Privacy has been more of an issue the longer social networks exist. Gradually, privacy has decreased through the years through social networks. Facebook has over 680 million users that are active monthly as of December 31, 2012. These users all have to register and create a profile in order to join Facebook. During the process of being a part of Facebook, users must fill in personal information and agree to the terms and conditions of the privacy settings. Privacy is defined as the state of being free from intrusion or disturbance in one’s private life or affairs. Generally, a user’s profile would have their full name, email, date of birth, general location and places they have worked or studied in. Before social networks such as Facebook, in order to know or have access to this information was if an actual real life confrontation would have been made directly in some way with the other person.

Even though having social networks may have its negative aspects to it there are plenty of perks. Having Facebook accounts can be good and bad at the same time. For example, one negative aspect of being a part of social networks is that users who are registered can suffer from being stalked or have their identities stolen and recreated. A user’s information and profile on any social network can be searched through Google proving that users’ profiles are quite accessible even by people who are not registered in the social network. However, being able to access profiles are not always negative. Gaining information for personal gain or gaining information about a possible future employee are a few examples of how having accessible personal information can be perks.

Every user can easily privatize their information, photos, etc. through the proper and careful use of the privacy settings that are available. I personally believe that the decrease of privacy is a good thing. Privacy should become less and less available because then people would try harder to lessen the embarrassing or shameful things that they do. The decrease of privacy will encourage better behavior simply because it will cause people to be more careful (at least online).