Do you think that you are a private person? You may think so, but are you using social media applications? If so, than you are not as private of a person as you think you are. There are many ways in which people today think about privacy. There is privacy at home, privacy at work, and privacy in our personal lives. Many people want as much privacy as they can, so we have home alarm systems or passwords on all of our electronics, so that no one else can view our most personal information. People will have passwords on their phones, but have all the different types of social media apps as well. Social media, is computer-related forms of technology that are used for sharing information, ideas, interests, and other things like pictures and feelings (Merriam_Webster).  All of this information sharing is done through the internet, and most importantly through our phones or computers. Now, with all of this technology and social media these days, how are we supposed to protect our privacy? Many people don’t realize that what they post online, is there forever, for anyone to view it. Why do we have passwords and home alarm systems, if we are posting everything about ourselves online? Is there a way to have privacy on social media? Although social media is one of the greatest innovations in this day, because we can keep in touch with anyone we want, and show off our adventures or projects, there are many issues with the privacy portion of it that cause people to worry.

    Information gathering is only one of the many issues in privacy in social media. There are new applications like Snapchat or updated Facebook that have your location and most of your pictures and information. Knowing that these pictures we send on Snapchat disappear, most people send risky pictures of themselves or of other people. But do these pictures actually disappear? All of these pictures are held on a computer by the person who created snapchat, because we know that everything we post on the internet stays forever. When posting a picture there are filters that you can add to it. You can add the time, or the temperature, or different colors. You can also add a geotag. A geotag is another type of filter that a person can add to a picture they are sending. This geotag is the location of where the picture is being sent from. This is very dangerous because people will know where you are. People have been stalked and attacked by someone knowing their location. Now, if you think posting a geotag on a picture is a privacy issues, snapchat maps is even more of an issue in privacy. This is a map on the application that has the exact location of every person you are friends with. The exact location! This is a major privacy issue because anyone can find you at any moment in the day. You can easily be stalked and found in just one click of a button. This is a personal privacy issue problem. It is very likely to be used and breached and for anyone to know your location. Snapchat is not the only application for social media that has something like this where people can find out your location. According to Weber 2015, “Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and many other social networking sites are great to use, and many many people do. These social networking sites come with some great qualities, but also have some poor qualities as well. A main poor quality is that there are many privacy issues. Someone out in the world can know exactly where you are and what you are doing at almost all times, by what you post and “check-in” on Facebook and other applications.”  By “checking-in” on Facebook you are posting your exact location for all of your friends to see. This is a major issue in privacy, but many many people do it. This is also contradictory as well. We want privacy, but are willing to check-in or have snapchat as well.

    There are many issues in privacy when it comes to social media and the internet. You can find someone’s location very easily and see all of their personal pictures and information in just one click. The internet has become very accessible to many people around the world. This is why it is used so often. The information we post online about ourselves is personal, but why do we post personal information if it is a risk? The information we post is very dangerous if the information gets into the wrong hands, yet we continue to use the internet and social media. Many people do not realize the risks, or the privacy issues, but may people are aware and just don’t care. The privacy issues in social media are immense, and could lead to identity fraud, or our location being found. Social media is a great invention, but we need to update security protocols.

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