In recent months, the popular social networking site Facebook has come under criticism for not allowing users to fully understand and easily control their privacy when using the service. The site, which allows users to share short posts, links, images and videos with friends and to connect with users with similar interests, used settings that would allow certain types of information to be public by default. The NY Times noted that users had to manage 50 settings with more than 170 options. A recent survey of Facebook users revealed that more than half were considering leaving the site because of the privacy issues.
Many students use Facebook and anecdotal evidence seemed to suggest that young people are less concerned about privacy on social networking sites than older generations. However, this view may not be entirely accurate – the Pew Internet & American Life Project has just released survey results showing that social networking users aged 18-29 seem concerned about managing their online reputation. Just over seventy percent have changed the privacy settings of their Facebook profile. In addition, users in this age group are more likely to limit the amount of personal information available about themselves online, to delete unwanted comments and to remove their names from photos.
Some faculty in higher education are using Facebook as a part of course activities that might include using status update feeds to push information to students or having students post original material to their own profile or one created specifically for a course. If you’re thinking about using Facebook in a course in the Fall, now is a good time to think about privacy from the perspective of your students and design the activity in ways that respects their privacy and online space.
Earlier this week, Facebook announced simplified privacy settings that can limit personal information with one click while preserving settings that can be used for more detailed privacy options. PC Mag has an online slideshow that highlights the settings. PC World discusses to an online app at ReclaimPrivacy.org that you can run to test your privacy settings.
Since privacy in Facebook and other Web 2.0 applications are evolving and can change often, you may want to point your students to the latest information from particular sites you’ll be using in your course to let them know what their options are. You can set up an appointment with a CIT consultant to discuss privacy and related issues in online tools when planning your courses.
