When giving a training for the Networking 2.0 project, it's understood that the counselors we train will re-transmit the content we provide in a way that best suits their workplace and clientele. To teach this content, it's important to use it and, at least at some level, master it. This means that you should be using social media in order to teach it to your clients.
Not everyone wants to have a social media profile. Many people, employment counselor and job-seeker alike, are hesitant to learn these tools for fear that their personal information may be shared or used against them. It's both normal and smart to have these fears.
That being said, it's essential for job seekers to have access to important skills and resources for their job search (as demonstrated in other blog posts and documents created for this project). Even though we strongly encourage you to familiarize yourself with social media, we understand that it is within each person's right to protect their private information in the way that best suits them, including abstaining from sharing them on social media entirely. As the final decision rests on each individual to do what's right for them, rest assured that we've considered many facets and approaches to this important subject.
A. Considerations for Protecting Your Information: What Are They?
1. Data-Mining (Collection and Processing of Personal Information)
Social media sites collect information about you. It's true. However, it's not all that frightening considering you're the one who decides what you share and what you don't in the majority of cases. How do Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn collect and use your personal information?
First, by the information you provide when filling in your profile. For example, when you list the city you live in or the school you attended.
Second, when you authorize a third party with access to this information to share it, such as your email provider or other social media site. A third party is a person or organization other than you (first party) and the social media providing you with a service (second party). An example would be if you were to grant Facebook access to your Twitter account, or vice versa.
Third, in documenting how you use the services they're providing, by monitoring your comings and goings (who do you communicate with, what pages do you visit most often, what subjects interest you, etc.). If you join the Networking 2.0 Facebook group, for example, the site can determine that you're interested in employment and networking.
Finally, if while connected to a social media site you consult other websites as well, and these sites use "social modules" of that site, it's possible that they share information with the provider of the social media (when did you visit their website, how long were you on it, etc.). You'll know you're embarking into a social module when you see a Facebook or Twitter button on a site other than Facebook or Twitter, for example.
2. Why Do Social Media Sites Collect Data From Their Users?
This is a common and legitimate question.
First, because a social media profile is nothing more than the kind of information about ourselves that we share with other users (friends, followers, connections) through the intermediary of a service that collects them (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn). Your name (or username), the city you live in, your job, what you talk about, etc. - a certain amount of basic information is necessarily collected for the service to function.
Second, because social networks are often more interesting when they're adapted to the user. It's in collecting your information that personalized suggestions can be made to you. For example, someone who has five or six friends in common with you will be suggested to you as a friend because they're probably someone you'd be interested in connecting with or may know already. Or if you read many articles about rock bands, a site could suggest that you have a look at an account dedicated to this subject.
Third, and for most sites this is the primary reason, because the revenues for these sites - which provide extremely sophisticated services at virtually no cost to the user - are generated almost entirely by ads. Ads found on social media (as well as on sites like Google) are targeted to your use of the Internet. Ads for magazine subscriptions or newspapers are targeted specifically to those who read a lot of articles, while ads for a band's new album would be targeted to those who listen to a lot of music online. Thus, data is collected from your personal information to target you with ads, products and services that will most likely interest you rather than those that are unlikely to appeal to you. Everyone using these networks will be exposed to ads, whether they share little or a lot of personal information. Either way, we generally suggest that you ignore ads while using social media. Thus, this use of your personal information will have a relatively limited impact on your privacy.
3. Sharing Information with Third Parties and The Use of Your Image in Social Advertising
Social networking sites have various policies regarding the sharing of your information with third parties. Many people are afraid that Facebook is sharing personal details about them with these parties, however that's very unlikely. First, it's hard to conceive of why Facebook might want to do this. Their livelihood comes from just that - their privileged and unequaled access to your information; as long as they don't reveal it to others, they're the only ones who can profit by selling specially-targeted ads to their individual users. Further, it's stated in their privacy policy that they won't share this information without your consent. Thus, for this exact reason, it's very important to review all your privacy and account settings on the site.
Second, there are legal considerations. If a judicial authority provides a search warrant requesting access to information in a person's social media account, it's possible that Facebook or Twitter would provide police with access for investigative purposes. Twitter will alert a user that their account is under surveillance, but Facebook won't. In either case, it's best to consider that all information published on a social media site (including in private messages) is considered "public" in terms of the law, and so one should refrain from sharing information that could harm their reputation.
Finally, there is always a chance that hackers could somehow access and steal your personal information (without your consent nor that of the social media site in question). Nothing is perfectly safe online - much like in real life - and social media sites have bugs and security issues just like any other website. There are several ongoing lawsuits trying to force Facebook as well as other social media companies to better protect client information. In general, your information is relatively well protected, but perhaps not to an extent that will make everyone happy.
B. Options for Secure Learning
If you're unsure about using one of the social media sites discussed here for personal use, even with the many possibilities presented for managing the amount of personal information you share, it's still possible to use social media while sharing only a limited amount of personal information (virtually none).
However we must insist that some of these options are only a last resort, because should you later choose to create more engaging profiles on these sites, you may have to do everything twice.
The first thing you could try is to create accounts in your name from the get-go, maintaining strict privacy settings and maintaining a very small network. You can use our guides while you get to know the interface and master each site, but much more slowly than how you might be using them already.
The second option is to create corporate accounts for your organization. An official Twitter account, a company profile on LinkedIn or even a Facebook page can all be created for your company or community centre without requiring any personal input from you. This way you can kill two birds with one stone - learning the interface of these services while increasing your organization's visibility. However, if you choose this option, you'll have to get informed on the professional use of social media before making any major errors (we're working on an upcoming blog article that will discuss this subject in greater detail).
A third option is to create accounts using pseudonyms, with no relation to your real name, company or person. These accounts will allow you to explore the interface of each site without risking your reputation or that of your organization. Of course, if you find yourself interested in using social media more and manage to overcome your fears, you can stop using these pseudonyms, delete the related account and start fresh with real social media accounts.
C. Conclusions
Concerns regarding confidentiality, your personal life and access to your information are valid and important concerns, both for your internet use and life in general. It's important to stay informed, to form an opinion and express it, and to speak up and try to change practices when we find them unjust. There are several proposed bills in the works in Canada, the US and elsewhere that could give more power to either corporations, the government or individuals in terms of control of power of information in the near future. Some social networks, most notably Path or Diaspora, are more respectful of their users' private lives than Facebook. However, their applications for employment are limited - not to mention their user base, which consists primarily of technophiles who can easily juggle several social media accounts. Facebook has a more tarnished history in terms of confidentiality issues, compared to Twitter and LinkedIn. If you prefer to abstain from Facebook and teach only Twitter and LinkedIn to your clients, you will still be providing them with a great service. But you will be in an even better position to help them if you're able to teach them to manage their privacy and account settings on their existing Facebook accounts.
Best Practices
We recommend that all users follow some general guidelines when sharing personal information online:
- First, refrain as much as possible from sharing information that could easily be used to steal your identity: address, postal code, birth date, ID numbers (social insurance number, driver's license, passport, government ID, etc.), telephone numbers, credit card and bank card numbers, etc.
- Next, carefully read the privacy policies of any sites or services you use, and update your account and privacy settings accordingly to choose the degree to which you want to engage in sharing of your information.
- Third, think carefully before you share any private, personal, confidential or delicate information online, or if you engage in a conversation that might be questionable or controversial.
- Fourth, always use HTTPS (rather than HTTP) when this option is available to you, most notably on Facebook and Twitter.
- Fifth, install an anti-virus on your computer (not necessary if you're using Linux). Many free programs exist (AVG, Avast, Microsoft SecurityEssentials, etc.).
- Sixth, choose secure passwords (as long as possible, mixing types of characters such as letters and numbers or punctuation).
- Further, you can limit social media applications' ability to access your information by blocking cookies or installing plug-ins on your web browser.
- Finally, always sign out (disconnect, log off, exit, etc.) from any service protected with a password as soon as you've finished using it.
