Book: Privacy Online: Perspectives on Privacy and Self-Disclosure in the Social Web
ISBN: 9783642215209
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2011
Privacy is a basic human need, and losing privacy is perceived as an extremely
threatening experience. Privacy embraces solitude, personal space, or intimacy with
family and friends and as such, it is a ubiquitous and trans-cultural phenomenon.
Privacy leverages well-being; without privacy we are at risk of becoming physically
or mentally ill.
Our fundamental need for privacy is contrasted by a second powerful mechanism
of social interaction: self-disclosure to others is similarly important for social
functioning and psychological well-being. We need to self-disclose to bond with
others, form meaningful relationships, and receive social support. A lack of ability
to self-disclose causes clinical symptoms such as loneliness and depression.
Striking the right balance between creating private spaces and self-disclosure is a
complex task, if not the most challenging one in interacting with others. Today, in
times of online communication and the Social Web, this task is further complicated
by two confusing facts:
Firstly, our online communication is usually accessible to a vast number of
people. On social network sites, it is very common for several hundred online
friends to have access to the personal information, status updates, and private
pictures of a profile owner. In addition to these online friends as a “known
audience,” there are other “unknown audiences,” such as advertisers who purchase
the users’ aggregated profile information from social media companies to address
their target audiences.
Secondly, many users appear not to feel threatened in terms of their need for and
experiences of privacy when communicating online. On social network sites,
micro-blogs, or in forums, they publish a vast amount of information that is
considered private or even intimate in other contexts. Although they are aware of
their data’s publicity on an abstract level, many feel free to speak and to open up to
others.
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