socialmedian: Is social media out of control?

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Is social media out of control? By jasongoldberg

User-submitted headlines for this story

Source: Delicious/joe.dawson

Jan 29, 2009

Summary

I was on YouTube the other day looking for some dance videos, when I saw my 5yr old dancing her little heart out. I was horrified. Some overly enthusiastic parent had recorded one of the dance sessions from her class and posted it on YT. I don’t know what bothered me more, that I wasn’t asked for permission or the belief that children’s classrooms should be off-limits. The video is innocuous but it’s the principle, where do you draw the line between what’s private and what’s public?

On Global Privacy Day yesterday, Eric Schonfield from Techcrunch provided some insights from Microsoft’s recent study on customer attitudes towards online privacy and the findings are very telling and especially this one,

Once their data is online, they know that it is gone. They say, “I need to have this value, but I’m not sure my risks are being covered.”

Have we all collectively gone nuts? Are we really so desperate to be ‘connected’ that we’re willing to risk our personal information to do it? We barely talk to our neighbors but we’re so willling to give random strangers online,

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Comments (11)

Hutch,

Jan 29, 2009

"Social media is still the wild wild west without any defined rules of engagement and we are changing the rules and making new ones up as we go along. As social media mature and users realize that following or befriending ten thousand strangers doesn’t make our social life any more fulfilling, rational thinking will (hopefully) prevail and we will start taking our privacy that much more seriously."

Faboomama,

Jan 29, 2009

Interesting. I shot video of my kid's ballet recitals. I informed the other parents that I was going to post it to YouTube, but just got blank stares. I tried to focus solely on my kidlet. Personally I think the author is one of those with the heightened paranoia thing going on. Barely talks to their neighbors? That's sad. My neighbors all know of my YouTube videos, blog, etc. IOW, I don't put anything online that they don't already know about.

Ryangraves,

Jan 29, 2009

WOw Faboomama, I know you from Seesmic- I agree with your thoughts here.

Thomaspower,

Jan 29, 2009

nope it's just getting going.

Miad,

Jan 30, 2009

@faboomama That's the whole point, I, the 'paranoid author' wasn't informed that the video's going to be put up on YouTube. It's my child in a private classroom, it wasn't a video taken in a public place like a park. You can do whatever you want with your kid's pictures and videos, but when it comes to my child, it should be my choice. The fact that you got blank stares from the other parents sums it up nicely. Not everyone is into social media and that's okay.

Fightclub,

Jan 30, 2009

that's interesting

Lucasclements,

Jan 30, 2009

Rules of engagement are important but do not need to be laid out by the internet community...It's common sense. Think of others and if they are in a photo or video inform them. If it is of you or one of your family members, remember - the internet does not forget (wayback machine). If you wouldn't show it to someone without them in the room or beside you then good chance is it should not be posted for public consumption. Great post by the way.

Tweric,

Jan 30, 2009

“Social Media” is fine. People are crazy. But other poeple–like you–can sound the alarm, then we can spread the alarm viral-like and keep those crazy people honest. That guy probably just didn’t think–posting is so easy, so do it!

Miad,

Jan 30, 2009

Thanks, Lucasclements! There's a reason we have laws protecting minors and our privacy. I couldn't agree more with what you've said, whether it's online or offline, use your common sense. If you wouldn't share information about your child with a random group of strangers at the mall, why would you do it online? Just because we can, doesn't mean we should.

Lucasclements,

Jan 30, 2009

Miad, no thanks needed. As a parent of two girls (really - that is irrelevent) privacy needs to be treated very carefully when it is not your own ;) I learned very early on (7 years ago) when I posted some pictures of my first daughter to share with friends that when i searched her name her picture came up. In the wrong hands or if someone is online social profiling you as a prospective employee, photos that are posted without your consent can be damaging. This affects lives. There is a reason why the old adage "Think first - do second" still is a valid mantra to live by - Cheers