Privacy and the Digital Workplace

As I wrote about several weeks ago and as you’ve probably no doubt seen if you’ve picked up a newspaper (or and iPad to read your newspaper online) lately, the world of social networking has rapidly become one of the most important and fastest growing media platforms. However, as with any burgeoning new industry, the rapidly expanding social networking landscape is not without it’s fair share of growing pains.

One of the most controversial issues surrounding social networking lately is that of privacy. Responding to a flurry of complaints regarding recently changed privacy settings that made it all the way to the cover of Time Magazine, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appealed to Facebook users via an op-ed in the Washington Post this week, explaining that Facebook’s intention was merely to give users more control over their own information. Given the furor over what users perceived as Facebook making it more difficult for them to keep information confidential, Zuckerberg said the company would be returning privacy capabilities to an earlier, more user friendly state.

Since it’s inception, Facebook has been a social forum. However, with such a large volume of traffic (currently larger than the population of the United States), corporations have also begun to see it as an increasingly ripe area to do business. This intersection dramatically raises the privacy stakes for anyone who uses the service for both personal and professional purposes. I recently heard a story about a relationship between two companies being severed over photos on one intermediary’s personal profile.

As the Time article aptly explains, Facebook profits from it’s users information being as available as possible, so it only follows that their default privacy settings will be very liberal. However, for those who log in for both business and recreation, it would behoove you to educate yourself and maintain a firm grasp on the information you send into cyberspace.