Social media and our info out there on public display

**This thread is not about ENWorld specifically. I'm just giving the full context of what got me thinking on this.**

I was just searching for my ENWorld private message page, (something I rarely deal with), and in my looking around I saw my profile page, (something I haven't thought about in years). On my profile page is a Google map showing where I live. Now, it only shows an icon over the [wrong] city, but still, it gives [nearly correct] info I've not given to this site, and actually don't want shown publicly. I'm a very private person, (despite having a blog about my life), and I work very hard at keeping my real-world information off the Internet. There is no personal info in my blog -- no real names, no city of residence mentioned, etc. Even very few pictures of me or my family.

I only have a Facebook account so I can have my t-shirt business on FB. (You must have a personal FB account to have a business account.) My personal FB is pretty empty -- 90% of the posts there are from friends wishing me happy birthday through the years. I might have half a dozen comments made by myself. I would not be on FB at all if not for my business, and I have to constantly remind myself I need to post something on my business page. (I don't even have a FB app on my smart phone.)

Everywhere I go around the Internet, everything is connected to some social networking. Connected to Facebook, Twitter, etc. Often I have to actively turn off connections. When I recently signed up for Netflix, I had to make sure to turn off the FB connections. I don't want anyone automatically knowing I just watched Magnum P.I. or Firefly. All this social media interconnection really, not only annoys me, it kind of weirds me out. I don't want the public, (friends or strangers), to automatically know what I'm doing, where I am, who I'm with, or anything.

At one time, society was worried about Big Brother constantly watching over us. But now it seems that society has willingly opened up their lives to the world without a government's intrusion. We complain about the NSA and Google invading our privacy, but damn, most people's privacy doesn't need invasion. Just friend or follow them online. They'll tell you everything.

What do you think of all this social media interconnection? Do you like it?

Bullgrit

Nope. I don't blog, IM, tweet, Facebook or anything like that. I don't even have a business website.

I occasionally post a comment on a news site, and I post in the chat rooms of @5 different websites. Used to be more, but I let them lapse.

I'm not keen on it. These corporate mega-giants (Facebook, Google, Twitter) erode small internet communities the way hypermarkets erode small businesses, and it's almost impossible to compete with resources of that sort of scale.

However, I embrace the technologies because I have little choice. One day, we won't be using messageboards any more, and if small communities like this don't join the club now in preparation, they won't survive the transition into whatever is next. They'll be forced into irrelevance.

The exception, I think, would be *very* niche stuff. Maybe professional science boards, or the like. I don't think tabletop gaming is niche enough to qualify (though it's pretty niche).

I do think privacy issues will improve, though. They're a high profile item right now, and the legal system is lagging years behind the technology -- but eventually it'll catch up.

I find myself wondering what's next. From the hardware front, I think smartphones will give way to wearable tech (whether that's glasses, watches, patches, wristbands, etc.) The software is, I think, going to get more and more sharey before it gets less so.

Bullgrit said:

What do you think of all this social media interconnection? Do you like it?

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To the contrary, I despise it. Facebook in particular is THE DEVIL. I don't mind having a presence in a social network of my choice, but I definitely don't want any kind of automation associated with it. I've recently started to get get annoyed by Google Services because they continue to integrate everything. It's bad enough if someone makes the connection between my online persona and my real-life person by accident; I definitely don't want anything of the kind to happen automatically. Fortunately, routinely disabling active web page content shuts down pretty much everything of that kind.

The problem is that Social Media is getting the blame but this has been going on for a very long time. Business have always sold our names and information to other companies, with the move to internet has made the information available and Social Media has just brought it all together. Add to that, that we never read the fine print, the Patriot Act, or other laws, we are just adding more and more out there.

A long time ago, the father of a friend that worked for the FBI told me, never put your name on anything, for once it is recorded, it can be tracked.

Hand of Evil said:

A long time ago, the father of a friend that worked for the FBI told me, never put your name on anything, for once it is recorded, it can be tracked.

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Someone should've told JK Rowling that!

Hand of Evil said:

A long time ago, the father of a friend that worked for the FBI told me, never put your name on anything, for once it is recorded, it can be tracked.

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And a long time ago, they couldn't really track it all that easily. Oddly enough the paranoia of back then was unwarranted.

Nowadays, anything electronic can be tracked down.

We're not quite there to live tracking yet.

I use seperate email accounts to sign up for profressional things vs. personal things.

My personal stuff is under a fake name. So if you google my real name, you'll find my Linked in, articles I've written, patent, etc. Stuff I'd want you to find because you're probably searching for me to validate hiring me.

If you google my fake name, you'll find enworld and other forums like it.

That seems to work OK for me at keeping some privacy and separation.

It might be possible to track and search to figure out who I really am and where I live, but that takes extra steps of determination. A simple search won't cut it. And that usually keeps random bad guys away, just as having a dog in your house makes the bad guys decide to hit next door that doesn't have a dog. It's less work.

It's a love/hate relationship for me. As it can be tracked through your accounts and ISP anyway I use my real name on Facebook (where my family and one of my gaming groups keep in touch) and Twitter (though I rarely post anything on either). As Hand of Evil pointed out, companies have been selling our info for decades, technology just makes it more efficient and it's here to stay.

Heck, even your email provider is selling your data these days!