With privacy becoming an incredibly popular buzz word, instead of focusing on a specific platform, perhaps we should focus on the user, too. Who’s responsible for making sure users understand the importance of privacy in a social media world? Is it Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms, or do the users have some responsibility for keeping their profiles secure?
Considering the lack of attention people give the concept, it’s as if they expect the platform to take of their privacy issues. In fact, back in 2007, Geek and Poke tackled this issue brilliantly with a simple, one-panel comic:
To many, the Geek and Poke installment sums up users’ attitudes towards privacy almost perfectly. It seems if you’re a casual Internet user, the only time online privacy becomes something to concern yourself with is when a friend posts something about it on your Facebook timeline.
With that in mind, the upcoming infographic should be helpful, provided personal privacy in relation to social media is something you care about. While a big portion of the information is something of a review–percentage of people posting regrettable content, which sex is more concerned about their privacy settings (women)–the last portion provides some helpful tips on managing social media privacy. While these may seem like common sense approaches, it’s clear people need to be reminded:
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As you can see, the suggestions are quite elementary, but hidden in the tips is a simple, little message: Privacy is not that difficult of concept if you actually pay attention to what you’re doing. Essentially, the tips are simply enough for most, if not all, social media users to follow. It also begs the question, if it is this easy, why aren’t more people taking responsibility for their online privacy?
Don’t leave it up to Facebook, Google, and others to do it for you.