Social media networking literacy: Rebalancing sharing, privacy, and legal observance

Abstract

Social media networking seems to have exploded as the next big wave after the proliferation of the World Wide Web’s Internet interface. The numbers are astounding: for example, over 1 billion people are connected on Facebook, there are nearly as many Twitter accounts, WhatsApp has over half a billion users, and over 200 million people use Instagram. It is not a far-fetched statement to say that the majority of the users on these social media networks are young people, probably at the age where risk assessment is not very high on their priorities. Sharing is the norm, even of the most intimate and private details. However, some sharing can be harmful, as not only might it intrude into the privacy of the users themselves or those who are connected to them, but it may come back to haunt them later in life with devastating consequences. It is imperative that social media network users have some level of literacy, which allows them to estimate the proper balance between their sharing activities, the needs for their privacy as well as that of their contacts, and the need to respect the intellectual property of fellow netizens.