Private Faces, Public Spaces

The Facebook-inspired debate that’s raging right now isn’t really about privacy; it’s about control. We like exposing ourselves. But we only want people to know what we want them to know.

There’s been a whole lot of fuss lately about privacy.

Facebook’s snafus warranted a Time magazine cover story on May 20. The company has been accused of being cagey about what data it makes public and links to third-party sites. One week ago, Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded to the wave of criticism with a Washington Post editorial. In it, he stated that the company would be changing its policies, making it easier for users to control their privacy settings.

I must admit: I find this hubbub a bit ridiculous. We post because we have an audience; and we put forth a public face to the online world just as we do when we go out to a cocktail party. Plus, it’s hard to argue with the fact that we are, on the whole, social media fanatics. Facebook is about to log its 500 millionth user. If it were a country, it would be the world’s third largest. Nor is it populated mostly by youngsters; the fastest growing demographic is people over 34 years old.

Without a doubt, we still have a need for privacy. We all have secrets–from affairs, to late night bowls of ice cream, to feelings of jealousy for a more successful colleague or sudden flashes of anger at our children. We don’t post these nuggets to our Facebook Pages or Twitter feeds, but rather guard them within our innermost circles.

I don’t think that the current controversy is really about privacy at all; it’s about control. We love the public spaces created by Web 2.0. But we only want people to know what we want them to know.

Take, for example, a New York Times article, published in May, about the “tell-all generation.” These twenty-somethings, who came of age on social media, are starting to censor what they share online. The article begins with an anecdote about (and picture of) 21 year-old Min Liu, who recently “asked a friend to take down [from Facebook] a photograph of her drinking and wearing a tight dress.” Does anyone else find it ironic that while Ms. Liu had the offending item removed, she allowed her real name and picture to be used in a high profile story describing the photo?

Naturally, we get upset about underhanded moves that truly invade our privacy. For example, Germany has launched a criminal investigation of Google for violating the country’s privacy laws. Like virtual Peeping Toms, Google’s roving vehicles, which were supposedly archiving photographic images for its Street View mapping software, also collected private data from nearby unsecured wi-fi networks. Without telling anyone about it. Not cool.

Yet we love Facebook—as well as YouTube, Twitter, Yelp, Foursquare, Gowalla, Flickr, and other social networking sites—because they offer us a way to share our lives and opinions with the world. This feed us, making us feel validated, worthwhile… like we really exist. No longer do we have to be movie stars, political pundits, or popular comedians in order to be heard. From extraordinary revelations to the mundane details of everyday life, we have been given a voice. We get a rush of satisfaction when someone “likes” our status. Scoring a bunch of comments, links, or retweets can feel like hitting the jackpot at a Vegas casino.

So what’s the stink about? Secret snatching of data, I get. But the other stuff?

Will Moffat, designer of YourOpenBook.org, a site that allows users to search all Facebook status updates in order to demonstrate just how public these postings really are, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying, “People are sharing things they clearly don’t want to share with the entire planet.”

But as mature adults, shouldn’t we know better than to post anything online that would make us uncomfortable for all the world to discover? Isn’t this our responsibility—not Facebook’s? We ought to evaluate everything we put on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites with this criteria in mind: “Am I okay with my mom/boss/son/neighbor seeing this?”

On the whole, I tend to believe that society is benefiting from the new-found openness that social media has facilitated. Companies and governments are being held to a higher standard, as witnessed by Iran’s “Twitter revolution” last summer and the more recent popularity of BP’s fake PR account. As individuals, we feel more empowered. In his Post editorial, Zuckerberg stated: “If people share more, the world will become more open and connected. And a world that’s more open and connected is a better world.” I tend to agree.

What do you think?