Privacy is No Longer a "Social Norm" According to Facebook Founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg
A "wow" article in The Guardian about remarks made over the weekend by Facebook Founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg
We're not so sure that privacy is no longer a social norm. It sounds goofy just saying it. Privacy is still something that MANY (most) people we come across (of all ages) find very important and essential. In fact, privacy may be more important now, in the age of social networks, than ever before and even more so going forward.
Additionally, the expectation it exists with all-types of information and info providers is still and will continue to be both important, necessary, and mandatory. Since so many info pros and library users utilize Facebook, this just might be a good time for ALA and other organizations to respond (on a popular info topic, social networks) making a strong statement against Zuckerberg's words.
These comments are also interesting for Zuckerberg, the CEO of a company currently with more than 350 million users, to make just weeks after Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, told CNBC (here's the video), "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." Schmidt's remarks and other comments about privacy made quite an uproar.
Also, Zuckerberg's words come not that many weeks after his company changed their privacy settings to a loud chorus of complaints. It makes you wonder if Zuckerberg's beliefs were used in the formation of those new policies.
If the leader of the largest social network believes this about privacy and then makes those feelings public, perhaps it's time to move on to another social networking service. There are more than enough to choose from.
The rise of social networking online means that people no longer have an expectation of privacy, according to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Talking at the Crunchie awards in San Francisco this weekend, the 25-year-old dotcom chief executive of the world's most popular social network said that privacy was no longer a "social norm".
"People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people," he said. "That social norm is just something that has evolved over time."
Note: In the U.S., balancing access to information (legal access to it) with privacy has been an issue long before Facebook was born. Now, with so much information being made available (often via social networks) it's essential we get a handle on it and continue to teach its importance just like we teach critical info skills. ]
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