college student is focused more on feedback and opinions concerning entertainment and pop culture more so  than a vehicle for conservative or liberal views on politics. Facebook is subtly one of the largest advertising networks in the world. Facebook’s newsfeed produces stories that not only your friends post, but what they think you might be interested based on your past searches. For example, if you recently searched on Google “Kim Kardasian’s new blonde hair style”, Facebook produces stories on your newsfeed, separate from your friends, on Kim’s new look. Thus, Facebook creates a world solely based on your interests and your age demographic. Because of this, one can be easily be influenced by the stories that appear on their newsfeed. As a college students, the most recent pop-culture and entertainment stories that appeared on my newsfeed included “John Mayer Opens Up About His Reputation: 'I'm a Recovered Ego Addict”, a video of with the headline “Naturally 7’s new album Hidden In Plain Sight featuring their version of Coldplay’s hit "Fix You" is available on iTunes today!” and to “like” Kim Kardashian’s fan page to support her new blonde look. All of this pop-culture may seem irrelevant, but when it appears on my Facebook newsfeed, it suddenly becomes intriguing and interesting.  The newsfeed somehow gives these posts credibility, whether accurate or not.  This illustrates how one’s views are easily influenced and manipulated by Facebook. The content that appears on the Facebook newsfeed instantly is viewed as significant. Even if one does not initially agree with the article, the more likes and positive comments one see it received by their friends, the more convincing the article becomes.  There is an intangible sense of validation that receiving a significant number of likes brings to the user who is posting the status.  

Aaron Smith, an expertise in Internet and technology and mobile technology, stated in his article “"6 New Facts About Facebook"”, “Facebook turns 10 tomorrow and reaches that milestone as the dominant social networking platform, used by 57% of all American adults and 73% of all those ages 12-17.” Smith illustrates how almost a quarter of teenagers use Facebook as their main form of social networking.

The teenage demographic is more focused on
pop-culture and media as opposed to politics

Facebook is utilized as the predominant source of social information, and users are clearly influenced by what appears on their newsfeed and what their friends opinions are about the most recent news in pop-culture and the entertainment world, as well as within their own social circles. Teenagers and college students are not the only age demographic who is easily influenced by Facebook. Although this age demographic focuses more on pop-culture and entertainment as opposed to politics, adults who use Facebook are exposed to a different perspective. 

The Facebook newsfeed of an adult differs significantly from one of a teenager. The newsfeed an adult would be exposed to focuses more on political views as well as social issues in the world. Since an adult is more likely to be friends with more people their age, their Facebook newsfeed consists of somewhat more “mature” topics and controversies. For example, the newsfeed of a 40 year-old father may include stories entitled “Obama in Selma: The March is Not Over ” and " A year later, the search continues for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370". With multiple friends “sharing” the same articles expressing their political views, it may influence the Facebook user of that adult demographic to believe and support their views as well. Facebook’s unique world of having the ability to “like”, “share” and “comment” on posts creates a huge, opinionated wide spread network.

Adult Facebook users are exposed to a more "mature" newsfeed related to social issues and political views 

Facebook is an extremely powerful, influential social networking website which profoundly impacts the cultural landscape today.   This network of “newsworthy” posts allows you understand your friends interests which is what makes the stories that appear on one’s newsfeed seem so significant and convincing. Each age demographic is exposed to different news based on what their friends share as well as their own personal interest. Although college students are most focused on pop-culture and entertainment while adults are more focused on politics, both age demographics illustrate how influential stories on Facebook truly are. 

Images of skinny mother on cover of US Weekly and being objectified as beer bottles in a Budweiser advertisement has negative effects on women

Budweiser's advertisement has negative effects on women by objectifying their slim bodies as beer bottles.

 

This Budweiser advertisement produces negative effects on women in that it using women’s bodies to illustrate their product. This concept of using women’s slim figures to advertise a product is often to referred to as objectification. This advertisement illustrates women as objects as opposed to real people. The use of objectification in this add can cause women to feel they are not important enough to be illustrated as an actual person. In addition, since beer is often associated as a “manly” drink, this adversitment can also be conveying the message that men are more dominant than women. 

US Weekly's magazine cover picture of young, skinny mom's story on "How to Get Thin Fast"causes women to feel they can only be viewed as attractive if they are skinny.

The cover of this US magazine produces negative effects in that it is suggesting that in order to be viewed as attractive, you must be skinny. This is illustrated with the cover picture of the mother who got thin quickly. The magazine further explains how “you can get skinnier quickly too!” The magazine also has a picture of a slim girl on the side that says “Brit’s new hot bod”. This magazine is conveying the message that in order to be portrayed as “hot”, you must be thin. This has negative effects towards women in that these photos are photo shopped, so they are basing off how they believe they should look on a figure that is not even real. 

Kellie's Blog

Hello! My name is Kellie Spector. I am a freshman and am currently an Early Childhood Education major, but looking to switch to a Communications major. I am very excited to be in this class! It seems extremely interesting and informative. I am very excited to utilize my writing skills like I have not before and learn how our writing influences the media today.