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Shashiraj P Shetty

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Is Social Networking really as dangerous as its projected to be?

Given a choice, I would prefer sitting in front of a computer logged in to one of the popular social networking sites. I love reading what other people have to say about their parenting, culinary skills, some event in their life, what are they upto at the moment, etc.,

Of course, there is a possibility, we may be revealing a bit too much for someone's comfort or our discomfort. But is it such a huge risk that it could jeopardize our lives or cause huge mnetary losses from which we could never recover?

Your experiences/thoughts on this matter will be very helpful.

Thanks,

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    Jay Chatterjee

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    Jan 20 2012: "Youths bored of social media, reveals study": Youngsters in urban India are gradually moving away from social networking sites due to fatigue and health reasons, said a study conducted by commerce chamber Assocham on Thursday.
    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/social-media/Youths-bored-of-social-media-reveals-study/articleshow/11560808.cms
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    Jay Chatterjee

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    Jan 19 2012: Social Networking sites are mostly useless wastage of time, help spreading mediocrity (that stupid "Koladavi de" song is the latest example that immediately pops up in mind), in general. But it is an excellent media if used properly- as many (in fact majority) of business houses, mass movements, national Governments do/did. The trend will increase due to increasing dominance of mediocrity around the world. So, good opportunity for some to exploit it to making money, grabbing power etc!
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      Shashiraj P Shetty

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      Jan 19 2012: Thanks for your response, Jayanta. I would take your comments with a pinch of salt. I believe its upto us to gather which information is relevant to us and discard the rest. But my question is - Is social networking really dangerous? If so, why and how?
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        Jay Chatterjee

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        Jan 19 2012: For most people, the answer is "yes". It is a very lucrative source to know a person, his/her activities, "ideology". Many current employers, potential employers, even educational institutes are increasingly turning towards such sites for its discretionary decisions.
        Our societies, our democracies are not yet ready to uphold such "honesty" in the first pace, if I may say so. I am not talking about countries like India (where law and order and judiciary is hardly effective), but western democracies. On the other hand, when users are aware of the reality, they will be provoked or coerced to undertake false propaganda , dishonesty to make them attractive to their followers, potential employers and others.

  • Douglas Bell

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    Jan 19 2012: Hi Shashiraj,

    Social network is neither good nor evil. It is, however, poorly understood.

    Remember that social networking exists to collect as much information about you as possible so that your profile can be sold to advertisers to increase the sales of the advertiser's product. It is not an experiment, social tool or gift.

    The information isn't just what you put on Facebook. It's the sum total of all of those likes, pictures and friends. It's also the information you put in those websites that allow you to log in using your Facebookusername/password. Facebook shares its info with them and they in turn share what you do, buy or look at in those sites. Google is trying to do similar things with google+ and is trying to leverage that to include your google search history. It's a very powerful marketing tool.

    Many people have no problem with this, but I think that we'ed all freak out if our governments were collecting the same info. For me, it's enough to know that someone is drawing conclusions on my search for "Psychiatrist" without them also knowing that my daughter is studying to become a psychiatrist.

    You can minimize thisifit bothers you by using a few simple new hygiene rules. 1) Log out when you're done with FB or Google+. 2) Set your browser to delete cookies and history when it exits (in MSIE this is under the 'tools/interenet options' menus). And log out regularly. 3) Don't use FB or Google logins unless you're willing to consider those sites to be part of FB or Google. 4) And of course, never post anything that you wouldn't want to see on the company bulleting board.

    Best wishes,
    Doug Bell
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      Shashiraj P Shetty

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      Jan 19 2012: Thanks for the response, Doug. You have put your thoughts very well and have addressed the key question. You have addressed some additional questions too in your reply.

      Thanks once again for taking time off to reply to this message.

      Regards,
      Shashi
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    Dylan Gonzalez

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    Jan 18 2012: The internet is probably the most ground breaking, unintentional social experiment in the history of mankind.

    Only time will tell as to what extent we shall utilize this tool. I feel the question is not so much as is Social Networking dangerous, but rather if human nature is dangerous and that Social Networking aids us in our intentions.

  • Xavier Belvemont

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    Jan 17 2012: I've attempted to use the likes of Twitter and Facebook for some time now and I can safely say that I've yet to see anything posted that contains any sort of value (lol).
    I think we're safe for the moment.

  • Vicky Smith

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    Jan 17 2012: i dont think its a great issue, it is also up to the individual how much they reveal, how much they read, how much time they spend on such sites so it is all dependant upon ourseleves
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    Vivek Trivedi 10+

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    TED Translator
    Jan 17 2012: Social networking sites have given an option to every normal person to become a celebrity for some moments and get accolades for some or other thing.This is inherent human nature, it is still in its initial years to speculate about its dangers but certainly not guiding kids in right direction.
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    Balakrishna V

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    Jan 17 2012: I feel that the people are over reacting to the social networking sites by disclosing thier emotions,happiness which in turn should be enjoyed with only some limited group of people who are closer to their heart rather than with the whole world to know the things of u
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      Shashiraj P Shetty

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      Jan 18 2012: Thanks for replying Balakrishna. Is there any danger that you see in Social networking sites? To answer your qestion, extroverts don't bother much about showing their happiness / emotions even in front of a stranger. from what I see, social networking sites from what I see never forces an introvert to post something if he doesn't want to.
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        Balakrishna V

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        Jan 18 2012: Well when we are talking about the social networking sites which in turn includes all soughts of people,with all kind of mannerism,even the extroverts & introverts But unfortunately from my experience, introverts vastly outnumber extroverts.
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