We’re taking a break on our tablet series for a week to switch gears and go public. We’ll get back to tablets next week. In the meantime, enjoy this post on how to embrace the public aspects of social media.
We are constantly hearing about how Facebook and other forms of social media are being abused and individuals are losing their privacy. To take a different perspective, Jeff Jarvis recently wrote a book called “Public Parts” which discusses ‘society’s move to public displays of personal information in an age of the Internet, social media and blogging.’
Jarvis believes people have both the fear of being too public and losing their privacy. Instead of being fearful, Jarvis feels the public should learn how to adapt to the changing digital world. People’s fear could lead to overregulation of the Internet and the digital world which will make it more difficult for this digital evolution to continue to grow.
The internet and digital world had been accused of allowing people to over share information. People feel companies are not protecting their privacy. The argument against this is there are plenty of “watch dogs out there working very hard to protect privacy.” There is no harm in individuals, groups or organizations over sharing information as long as they are sharing to the appropriate audiences. Also individuals have the option of not ‘overlistening’ and can discontinue following and obtaining information from those individuals or organizations.
Social media and the Internet is what has helped many businesses grow. Many people would not have known about these businesses if they were not able to use search engine optimization and the reach of different social networks to get their needs fulfilled. Additionally, social media is free publicity and advertising for companies that could not necessarily compete with larger companies. Social media is a great way to spread word of mouth through Twitter status updates and blogs reviewing products and companies.
Click below to read more about the book “Public Parts:”
