Compukol Social Media Effects on Society

Open admission peer-reviewed chapter

Social Media, Ideals and the Privacy Paradox

Submitted: September 11th, 2019 Reviewed: December 19th, 2019 Published: February 5th, 2020

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.90906

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Today'southward data/digital historic period offers widespread utilise of social media. The utilise of social media is ubiquitous and cuts across all age groups, social classes and cultures. However, the increased use of these media is accompanied by privacy issues and ethical concerns. These privacy issues tin accept far-reaching professional person, personal and security implications. Ultimate privacy in the social media domain is very hard considering these media are designed for sharing information. Participating in social media requires persons to ignore some personal, privacy constraints resulting in some vulnerability. The weak individual privacy safeguards in this space have resulted in unethical and undesirable behaviors resulting in privacy and security breaches, especially for the most vulnerable group of users. An exploratory study was conducted to examine social media usage and the implications for personal privacy. We investigated how some of the requirements for participating in social media and how unethical employ of social media tin can impact users' privacy. Results signal that if users of these networks pay attention to privacy settings and the type of information shared and adhere to universal, cardinal, moral values such every bit mutual respect and kindness, many privacy and unethical issues tin can be avoided.

Keywords

• privacy
• ethics
• social media

• Nadine Barrett-Maitland*

  • University of Technology, Jamaica, West Indies

• Jenice Lynch

  • University of Technology, Jamaica, West Indies

*Address all correspondence to: nadinemland@yahoo.com

1. Introduction

The utilize of social media is growing at a rapid pace and the twenty-beginning century could be described as the "boom" period for social networking. According to reports provided by Smart Insights, as at February 2019 there were over 3.484 billion social media users. The Smart Insight written report indicates that the number of social media users is growing by 9% annually and this tendency is estimated to continue. Soon the number of social media users represents 45% of the global population [1]. The heaviest users of social media are "digital natives"; the grouping of persons who were born or who have grown upwards in the digital era and are intimate with the various technologies and systems, and the "Millennial Generation"; those who became adults at the plow of the twenty-starting time century. These groups of users use social media platforms for merely about anything ranging from marketing, news acquisition, teaching, wellness care, borough engagement, and politicking to social date.

The unethical apply of social media has resulted in the breach of individual privacy and impacts both physical and data security. Reports in 2019 [i], reveal that persons betwixt the ages eight and 11 years spend an average 13.5 hours weekly online and 18% of this age group are actively engaged on social media. Those between ages 12 and 15 spend on average 20.5 hours online and 69% of this grouping are active social media users. While children and teenagers represent the largest Cyberspace user groups, for the most role they practise non know how to protect their personal information on the Web and are the most vulnerable to cyber-crimes related to breaches of information privacy [two, 3].

In today'south IT-configured club data is one of, if not the nearly, valuable nugget for most businesses/organizations. Organizations and governments collect information via several means including invisible data gathering, marketing platforms and search engines such as Google [4]. Information tin be attained from several sources, which can be fused using technology to develop complete profiles of individuals. The information on social media is very accessible and can be of great value to individuals and organizations for reasons such as marketing, etc.; hence, data is retained by almost companies for future utilize.

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2. Privacy

Privacy or the right to enjoy freedom from unauthorized intrusion is the negative right of all human beings. Privacy is divers as the right to exist left alone, to exist gratuitous from secret surveillance, or unwanted disclosure of personal data or information past government, corporation, or private (dictionary.com). In this chapter we will define privacy loosely, as the right to command admission to personal information. Supporters of privacy posit that it is a necessity for human dignity and individuality and a key element in the quest for happiness. According to Baase [5] in the book titled "A Gift of Burn down: Social, Legal and Upstanding Issues for Computing and the Internet," privacy is the ability to control information about one' s self also as the freedom from surveillance from being followed, tracked, watched, and being eavesdropped on. In this regard, ignoring privacy rights oft leads to encroachment on natural rights.

Privacy, or even the thought that ane has this right, leads to peace of heed and can provide an environment of confinement. This solitude tin can allow people to breathe freely in a infinite that is costless from interference and intrusion. According to Richards and Solove [6], Legal scholar William Prosser argued that privacy cases can exist classified into four related "torts," namely:

1. Intrusion—this tin be viewed as encroachment (physical or otherwise) on ones liberties/solitude in a highly offensive way.

2. Privacy facts—making public, individual information about someone that is of no "legitimate concern" to anyone.

3. False light—making public false and "highly offensive" data nigh others.

4. Appropriation—stealing someone'due south identity (name, likeness) to gain reward without the permission of the individual.

Technology, the digital age, the Internet and social media have redefined privacy notwithstanding as surveillance is no longer limited to a certain pre-divers space and location. An understanding of the problems and dangers of privacy in the digital space is therefore the beginning step to privacy control. While at that place can be clear distinctions between informational privacy and concrete privacy, as pointed out earlier, intrusion can be both physical and otherwise.

This chapter will focus on informational privacy which is the ability to command access to personal information. We examine privacy issues in the social media context focusing primarily on personal information and the ability to control external influences. We advise that breach of advisory privacy can affect: solitude (the right to be left solitary), intimacy (the right non to exist monitored), and anonymity (the correct to have no public personal identity and past extension physical privacy impacted). The right to command admission to facts or personal data in our view is a natural, inalienable correct and everyone should have command over who run into their personal data and how it is disseminated.

In May 2019 the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) clearly outlined that it is unlawful to process personal information without the consent of the individual (discipline). Information technology is a legal requirement under the GDPR that privacy notices be given to individuals that outline how their personal data will be processed and the weather condition that must be met that brand the consent valid. These are:

1. "Freely given—an individual must be given a genuine choice when providing consent and information technology should more often than not be unbundled from other terms and conditions (e.thou., access to a service should non be conditional upon consent existence given)."

2. "Specific and informed—this ways that data subjects should exist provided with information every bit to the identity of the controller(s), the specific purposes, types of processing, likewise as being informed of their correct to withdraw consent at any time."

3. "Explicit and unambiguous—the information discipline must clearly express their consent (e.g., past actively ticking a box which confirms they are giving consent—pre-ticked boxes are bereft)."

4. "Under 13s—children under the age of 13 cannot provide consent and it is therefore necessary to obtain consent from their parents."

Arguments tin can be made that privacy is a cultural, universal necessity for harmonious relationships among human beings and creates the boundaries for appointment and detachment. Privacy can as well be viewed every bit instrumental skillful because information technology is a requirement for the development of certain kinds of human relationships, intimacy and trust [7]. Withal, achieving privacy is much more difficult in light of constant surveillance and the inability to determine the levels of interaction with diverse publics [7]. Some critics contend that privacy provides protection against anti-social behaviors such as trickery, disinformation and fraud, and is thought to be a universal right [five]. Still, privacy can also exist viewed as relative equally privacy rules may differ based on several factors such as "climate, organized religion, technological advancement and political arrangements" [eight, 9]. The demand for privacy is an objective reality though it can exist viewed every bit "culturally rational" where the need for personal privacy is viewed as relative based on civilization. Ane case is the push by the government, businesses and Singaporeans to brand Singapore a smart nation. According to GovTech 2018 reports there is a push past the government in Singapore to harness the data "new gold" to develop systems that tin can make life easier for its people. The [10] report points out that Singapore is using sensors robots Smart Water Assessment Network (SWAN) to monitor water quality in its reservoirs, seeking to build smart health organisation and to build a smart transportation system to proper noun a few. In this example privacy tin be depict as "culturally rational" and the rules in general could differ based on technological advancement and political arrangements.

In today's networked social club it is naïve and ill-conceived to remember that privacy is over-rated and there is no need to be concerned well-nigh privacy if you have done null wrong [5]. The effects of information flow can exist circuitous and may not be simply most protection for people who have something to hibernate. Inaccurate information menses can accept adverse long-term implications for individuals and companies. Consider a scenario where someone's reckoner or tablet is stolen. The perpetrator uses identification data stored on the device to access their social media page which could lead to access to their contacts, friends and friends of their "friends" and so participate in illegal activities and engage in anti-social activities such as hacking, spreading viruses, fraud and identity theft. The victim is now in danger of existence defendant of criminal intentions, or worse. These kinds of situations are possible because of engineering and networked systems. Users of social media need to be aware of the risks that are associated with participation.

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three. Social media

The concept of social networking pre-dates the Internet and mass advice as people are said to be social creatures who when working in groups tin achieve results in a value greater than the sun of its parts [11]. The explosive growth in the utilise of social media over the by decade has fabricated it one of the well-nigh pop Internet services in the world, providing new avenues to "see and be seen" [12, 13]. The use of social media has changed the communication landscape resulting in changes in upstanding norms and beliefs. The unprecedented level of growth in usage has resulted in the reduction in the use of other media and changes in areas including civic and political engagement, privacy and safety [xiv]. Alexa, a company that keeps track of traffic on the Web, indicates that as of August, 2019 YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are amid the superlative four (four) most visited sites with only Google, being the most popular search engine, surpassing these social media sites.

Social media sites can be described as online services that allow users to create profiles which are "public, semi-public" or both. Users may create private profiles and/or go a function of a group of people with whom they may exist acquainted offline [15]. They also provide avenues to create virtual friendships. Through these virtual friendships, people may admission details most their contacts ranging from personal groundwork information and interests to location. Social networking sites provide various tools to facilitate communication. These include conversation rooms, blogs, private messages, public comments, means of uploading content external to the site and sharing videos and photographs. Social media is therefore drastically changing the way people communicate and form relationships.

Today social media has proven to be ane of the most, if not the well-nigh constructive medium for the dissemination of data to various audiences. The power of this medium is phenomenal and ranges from its ability to overturn governments (e.g., Moldova), to mobilize protests, help with getting support for humanitarian aid, organize political campaigns, organize groups to delay the passing of legislation (every bit in the example with the copyright bill in Canada) to making social media billionaires and millionaires [xvi, 17]. The enabling nature and the structure of the media that social networking offers provide a wide range of opportunities that were nonexistent before technology. Facebook and YouTube marketers and trainers provide two examples. Today people can interact with and larn from people millions of miles away. The global attain of this medium has removed all former pre-defined boundaries including geographical, social and whatsoever other that existed previously. Technological advancements such as Web 2.0 and Spider web iv.0 which provide the framework for collaboration, have given new meaning to life from diverse perspectives: political, institutional and social.

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4. Privacy and social media

Social medial and the information/digital era have "redefined" privacy. In today's Information Engineering—configured societies, where in that location is continuous monitoring, privacy has taken on a new meaning. Technologies such as closed-circuit cameras (CCTV) are prevalent in public spaces or in some individual spaces including our work and dwelling [vii, 18]. Personal computers and devices such as our smart phones enabled with Global Positioning System (GPS), Geo locations and Geo maps connected to these devices make privacy as we know it, a thing of the past. Contempo reports indicate that some of the largest companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook likewise as various government agencies are collecting data without consent and storing it in databases for future apply. Information technology is nearly impossible to say privacy exists in this digital world (@nowthisnews).

The open nature of the social networking sites and the avenues they provide for sharing data in a "public or semi-public" infinite create privacy concerns by their very construct. Information that is inappropriate for some audiences are many times inadvertently made visible to groups other than those intended and tin sometimes event in futurity negative outcomes. One such example is a well-known instance recorded in an article entitled "The Web Means the Terminate of Forgetting" that involved a young adult female who was denied her college license considering of backfire from photographs posted on social media in her private engagement.

Engineering has reduced the gap between professional and personal spaces and oftentimes results in information exposure to the wrong audience [19]. The reduction in the separation of professional person and personal spaces can bear on paradigm management especially in a professional setting resulting in the erosion of traditional professional person image and impression direction. Determining the secondary employ of personal data and those who take access to this information should be the prerogative of the individual or grouping to whom the information belongs. However, engaging in social media activities has removed this command.

Privacy on social networking sites (SNSs) is heavily dependent on the users of these networks because sharing information is the primary way of participating in social communities. Privacy in SNSs is "multifaceted." Users of these platforms are responsible for protecting their information from tertiary-political party data collection and managing their personal profiles. Still, participants are usually more than willing to give personal and more than private information in SNSs than anywhere else on the Internet. This can be attributed to the feeling of community, condolement and family unit that these media provide for the most part. Privacy controls are not the priority of social networking site designers and only a small number of the young adolescent users change the default privacy settings of their accounts [20, 21]. This opens the door for breaches especially among the well-nigh vulnerable user groups, namely young children, teenagers and the elderly. The nature of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and other social media platforms cause users to re-evaluate and often change their personal privacy standards in social club to participate in these social networked communities [13].

While there are tremendous benefits that can be derived from the constructive use of social media at that place are some unavoidable risks that are involved in its use. Much attention should therefore be given to what is shared in these forums. Social platforms such every bit Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are said to exist the most effective media to communicate to Generation Y's (Gen Y's), every bit teens and immature adults are the largest user groups on these platforms [22]. However, according to Bolton et al. [22] Gen Y's use of social media, if left unabated and unmonitored will have long-term implications for privacy and appointment in civic activities as this continuous use is resulting in changes in behavior and social norms too every bit increased levels of cyber-crime.

Today social networks are condign the platform of pick for hackers and other perpetrators of antisocial beliefs. These media offer big volumes of data/information ranging from an private's date of birth, place of residence, identify of work/business, to information about family and other personal activities. In many cases users unintentionally disclose information that can exist both dangerous and inappropriate. Information regarding activities on social media can have far reaching negative implications for one'south future. A few examples of situations which tin, and take been affected are employment, visa acquisition, and college acceptance. Indiscriminate participation has likewise resulted in situations such identity theft and bank fraud just to list a few. Protecting privacy in today's networked guild can be a great challenge. The digital revolution has indeed distorted our views of privacy, however, there should be clear distinctions betwixt what should be seen by the full general public and what should be limited to a selected grouping. One school of thought is that the just mode to have privacy today is not to share information in these networked communities. Yet, achieving privacy and control over information flows and disclosure in networked communities is an ongoing process in an environment where contexts change speedily and are sometimes blurred. This requires intentional construction of systems that are designed to mitigate privacy bug [13].

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5. Ethics and social media

Ethics tin be loosely defined as "the right thing to do" or it can exist described as the moral philosophy of an private or grouping and normally reflects what the individual or group views every bit adept or bad. It is how they classify particular situations by categorizing them as right or wrong. Ideals can also be used to refer to any classification or philosophy of moral values or principles that guides the actions of an individual or group [23]. Upstanding values are intended to be guiding principles that if followed, could yield harmonious results and relationships. They seek to give answers to questions such as "How should I exist living? How do I achieve the things that are deemed important such as knowledge and happiness or the conquering of attractive things?" If 1 chooses happiness, the next question that needs to be answered is "Whose happiness should it be; my own happiness or the happiness of others?" In the domain of social media, some of the ethical questions that must be contemplated and ultimately answered are [24]:

• Can this mail be regarded as oversharing?

• Has the data in this post been distorted in anyway?

• What impact will this mail have on others?

As previously mentioned, users within the ages eight–15 stand for i of the largest social media user groups. These immature persons within the eight–15 historic period range are still learning how to interact with the people effectually them and are deciding on the moral values that they will embrace. These moral values will assist to dictate how they will collaborate with the world around them. The ethical values that guide our interactions are usually formulated from some moral principle taught to u.s.a. by someone or a group of individuals including parents, guardians, religious groups, and teachers merely to name a few. Many of the Gen Y's/"Digital Babies" are "newbies" yet are required to determine for themselves the level of responsibility they will display when using the varying social media platforms. This includes because the impact a post will have on their lives and/or the lives of other persons. They must besides empathise that when they join a social media network, they are joining a community in which certain beliefs must be exhibited. Such responsibility requires a much greater level of maturity than can exist expected from them at that age.

It is not uncommon for individuals to post even the smallest details of their lives from the moment they wake upward to when they get to bed. They will openly share their location, what they eat at every repast or details nearly activities typically considered private and personal. They will too share likes and dislikes, thoughts and emotional states and for the almost office this has get an accepted norm. Often times however, these shares do not merely contain information most the person sharing but information about others too. Many times, these details are shared on several social media platforms equally individuals attempt to ensure that all persons within their social circle are kept updated on their activities. With this openness of sharing risks and challenges arise that are often not considered but can have serious impacts. The speed and scale with which social media creates information and makes information technology available—almost instantaneously—on a global scale, added to the fact that once something is posted there is really no way of truly removing it, should prompt individuals to call up of the possible impact a post can have. Unfortunately, generally, posts are made without whatever thought of the far-reaching touch on they can have on the lives of the person posting or others that may exist implicated by the post.

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6. Why exercise people share?

According to Berger and Milkman [25] in that location are five (five) chief reasons why users are compelled to share content online, whether information technology is every detail or what they deem every bit highlights of their lives. These are:

• cause related

• personal connexion to content

• to feel more involved in the world

• to ascertain who they are

• to inform and entertain

People generally share because they believe that what they are sharing is important. It is hoped that the shared content will be deemed of import to others which will ultimately result in more than shares, likes and followers.

Figure 1 below sums up the findings of Berger and Milkman [25] which shows that the principal reason people feel the need to share content on the varying social media platform is that the content relates to what is deemed as worthy crusade. 84% of respondents highlighted this equally the chief motivation for sharing. Seventy-viii percentage said that they share because they feel a personal connection to the content while 69 and 68%, respectively said the content either made them experience more than involved with the globe or helped them to define who they were. Xl-9 percent share because of the entertainment or information value of the content. A more in depth look at each reason for sharing follows.

Figure 1.

Why people share source: Global Social Media Research. thesocialmediahat.com [26].

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7. Content related to a cause

Social media has provided a platform for people to share their thoughts and express concerns with others for what they regard equally a worthy cause. Crusade related posts are dependent on the interest of the individual. Some persons might share posts related to causes and issues happening in society. In ane example, the parents of a baby with an aggressive form of leukemia, who having been told that their child had only 3 months to live unless a suitable donor for a blood stem jail cell transplant could exist found, made an entreatment on social media. The appeal was quickly shared and a suitable donor was soon constitute. While that was for a skilful cause, many view social media merely as platforms for freedom of oral communication considering anyone can post any content one creates. People retrieve the expression of their thoughts on social media regarding any topic is permissible. The problem with this is that the content may non be accepted by police force or it could violate the rights of someone thus giving ascent to upstanding questions.

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eight. Content with a personal connection

When social media users experience a personal connection to their content, they are more than inclined to share the content within their social circles. This is truthful of data regarding family and personal activities. Content created by users also invokes a deep feeling of connection as information technology allows the users to tell their stories and information technology is natural to desire the world or at least friends to know of the achievement. This natural need to share content is not new as humans have been doing this in some form or the other, starting with oral history to the media of the day; social media. Sharing the self-created content gives the user the opportunity of satisfying some fundamental needs of humans to be heard, to matter, to be understood and emancipated. The problem with this however is that in an attempt to appease the primal needs, borders are crossed considering the content may not be sharable (can this content be shared inside the share network?), information technology may not be share-worthy (who is the audience that would appreciate this content?) or it may exist out of context (does the content fit the state of affairs?).

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9. Content that makes them feel more involved in the world

Ane of the driving factors that pushes users to share content is the demand to feel more in tune with the world around them. This desire is many times fueled by jealousy. Many social media users are jealous when their friends' content gets more than attention than their own and so in that location is a lot of pressure to maintain i'due south persona in social circles, even when the information is unrealistic, as long every bit it gets every bit much attention equally possible. Everything has to be perfect. In the case of a photo, for example, in that location is lighting, photographic camera angle and background to consider. This need for perfection puts a tremendous amount of pressure on individuals to ensure that posted content is "liked" past friends. They often give very little thought to the amount of their friend'south work that may accept gone on backside the scenes to achieve that perfect social mail service.

Social media platforms take provided anybody with a forum to express views, but, as a whole, conversations are more polarized, tribal and hostile. With Facebook for instance, there has been a huge uptick in fake news, altered images, dangerous wellness claims and cures, and the proliferation of anti-scientific discipline information. This is very sad and disturbing considering people are also willing to share and to believe without doing their due diligence and fact-checking start.

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x. Content that defines who they are

Establishing one's individuality in society tin be challenging for some persons because not everyone wants to fit in. Some individuals will do all they tin to stand out and be noticed. Social media provides the artery for exposure and many individuals will seek to leverage the media to stand up out of the crowd and non just be a fish in the school. Today many young people are currently being brought up in a culture that defines people by their presence on social media where in previous generations, persons were taught to define themselves by their career choices. These lessons would offset from childhood by asking children what they wanted to exist when they grew upward and so rewarding them based on the answers they give [27]. In today'south digital era, withal, social media postings and the number of "likes" or "dislikes" they attract, indicate what is appealing to others. Therefore, post that are similar to those that receive a large number of likes but which are largely unrealistic are normally made for self-gratification.

xi. Content that informs and entertains

The conquering of knowledge and skills is a vital part of man survival and social media has fabricated this process much easier. It is not uncommon to hear persons realizing that they need a item cognition prepare that they do not possess say "I need to lean to practice this. I'll just YouTube it." Learning and adapting to modify in as short as possible time is vital in today's guild and social media coupled with the Cyberspace put information technology all at the finger tips. Entertainment has the power to bring people together and is a good style for people to bond. It provides a diversion from the demands of life and fills leisure time with amusement. Social media is an outlet for fun, pleasurable and enjoyable activities that are so vital to homo survival [28]. It is now common identify to see persons watching a video, viewing images and reading text that is amusing on whatever of the available social media platforms. Quite frequently these videos, images and texts can exist both informative and entertaining, but there can be problems however every bit at times they can cross ethical lines that can atomic number 82 to conflict.

12. Ethical challenges with social media use

The use of modern-twenty-four hour period engineering science has brought several benefits. Social media is no different and chief amid its benefit is the ability to stay connected easily and quickly likewise as build relationships with people with like interests. Equally with all technology, there are several challenges that tin make the utilize of social media off putting and unpleasant. Some of these challenges appear to be pocket-size but they can accept far reaching effects into the lives of the users of social media and it is therefore advised that intendance be taken to minimize the challenges associated with the use of social media [29].

A major challenge with the utilize of social media is oversharing because when persons share on social media, they tend to share as much equally is possible which is often times too much [24]. When persons are out and about doing exciting things, it is natural to want to share this with the globe as many users will mail a few times a 24-hour interval when they head to lunch, visit a museum, exit to dinner or other places of interest [xxx]. While this all seems relatively harmless, by using location-based services which pinpoint users with surprising accuracy and in real fourth dimension, users identify themselves in danger of laying out a pattern of movement that tin exist easily traced. While this seems more than similar a security or privacy issue information technology stems from an upstanding dilemma—"Am I sharing besides much?" Oversharing can also lead to damage of user's reputation especially if the intent is to leverage the platform for business [24]. Photos of drunken beliefs, drug employ, partying or other inappropriate content can change how y'all are viewed past others.

Another ethical challenge users of social media often come across is that they have no manner of authenticating content before sharing, which becomes problematic when the content paints people or establishments negatively. Oftentimes times content is shared with them past friends, family unit and colleagues. The unauthenticated content is so reshared without any thought just sometimes this content may accept been maliciously altered then the user unknowingly participates in maligning others. Even if the content is not contradistinct the fact that the content paints someone or something in a bad light should ship off alarm bells equally to whether or not it is right to share the content which is the underlying principle of ethical behavior.

thirteen. Alien views

Some of the challenges experienced by social media posts are a result of a lack of understanding and sometimes a lack of respect for the varying ethical and moral standpoints of the people involved. We have established that it is typical for persons to post to social media sites without whatsoever thought every bit to how it can affect other persons, but many times these posts are a crusade of conflict because of a departure of stance that may exist and the result the post may accept. Each individual volition have his or her own ethical values and if they differ then this tin can result in conflict [31]. When an executive of a British visitor fabricated an Instagram post with some racial connotations before boarding a airplane to South Africa it started a frenzy that resulted in the executive's immediate dismissal. Although the executive said information technology was a joke and there was no prejudice intended, this difference in views equally to the implications of the post, resulted in an out of piece of work executive and a company scrambling to maintain its public image.

14. Impact on personal evolution

In this historic period of sharing, many young persons spend a vast amount of fourth dimension on social media checking the activities of their "friends" as well every bit posting on their own activities so their "friends" are aware of what they are up to. Apart from interfering with their academic progress, time spent on these posts at tin can have long term repercussions. An instance is provided by a educatee of a prominent university who posted pictures of herself having a practiced fourth dimension at parties while in schoolhouse. She was denied employment because of some of her social media posts. While the ethical challenge hither is the question of the employee's correct to privacy and whether the individual's social media profile should bear upon their ability to fulfill their responsibilities as an employee, the impact on the individual'due south long term personal growth is clear.

fifteen. Conclusion

In today's information age, one's digital footprint can make or intermission someone; it tin be the deciding factor on whether or non one achieves one's life-long ambitions. Unethical beliefs and interactions on social media can have far reaching implications both professionally and socially. Posting on the Internet means the "end of forgetting," therefore, responsible use of this medium is critical. The unethical use of social media has implications for privacy and tin result in security breaches both physically and most. The use of social media can also result in the loss of privacy as many users are required to provide information that they would not divulge otherwise. Social media employ can reveal information that tin consequence in privacy breaches if non managed properly by users. Therefore, educating users of the risks and dangers of the exposure of sensitive information in this space, and encouraging vigilance in the protection of individual privacy on these platforms is paramount. This could result in the reduction of unethical and irresponsible use of these media and facilitate a more secure social surroundings. The utilize of social media should exist governed past moral and ethical principles that tin exist applied universally and result in harmonious relationships regardless of race, culture, religious persuasion and social status.

Assay of the literature and the findings of this research suggest achieving acceptable levels of privacy is very hard in a networked arrangement and will require much endeavor on the part of individuals. The largest user groups of social media are unaware of the processes that are required to reduce the level of vulnerability of their personal information. Therefore, educating users of the gamble of participating in social media is the social responsibility of these social network platforms. Adapting universally ethical behaviors can mitigate the ascent in the number of privacy breaches in the social networking space. This recommendation coincides with philosopher Immanuel Kant's exclamation that, the Biblical principle which states "Practice unto others equally y'all have them exercise unto yous" tin can be applied universally and should guide human being interactions [5]. This principle, if adhered to by users of social media and owners of these platforms could raise the awareness of unsuspecting users, reduce unethical interactions and undesirable incidents that could negatively bear on privacy, and by extension security in this domain.

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Written By

Nadine Barrett-Maitland and Jenice Lynch

Submitted: September 11th, 2019 Reviewed: December 19th, 2019 Published: February 5th, 2020

© 2020 The Writer(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution iii.0 License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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