With the rise of social media, privacy concerns have taken a backseat in recent years. But nowadays, more people are catching on to how accessible they truly want to be to the outside world. And it’s even starting to become a pressing issue with users and big-name social media sites alike.
Still, popular social media companies haven’t done a good enough job in keeping their privacy-related promises to the customers’ data they oversee. Sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Path have all dropped the ball with privacy and have been charged with failing to comply to their own privacy policies.
Consequently, these social media privacy missteps are becoming more transparent to the public eye due to the graces of mass media and news. And in turn, people need to take the right steps in order to protect themselves from the unyielding rise of social media.
So what are we most concerned about in the realm of online privacy concerns in 2013.
1. Merging Social Media Accounts
In 2013, it’s easier than ever to merge your many social media accounts. People can connect through Twitter, leave a message and it pops up on Facebook. It’s the same with Instagram. And many smaller social media platforms are jumping on board, enabling their service to connect with brand name online networks.
Inevitably, popular social media sites will acquire many of these smaller firms. They’ll add innovative, cutting-edge plug-ins and new technologies. As like every company, there is a bit of a learning curve in adopting a new service. New services bring about new privacy considerations that are unfamiliar territory and can cause problems to their uses.
So if you chose to adopt a new social media platform, you should familiarize yourself with any potential risks if you chose to merge any of your social media accounts. Because your private data may get into the wrong hands. We’ve seen it before with Facebook, Instagram and Path.
2. Single Security Access Sign-On Brings About Potential Risk
Despite the simplicity of single access sign-on, there are plenty of potential security problems at risk. As websites start to become interconnected, it will be hard for them not to share information at some point. Most social media sites are out to make a profit, and the idea of selling your private information is the one thing drawing them to that end.
Currently, companies like Facebook and Twitter ask for your permission to update actions you take on one site and post it to another site. But some smaller companies could try to skip that step in order of convenience.
3. Universal Online Privacy Legislation
If the acronym PRISM doesn’t mean anything to you, it might be wise to familiarize yourself with such government privacy blunders. And consequently, people want to take their online privacy back.
Sites such as Facebook and Twitter hold an exorbitant amount of private information about us. And it’s becoming evident that these privacy leaks to the government or any other third party are almost unavoidable. So there must be universal privacy legislation to combat these potential risks. People want to feel safe online and legislation will fight for the need of the people.
So, while we do have our concerns about online privacy, there are still ways we can stay ahead of the curve. But we need to act now in order to protect ourselves against the potential risks that social media present. Otherwise, we’ll be subjected to whatever privacy policies best fit the needs of the big name social media sites.
If you would like to learn more about internet privacy issues, read up on the top 5 privacy issues debunked.
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