Facebook, PANIC! Really?

As with most new technologies, there seems to be a moral panic around the implications the social network site Facebook has and is having on our social behaviour. Boyd’s reading is very convincing and the points he makes are true as I can see from my experience as a facebook user. For Example, the news feeds on facebook do allow more exposure to one’s personal details more easily and this does concern me as alot of the groups that I see some people join on facebook I do pass judgement on. Also some of the status updates that people declare on facebook are shocking as some are so personal and if I am not that close with them it does alter the way I view them. This does seem serious, especially if people have employers or parents as friends as I think some things should be private, and the way we interact with some people should be different from others. Evidently, I do believe Boyd does have a good point that it’s scary how all social contexts all emerge into one on facebook. However, when applying his argument to my own engagement with facebook I cannot relate. To me Facebook is a public place so I do not write personal status updates and if I do I do think carefully about what I post. In contrast if I was at home talking with my family or with my close friends I really would say anything personal and talk freely. Mark Zuckerberg is being portrayed as such a powerful evil person, but in reality we are in control of how we define what is private not him. We do have the right to privacy I believe because to me privacy is almost like freedom, in the public sphere we are controlled to act in certain ways by different institutions and certain norms which are in place. Within the private sphere there is less control and we are given more freedom and I think this is important. Zuckerberg does say that Facebook is following the trends within society to become more public giving examples such as twitter and reality television, however I’m exposed to all these and still appreciate my privacy. Overall, privacy is a personal choice and I do concur with Boyd by saying it is up to us whether privacy is something we want. Not Zuckerberg.