As I write this, I’m in the mist of an IM session with a friend who found her personal information on a website that she never published it to. As a fellow business owner, I could understand her angst towards such info being out there – especially in light of information theft and personal security concerns.
But, one of the sticky points centered around the implications of the sharing culture that we are firmly in the mist of. Specifically, she remarked about how people seem to take no thought to the implications of sharing content, or even their obligations to friends and family when sharing content that contains them. In light of this’s site’s focus around mobile devices, and what they do enable, its also appropriate to look at mobile in these contexts.
Implications of Sharing Content
Many people visit websites and freely share content without clearly understanding what could be done with the information (or the metadata around that information). In some cases, this is because we took the easy way out and “just clicked OK” instead of reading the terms of service. Other times, it because we simply just don’t understand the technology enough to know that there is a positive and negative implication to sharing content.
What are some of these implications? Here are a few based on that conversation that sparked this topic:
- Greater visibility into personal life
- Visibility into personal relationships
- Disclosure of private opinion
- Disclosure of private (to a company or organization) information
Yes, usually speaking, we know about these implications, but we share anyways because its one part the culture, and another part a value assessment (the positive implications outweigh the negative).
But, what happens when those implications turn negative (for example, Facebook and LinkedIn changes their terms of service for their benefit but exposes or curtails your previously held positive value)? Do the implications matter anew, or do we roll with the punches, not taking personal responsibility for the information exchange we have equal stake in?
Obligations to Friends and Family
There’s another side of this managing and sharing of information online that we need to consider before even logging or sharing it – that is, the opinions of friends and family. The same friend referenced above spoke about a family member who posted pictures of her on Facebook, but she wasn’t on Facebook nor gave permission for those pictures to be posted. By law, she would be able to request that the pictures be removed; however, by the nature of the Facebook service, the only way she’d know that pictures of her were published is if someone inside of the service network told her.
In effect, the family member didn’t observe solid manners when posting those pictures by asking for permission first. Yes, its usually implied permission that we take (note: not “give”) when posting pictures of someone online. But, if we are not able to execute their right to change what is shared about them, then we effectively have denied them their rightful voice.
Enter Mobile, and Several More Questions Than Answers
This is where it gets extremely hard to manage mobile. On one end, we can do the right thing by taking pictures or noting content of others, making public only those items which they allow. But, on a mobile device, this is essentially letting someone into your “personal space” and then making the call to go forward or not.
Technically speaking, mobile devices, platforms, and networks don’t allow us the luxury of knowing when someone has taken a picture or written something about us. That would require a level of monitoring and filtering that current networks can’t take, current devices can’t stayed powered for, and current governments just won’t broach (usually).
Within the mobile industry, it is well understood that there’s a ton of money and influence to be made off of understanding and managing the content and the metadata around the content of what is produced on a mobile device. As a part of those topics we talked about in terms of where the Body needs to beef up within the next 10 years, information analytics and intelligence is pretty major. We need to not just understand this as an industry or organization though; there’s got to be a personal understanding towards what exactly we have in our hands towards all the information being generated and tracked. And that means not only to read the terms of service, but to know the law in regards to what to do if your privacy has been compromised.
Scriptural Response
Spiritually, the call is to take the luxury of sharing and connecting as a part of our obligation to “live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18) by putting their perspectives in front of our own (Phillipians 2:3-5). We view our freedom to share in light of the fact that others have something to gain and lose if we aren’t careful of the rules (laws) and opportunities that others can take advantage of. And when presented with a situation that doesn’t work to our advantage, we respectfully, and rightly, take it up with those with the power to change or influence change so that at the end of the day, whatever we shared has given someone the ability to grow in Christ. And if someone becomes offended in the mist of this, we handle this not with the mindset to slander or take revenge, but to extend the same grace to them as we’ve been extended – understanding that the implications of sowing love, joy, grace, peace, and mercy, is a bumper crop of unity (John 17:20-26).
Things You Can Do
If you’ve been the victim of personal information being posted online, or identity theft, your service provider(s), local and national governments, and in some cases even internet service providers/domain hosting companies have policies in place to help rectify the issue. Unfortunately, its much harder to undo the damage than it is to inflict it; but in your communications, be sure to alert those in public office your concerns as it is most likely on their agenda as well (many influential voice can help give rise to a change in this behavior).
Don’t put information online that you don’t want to come back and haunt you later. Do your best to own the information that you do put online (for example: own the servers and/or the software that creates the content, have the ability to leave the service and take your data with you (see The Data Portability Project,), and just use good sense.
Approaching Social Networks
Thursday, June 24th, 2010An upcoming project behind the scenes here at MMM is to assist authors in cultivating a presence within online social networks. In doing some research and analysis before this project, a core or key question sits at the front of things: how does one approach being social?
There are two ways of looking at social networks: they can either be a part of what you do normally (online and offline networking is pretty much the same thing to you), or that online social networking is a layer on top of what you do, and is more of a learning to live digitally, than it is something you do naturally.
Some would ascribe the terms digital native and digital immigrant to these perspectives, and they wouldn’t be totally wrong. There is definitely a generational (and socio-economic) grounding towards adeptness towards the area of social networking. But, I’d like to reach past even those two generalizations to something more core – how do you connect with others?
Social networking, at its simplest, is another word for connecting people with people. Online social networks use everything from residency, to hobbies, to schooling, to even pets, in order to craft venues which allow people to connect with one another over shared interests. And while these venues are topic specific usually, the end result is usually the same, and expansion of care and influence to a segment of the global population you might not have had before.
For many people, the idea of expanding their circles into such an arena is natural, for others, its learned. In both respects, is a leaning on this understanding that if they are going to grow, mature, sell a product, or expand and influence, that they have to learn and apply skills which might knit them to a different group of people. It is this aspect, making and cultivating relationships, that stands as the big decision for engaging within social networks.
It is easy to find various communities, add your name and a means to contact you, and just be there. It is another thing entirely to invest into that community where you are adding value on the level of relationship building. This isn’t a small deal – every connection, every click, every shared status message or picture, everything will require you investing a part of your life into the lives of others.
In directing others to whether they should or should not engage within a particular social network, this is a key question, and one that should become the basis of any engagement: are you willing to invest into the life of another at the cost of something within or outside of yourself?
For some, investing within social networks has meant that they can no longer or even more than before, be a part of local community groups. It may mean that they have to own up to the consequences of past actions, but maturity and time have also granted grace and mercy before justice. It always means that there will be something or someone else buzzing your ear at a vulnerable moment – and you will have to make sound decisions whether its a good time to respond or not.
It means that you have to pay attention also to the technological and political contexts around those networks. Yes, you might be able to connect, but does a connection to a certain group compromise one of you in a spiritual, personal, or professional context in the near-future? Are you able to deal with the increased notifications, and the attention that would need to be paid to responding to some messages more immediately than others?
Does the social community/network challenge you to grow beyond your perceptions, or is it an incubation chamber for growth in what you already know, or is it an echo chamber? Do members of that community/network engage beyond those online “rooms,” or does that offline group thread life inbetween meetings with voice, text, email, or other tools?
We commonly hear that “Jesus met with everyone.” But, I think the core of his “meetings” was that he cultivated a social life that allowed him to see what the Father was doing, respond to people in need, and embed his strengths into the lives of others, enabling them to grow their lives and the lives of people around them effectively. In this age of social networking, and the many questions around how to do this well, I’d argue that we can not only draw some parallels, but also some key points:
Social networks really have not changed all that much. Yes, the speed at which we can connect has changed, and certainly the tools are different. But, whether we are adept at the concept and tools, or learning our way as we go along, taking a moment to assess why we connect socially, and what that looks like is very important. And then from there, we can make steps in the direction(s) of using the right tools, around the right people, to enable them to see life in the best way possible.
Tags: social networks
Posted in Commentary, Communication, Social Engagement | 1 Comment »