ABSTRACT
Social media and the ability to track and collect behavioral data have created “issues at the center of a polarized debate” (Lee, 2013, p. 146). By providing personal information in exchange for the use of social media sites, there are risks:
Information on social media sites may not only be searched without permission or knowledge but may be permanently stored, meaning some material intended to be private may never enjoy a cloak of privacy. Photos, rants, relationship statuses, and people’s whereabouts, for example, may always be “out there” for future employers, dates, neighbors, police investigators, and commercial businesses to mine, share, and utilize. (p. 147)
Privacy protection depends upon a patchwork of state and national laws, and these provide little in the way of consistency across the large global social network. The collection, organization, analysis, distribution and use of big data-huge online datasets tracking user action and interaction-is very relevant for those concerned about social media communication privacy.
