The Evolution of Social Media

Ever since the social networking website myspace.com was created mid-year 2003, social networking websites have continued to grow in number and popularity. Nowadays people have a variety of networks to choose from. Just about everyone from college professors, to employers; I’ve even seen grandparents with Facebook pages. In the age where just about everyone is on some kind of social networking website, what does the future hold? 

            As time advances so does technology. And with technological advances social networking websites continue to expand and become more in depth. What started out as an easy and entertaining way to keep in touch with friends now seems to be transforming into a way to define a person and broadcast their life. Think about it. How many people do you know on facebook or twitter who update their statuses every time they sneeze. Not very many of my friends do this anymore, or at least those whose statuses I haven’t blocked from my news feed, but there was a point in time when several of my friends on facebook would put their daily schedule’s as their statuses. 

            To me this just seems like you're begging to be stalk victim. Why would anyone need to know your entire day’s schedule? Realistically all your closest friends probably already know what your day looks like, and if not, couldn’t they just call you? Well thanks to a recent update on facebook, anyone can call your cell phone number provided you add it to your page. Oh, and I’ve actually seen facebook pages with the person’s phone number right under their profile picture. If you think that’s just a tad bit ridiculous, well it doesn’t stop there. Due to a previous update, you can now tag where you physically are in your facebook post and include directions on how to get to your location. Once again, anyone who posts their current location or phone number on the internet is just begging to be a stalked, kidnapped, or something in between. 

            My first thoughts when I first saw that facebook had added these stalker options was who in their right mind would willing put so much personal information on semi-public thread? Is privacy valued at all anymore? Or is everyone just so thirsty for attention that they are willing to post anything just to get anyone to look at them? In my opinion these social networks that make it public as to where an individual currently is, their phone number, age, work place, school, and much more are only beginning to fulfill the prophecies foretold by George Orwell’s 1987 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. But then again, that’s just my opinion.



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Stefan Correia, Staff Writer, is currently a junior undergraduate student at the University of Rhode Island studying Public Relations.