Technically, you only need a Bill of Rights if you’re being governed.
And, you need something that restricts your rights in order to need protection of your rights. That is, something that would infringe upon those rights in order to necessitate protection.
Ergo, the question to answer is: Social Media – facebook, twitter, blogspot– are these rights or privileges?
I argue it’s not a right, it’s a privilege.
You are not granted life, liberty and the pursuit of Internet Explorer Version 8. Against what Smarr, Canter and Scoble would argue, I believe that information posted, disseminated and/or maintained on the internet is fair game. Everytime I log onto my Bank of America (LOVE THEM) online accounts, I risk any form or fraction of identity theft. On the other end of the spectrum, even my snapfish account could be smeared, smacked or otherwise defamed. My point is, ownership, control and freedom are great principles for a code, but I don’t believe that they work in practice.
Really, how many facebook friends do you have?
I’ve adopted a new knack of deleting a friend each time I add or accept a new one. Seems ludicrous, but I bet many of you (admit it) have accepted friend requests from time to time, and have no clue who those people are.
Scoble will argue that in fact, Facebook has metrics to tell you who your closest friends are, and even if they are authentic.
Oh really?
Here’s what Facebook can’t answer- you can trick the system. Robert Scoble’s videos are interesting looks at what makes a “friend” according to facebook. He lists 7 identifying properties that determine how close of a “friend” you really are. Location, events, wall posts, other friends, etc. However, through all of this determining, there is a common factor not taken into account. People lie. They falsely identify themselves, over project personalities and “connect” with people they don’t know. Aside from the more obvious friend accepting that we talked about, on the whole, I believe the pragmatics behind the reasoning just don’t add up.
My friend number, however, does remain at a constant 660 or so.
For what it’s worth.
Nothing Is Better Than Brunch 