Reader Response Draft 3

In the article “The Perils of Over-sharing in Social Networks”, Emm (2014) points out that users are immensely reliant on the Internet nowadays. With the advent of smartphones and tablets, the Internet has become a necessity in users' daily lives. Since "the mass of information we choose to put into the public domain" is for all to see, users are not only compromising their own safety, but also potentially jeopardising their own credibility.

The widespread use of technology in today’s society has indeed affected users' daily lives. Just like what Emm has mentioned, users inevitably exposed the “minutiae of their daily lives” because “more and more of what they do is dependent on” the Internet. The ubiquitous use of the Internet due to its widespread availability has led to the infringement of privacy since individual information is readily online. Personal economic wealth is also being threatened when criminal acts like online fraud are on the rise. As a result, I agree that personal safety is vulnerable on the Internet.

Users' online security is essentially compromised when they make use of the Internet for daily uses. As the Internet becomes an integral part of their lives, users ingeniously utilise it to ease convenience and save time. The advent of online banking and online shopping can serve such purpose. However, careless use of these platforms will allow criminals to unscrupulously obtain their personal and financial information. In UK alone, £29.3million damages have been done due to online banking fraud in 2014 (Boyce, 2014). More than 8000 Australians were victims of online shopping frauds in 2013 (Gillespie, 2013). Evidently, the Internet does not promise and assure personal and financial security. Coupled with the fact that such crimes are hard to track, I will not be surprised if the above mentioned numbers increase by an even larger extent in the near future.

By exposing themselves to the Internet, users' privacy will also be threatened. This is especially so since social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter encourage “registered users to provide as much information as possible” (Lewis, n.d.). Although such a practice may seem insignificant, it actually enables identity theft and fraud, and data mining. Social networking sites like YouTube and Flickr allow identity thieves to gain deeper insight into users' lives, thus facilitating their criminal plots (Lewis, n.d.). Data-mining companies intrude into people's privacy and use social networking sites to “compile user profiles for advertising companies” (“The Consequences of Over-sharing on Social Networks”, n.d.). This situation can be related to George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four whereby he highlighted the idea of how “Big brother is watching you”. Infringement of personal privacy will certainly bring about distress and complications, which I believe makes the Internet a dreadful place.

Even though over-sharing on social media jeopardises users' personal safety, it still has its fair share of benefits. Over-sharing allows users to remain globally connected. Social media brings them closer to old friends and may even serve to reunite long-lost family members (“The Consequences of Over-sharing on Social Networks”, n.d.). For instance, Samantha Futerman, a Korean American, reunited with her long lost twin sister Anais Bordier, who was living in Paris then, through Facebook in 2013 (Goldstein, 2013). Other than connecting with friends and family, a broad networking circle can also assure a better job. In fact, more and more employers are turning to social media to look for potential candidates (“Finding a job – Using social media: Intro, n.d.). Indeed, the integration of the Internet into users' daily lives has made it impossible for them to live without it. The perils of the Internet thus can be seemingly insignificant to the users. 

Judging from how dependent users are on the Internet, precautions have to be taken as they divulge information of themselves online. Emm urged the public to be vigilant and also provided advices to protect oneself from the perils of the online community. Users have to be careful of what they share on the Internet, and make sure they do not let their guards down. I believe that if they learn how to properly utilise social networking sites, the benefits of the Internet will definitely outweigh the drawbacks of sharing on social media.

(807 words)

References:

Boyce, L. (2014, September 12). Online banking fraud increases by 71% in a year - and surging numbers fall victim to sneaky telephone scammers. This is Money. Retreived fromhttp://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-2753277/Online-banking-fraud-increases-71-year-according-FFA-UK.html

Emm, D. (2014, March 21). The perils of over-sharing in social networks. Huffpost Tech.Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/david-emm/the-perils-of-over-sharing-in-social-networks_b_5005276.html.

Finding a job – Using social media: Intro. Columbia University Centre for Career Education.Retrieved from http://www.careereducation.columbia.edu/resources/tipsheets/finding-job-using-social-media-intro.

Gillespie, I. (2013, August 9). Consumers warned as online fraud soars. The Age. Retrieved from http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/security-it/consumers-warned-as-online-fraud-soars-20130809-hv1c9.html.

Goldstein, S. (2013, April 3). South Korean twins separted at birth? Two women connected on Facebook share eerie resemblance. Daily News. Retrieved fromhttp://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/adopted-south-koreans-twins-separated-birth-article-1.1307240.

Herrera, M. (2013, January 2013). Catfishing: new label for old scam. Better Business Bureau.Retreived from http://www.bbb.org/blog/2013/01/catfishing-new-label-for-old-scam/.

Lewis, K. (n.d.). How social media networks facilitate identity theft and fraud. Entrepreneur Organization. Retrieved from http://www.eonetwork.org/octane-magazine/special-features/social-media-networks-facilitate-identity-theft-fraud.

The consequences of oversharing on social networks. Reputation.com. Retrieved from http://www.reputation.com/reputationwatch/articles/the-consequences-of-oversharing-on-social-networks.