Reader Response draft 3

In the article “The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks”, Emm (2014) discusses the increasing danger of using the internet.  As more of routine activities have to rely on the Internet today, people begin to feel apprehensive about the authorities and the large companies spying on their personal lives. However, the author believes that the real dangers are hidden behind the numerous seemingly irrelevant information that users those who are plugged in choose to put online, which can be used by some concealed audiences to attack not only individuals but also companies. He indicates that these threats are easily to be ignored due to the false sense of security of users. The author also lists some useful security advice to readers.

 

 

The concern for the dangers of over-sharing expressed by the author in the article is reasonable. In fact, the dangers are more severe than most people imagine.

One of the reasons why people have a tendency to overshare on social media, as elaborated by the author, is because the smartphone is not a usual victim of cyber-attack. The other is due to the neglect from the public as people believe that the dangers of over-sharing have been exaggerated and no one will pay attention to normal users’ social media and digital records out of some special reasons. While in reality, the opposite is the case.

As early as 2010, a new company named Identified had started to collect users data , merely by pulling public information from their social media accounts, and allotted a score to each of them to represent their attraction for potential employers. Someone might have a profile in Identified even if they haven’t signed up for the service. These data obviously have large attractions for some big companies and PepsiCo(PEP) had already signed with Identified. Those kinds of collection may never be observed by these latent ‘users’ , but job hopping will be difficult for them if they have low scores.

They other concealed observers who may regularly pay attention to social media are lawyers and investigators. Nowadays, Facebook has become an efficient tool for lawyers to find evidence. Different from the traditional investigation ways which rely on following and subpoenaing, the personal details posted on Facebook can help lawyers establish a person’s habits and character and photos shared on Facebook will  be more directly used as evidences to show when and where what happened.

Over-sharing on social media will also hurt people’s careers. Threats such as being caught by the boss when someone is loafing on their job are just part of it. More often, the employers will have more in-depth observations of their employees through social media. Doing Google searches and looking through applicants social media pages have become the normal examinations for some companies before they provide interviews. “ Never say anything negative about a current or former employer on your social media pages. Employers will reasonably assume that if you trash-talk your current or former employers, they will be the next ones to be trashed.” human resources consultant Brenda Vander Meulen(2014) suggests.   

The dangers of over-sharing are hidden in various views of people’s lives and taking responsibility for what we have posted is essential for netizens. To prevent some irreparable consequences of over-sharing, following some safety tips to protect personal information should be started now.  

 

 

 

 

Reference:

David Emm(2014). The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks. Web blog post

Retrieved from:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/david-emm/the-perils-of-over-sharing-in-social-networks_b_5005276.html

 

John.Egan(2014). Over-sharing on social media can cost you. Bankrate.com

Retrieved from:

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/3-financial-dangers-of-social-media-1.aspx

 

Daniel Roberts(2011). 社交网络过度分享风潮中蕴藏的商机. 财富.com

Retrieved from:

http://www.fortunechina.com/technology/c/2011-12/01/content_80849.htm

 

 

 

 

 

Reader Response draft 2

In the article “The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks”, Emm (2014) talks about the increasing danger of using the internet.  As more of our routine activities have to rely on the Internet today, people begin to feel apprehensive for the authorities and the large companies to spy on their personal lives. However, the author believes that the really dangers are hidden behind the numerous seemingly irrelevant information that we choose to put online, which can  be used by some concealed audiences to attack not only ourselves but also our companies. He indicates that these threats are easily to be ignored due to the false sense of security of users. The author also lists some useful security advice to readers.

The concern for the dangers of over-sharing expressed by the author in the article is reasonable and I entirely agree with that. In fact, the dangers are more severe than we thought.

One of the reasons why people have a tendency to overshare on social media, as elaborated by the author, is because the smartphone is not a usual victim of cyber-attack. The other is due to the neglect from the public as they believe that the dangers of over-sharing has been exaggerated and no one will check their social media and digital records out of some special reasons. While in reality, the opposite is the case.

As early as 2010, a new company named Identified has started to collect users data , merely by pulling public information from their social media accounts, and allotted a score to each of them to represent their attraction for potential employers. Someone might have a profile in Identified even if they haven’t signed up for the service. These data obviously have large attractions for some big companies and PEP has already signed with Identified. Those kind of collection may never be observed by these latent ‘users’ , but job hopping will be difficult for them if they have low scores.

They other concealed observers who may regularly pay attention to social media are lawyers and investigators. Nowadays, Facebook has become an efficient tool for lawyers to find evidence. Different from the traditional investigation ways which rely on following and subpoenaing, the personal details posted on Facebook can help lawyers establish a person’s habits and character and photos shared on Facebook will more directly to be used as evidences to show when and where what happened.

Over-sharing on social media will also hurt people’s careers. Threats such as being caught by the boss when someone is loafing on their job are just part of it. More often, the employers will have more in-depth observations of their employees through social media. Doing Google searches and looking through applicants social media pages have become the normal examinations for some companies before they provide interviews. “ Never say anything negative about a current or former employer on your social media pages. Employers will reasonably assume that if you trash-talk your current or former employers, they will be the next ones to be trashed.” human resources consultant Brenda Vander Meulen suggests.   

The dangers of over-sharing are hidden in various views of our lives and taking responsibility for what we have posted is essential for us. To prevent some irreparable consequences of over-sharing, following some safety tip to protect ourselves should be started now.  

Reader response Draft 1

The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks

 

In the article “The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks”, Emm (2014) talks about the

ever increasing danger of using the internet.  As ever-bigger routine activities have to rely

on the Internet today, people begin to feel apprehensive for the authorities and the large

companies to spy on their personal lives. However, the author believes that the really dangers

are hidden behind the numerous seemingly irrelevant information that we choose to put

online, which can can be used by some concealed audiences to attack not only ourselves but

also our companies. He indicates that this threats are easily to be ignored due to the fake

sense of safety of users. The author also lists some useful security advices to readers.

When I first read this article, I started to wonder what is over-sharing? With this question, I read some articles online and found out that most people would like to consider over-sharing as broadcasting too much personal information on social media. In this blurry definition, there are two main terms that could reflect peoples feeling. One is the quantity of information while they other is the extend of intimacy.

As a research mentioned in katie’s article (2014), US youth are frustrated with 'over-sharing' on social media, and they are more tend to consider the tremendous information that their friends put online as over-sharing. These messages may not contain any important nor private information, but they will just pup out at any time and in different social apps. The other factor is the ‘boundary’ of these sharing things. Ann (2014) indicates in her article ‘is sharing a generational thing?’ that everyone has their own comfort level. Definitely certain parents sharing their daughter’s first menstruation online is too much for some people.

While compared with these, the examples that the author illustrated in the article such as posting a selfie on Facebook or telling friends on twitter that you are going to have a two weeks holiday cannot be defined as over-sharing. These are just normal social media interactions. As Internet becoming an inalienable part of our life, more and more daily lives are relied on it, including our social activities. Sharing on the internet has become a new habit and necessary behavior for modern people. People may be soon drifted apart from their friends if they don’t share something or pay attention to others. By sharing some embarrassing moments or problems with your friends, the same experiences or puzzles will provide a crosscut to intimacy.

Nevertheless, the dangerous as mentioned by the author behind these sharing are truly exist. Those people who are not qualified to receive this information may use this news to attack the sharer. Facebook divorce could be an example. As the definition given by the webpage called Findlaw, ‘Facebook divorce refers to the increasing number of marital breakdowns that have occurred as a result of information found or discovered on social networking sites’. Some lawyer also use Facebook to discover some information which can be use in court. However, can we blame these consequences to over-sharing? The evidences that the lawyer has found from your Facebook could just be a scenery photo. Sharing is necessary in our lives and we cannot define the normal sharing behaviors as over-sharing because of the potential information which can be found by those concealed people who has ulterior motives.

 

 

 

 

Summary

The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks

In the article “The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks”, Emm (2014) talks about the

ever increasing danger of using the internet.  As ever-bigger routine activities have to rely

on the Internet today, people begin to feel apprehensive for the authorities and the large

companies to spy on their personal lives. However, the author believes that the really dangers

are hidden behind the numerous seemingly irrelevant information that we choose to put

online, which can can be used by some concealed audiences to attack not only ourselves but

also our companies. He indicates that this threats are easily to be ignored due to the fake

sense of safety of users. The author also lists some useful security advices to readers.

Emm, D. (2014, March 21). The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/david-emm/the-perils-of-over-sharing-in-social-networks_b_5005276.