Teens, Social Media, and Privacy

Social media such as: facebook; twitter, myspace, etc.. have become a rising must have in the teens social networking world. Teens use these social media tools frequently and it has become more noticeable that teens are opening up and sharing more information about themselves. Teens have become much more loose with their privacy from 2006 to 2012 their profiles in the social media networks have become more expressive and open. Statistics have shown how teens have become more open in sharing: photos of themselves, post their school name,  post the city or town where they live, post their email address, post their cell phone number, post their real name, post their interests, post their date of birth, post their relationship status, and post videos of themselves. Twitter has grown with teens significantly, and their is a waning enthusiasm towards facebook with teens. At least 60% of teens on facebook keep their profiles private and majority include their parents, family, and close friends. Most teens enjoy expressing themselves and take confidence in managing their facebook setting; as well as taking steps to manage their networks, shape their reputation, and hide information they don't want others to know. However, teen social media users seem to not show a significant level of concern about third party access to their data. And with growing network size and variety of friends, teens share a wider range of information than those who have fewer. Overall teens report more positive online experiences than negative ones.

I think that teens being more open with their information on social medias such as: facebook or twitter is very dangerous. Being open with information like: your hometown, your school, your date of birth, and photos of yourself all have dangers to consider. There are both pros and cons to consider. On one hand these social medias allow teens to connect with not only their immediate friends and close-distant family but to connect with a variety of other individuals from other places in their age group. However, there are always dangerous people out their ranging from the creepy to the sadistic like stalkers, pedophiles, etc.. With growing network size and variety a teens information can be accessed in ways they may never know to their knowledge like the third party access mentioned in the article and if their information includes photos, hometown, school, age, interest, and even cell phone numbers illicit easy access for these dangerous individuals to nail the teen down to a point and pursue.