7 Days Social Media Talks: Keep private things private.

What makes us want to update our status on Facebook, have a new tweet on Twitter, or share a real-time moment on Path?

Personally I truly believe that as humans we're generally social creatures. We have moved on from vintage social networking site to mobile social media applications to stay in touch with one another (FYI people in my generation used to update our status on MSN/MySpace or sent random Q&A through Friendster's bulletin board). With the advances in technology, it's becoming easier to stay in touch with one another and share our thoughts.

On the flip side, social media sites/apps have opened door to a host of problems that never existed before. Social media literally invites us to step beyond the boundaries of privacy and share the highlights, and even mundane details of our daily lives. Somehow it's understandable because (again, as social creatures) everyone enjoys positive feedback every now and then, and with Facebook and Path, we can get exactly that. I realised, today everybody is not only post about a status update about getting a new haircut or their visit to the dentist, but that most updates are about innocent blasts of personal information.

When posting updates, it can feel it's only about you and your mobile phone. But generally, we're writing or drawing something in a big wall in public area. Passerby can ignore but some of them just stop and choose to read it. Sure thing is the problem will arise when an interested regular passerby puts pieces together and start to assume things.

According to this journal, your audience is 4 times larger that you think [link]. "Posting to a social network site is like speaking to an audience from behind a curtain. The audience remains invisible to the user. While the invitation list is known, the final attendance is not."

So remember this simple rule: It's a status, not diary or ears to hear. Your private life is your private life and you keep it to yourself.

♥, Me.

Photo credit: Say Hello Photography [link].