The social networking issues of privacy, user control, and caution are alive. Social networking sites have been growing in numbers, while initially stimulated by the younger generation keen to connect with their peers, the older generation are now participating in growing numbers. If like myself, many started as a way of maintaining connections with their sons and daughters, especially when travelling overseas. ‘Youth’ revealing their lives in public forums, have raised concerns for their parents. In order to protect its citizens the Officer of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada produced a video; it warns about the public nature of social networking sites and the way that personal data is collected for marketing purposes.Privacy and Social NetworksThe message on the video recommends asking questions before writing blogs and posting on social networking sites:The questions are:What judgements or conclusions might others form with my information?Are there some details about my life I would like to keep personal?Who might view or purchase this information about me?Will this information reflect well on me a year from now? Or five years?Would I want my best friend to know this?Would I want my mom to know this?Produced in 2007, these questions still seem relevant. The message is about individuals taking responsibility for what they reveal to the public. However, developers need to take responsibility for how they set up privacy controls. danah boyd calls for developers to consider the information they aggregate and remix, and ask themselves how they would like that information ending up all in one place as a marketing aid. danah’s blog: Public by Default, Private when Necessary‘ reminds developers to consider: ‘Just because you can see somebody, doesn’t mean they want to be seen.’Today danah boyd presented:

Privacy Is Not Dead: Danah Boyd Talks About Privacy at SXSW

The advantages and paybacks of social networking outweigh threats to privacy, however, as danah boyd points out users of social networking sites want control. And they can exercise that preference by moving away from sites that don’t give them the control to choose. They want to choose who sees their posts, who sees who they are connecting with or who sees where they are engaging with others. Users also want to control the groups that they connect with on different sites. I like to catch up with family and friends on Facebook, mainly connect with professional peers and leaders in the field of education and technology on Twitter.My connections on ‘foursquare’ which uses auto-geotagging are posing more of a challenge. I have some that I don’t know very well in other countries. Places I rarely go to. Others, who live locally I have connected with through Twitter but I don’t know them well. So, I am not comfortable with ‘foursquare’. In the future it may become useful as more friends become users. Currently it conjures up issues of stalking or having announced where I am going, a perfect opportunity for burglars to move in, particularly if they are getting their information through pleaserobme.com !!! Yes, I am exaggerating.So, yes when I blog I will consider whether I am prepared for my friends, my family, my colleagues, my employer  and the general public to read my views, note my interests and follow my shifts, both physically and mentally.