The other day I jokingly asked a friend, “Why do you have two facebook accounts? One for each face?”… perhaps that was harsh, but my blatant observation was nothing more than plain curiosity. “Which profile is the real you? So one is the public you that you display to everyone… The other is the private you that you show only to your close friends and family?”
Now as oddly intrigued as I was to discover that some of my friends are creating two facebook profiles, the more I come think about it… the more I think it isn’t such a bad idea.
It was only a few months ago that the whole debacle about employers checking job candidates Facebook profiles, came to public scrutiny by the whole world. Those employers weren’t so ashamed to admit it either. After all, who would want to hire the drunken lout making his weekend activities visible for all (prying) eyes to see?
Companies’ refusal to hire potential employees based on their Facebook profile seems ridiculous and invasive to most Aussies. Here in Australia, you’re probably considered un-Australian if there’s not a beer in your hand. It’s what we do well. We’re social people. But at the end of the day if you’re a free spirited wild child on the weekends and you give permission for a potential future employer to look at your real profile, then expect to see some disgruntled faces and a possible job rejection.
This is just one example of how the lines of Facebook privacy are blurred beyond our reach. We can convince ourselves that changing our profile settings to private will shield us from unwarranted attention from thieves, hackers, ex-boyfriends, or from employers… but what is considered private these days?
Facebook executives recently announced changes to it’s privacy policy. They are allowing its users, nearly one billion I believe, to vote on the changes. They’ve informed us all of the Timeline changes and also how to remove our details from the insidious grasp of third party applications. Our information is used to determine what ads are displayed on our profiles. For the singles it might be dating site ads. For new mothers, it might be ads displaying local child-minding services.
Besides these Facebook ads, which people’s eyes glaze over anyway, the Timeline concept can be useful because you can see what you were doing 2 years ago when you got your first car, or when you took that memorable overseas trip. There’s no need to scroll through your posts, simply click on the year that you want to view. Unfortunately, timeline is also great for hackers wanting to know details and past events from your life. What year you were born. Where you like to shop. What your dog’s name is. What the name of your first school was. What your mother’s maiden name is….. sound familiar? Yes these are generally the pieces of information we use to identify ourselves to banks when asked to verify our bank security questions. Fraudsters use this information to access your accounts… the possibility of stealing your identity becomes very real.
And so my friends, are we really safe even having a Facebook account at all? Now don’t get scared and delete your profile. You can never really run away from Facebook *evil laugh*…. Once your details and your embarrassing photos are online, they will always be out there in cyber space, just floating around waiting to possibly be plucked from obscurity and into the hands of criminals or even worse- future employers.
There are two ways you can combat the foes, fraudsters and Facebook nazi’s….
- Live a meaningful but private existence WITHOUT Facebook (smart and simple… but in social networking terms, it’s social suicide).
- Live a meaningful but private existence WITH facebook. Just refrain from disclosing your personal details such as your exact date of birth. Refrain from posting questionable photos or activity on your profile.
Now if you are like my friend with two faces, and you really want to separate the private you from the real you, then you could create two facebook accounts. Do what you will to make them visible to whoever you will. Whatever you decide to do, you can put your best face forward but the cracks will always show if you’re not careful with what you post….complete privacy is but a mere privilege now.
