Social Networking and Privacy

    There's no denying the ubiquitous presence of social networking.  It has become permanently engrained in the conscious of today's internet-savy generation whom feel the need to be constantly updated throughout the day.  I do find myself falling into this pattern of constant updates; I check my Twitter almost hourly.  Now due to the insignificance of my daily routines, I tend not to bore my one hundred and four followers with hourly updates; I usually tweet once to three times a day.  Rather, I enjoy absorbing he news others have to offer as I'm scrolling my beloved timeline.  It's a nice way for me to stay connected without having to surf the net for info.  If something major occurs, the people I follow are most likely tweeting about it.
    I prefer Twitter over for Facebook and I verbalize this preference often.  I would say there are three glaring reasons for this preference.  The first reason would have to be the intimacy of twitter if that makes sense.  I have over six hundred friend on Facebook and that is by no means a boast, it's just how it is; I've been a member since 2006.  With this overabundance of 'friends', there is a flood of info from people who I honestly don't really care to know that much about.  On twitter, all of the people I choose to follow are people who I know well and who's daily updates I truly care about.  It's an overall more engaging and intimate social networking experience.  The second reason would be the overall simplicity of Twitter's setup.  There's a timeline, a place to search for twitter users, trending topic updates, and individual profiles.  That's it.  No photos, no apps, no clutter and no annoying advertisements.  It's a much cleaner experience than Facebook.  Finally, my favorite aspect of twitter would have to be having the opportunity to follow celebrities.  Sure celebrities have Facebook pages, but they're more than likely fan pages or simply run by a publicist in the star's camp.  Twitter has verified celebrity accounts and they'll usually keep you updated on the big news they have planned.  It's a direct path to the life of idols, and their is always a chance of the coveted retweet; where a celebrity notices your tweet about them and decides to share this tweet with thousands of other people.  That's a dream of every twitter member; I guarantee it.  These are unique benefits that can only be found a social network.
    I believe the cultural move to social networking is mostly positive transition.  I was watching a segment on CNN that said Facebook is creating jobs and providing ample opportunities to small businesses who place advertising pages on the social networking site.  Due to the millions of members on the site, this provides an undeniable luxury to small businesses.  Computer science is proving to be an ever growing industry and social networks are providing jobs that were simply not possible twenty years ago.  Sure, there are complaints regarding privacy but I honestly don't see that being a problem.  If one conducts themselves properly and maturely when in social situations where facebook photos can be taken, there should be nothing to hide.  If someone is truly worried about their privacy to the point of outrage, maybe they should reconsider their presence on a social networking site.
    I have rarely tweeted anything that I truly regretted and I usually catch myself from tweeting something that will not get a positive response.  If I do in fact tweet something that I regret, I simply delete and think nothing of it.  As an average joe, my tweets are more than likely not gonna outrage to many people.  For the most part I feel my privacy on these social networks is in no danger.  For twitter, I use an alias so only people I want to find me on twitter can.  It is also locked and can only be viewed by people who I have allowed to follow me.   As far as Facebook is concerned, I understand that many companies and federations have the control and right to hack and view my profile.  I do see this as an invasion of privacy but I truly have nothing to be ashamed of on my page.  Then again, I rarely use my facebook so I'll probably never even notice a breach in privacy.  Go figure.