Week 12. I solemnly swear to tell the (whole) truth?

I recently met with a few postgrad friends studying multimedia and we enveloped in to quite a heated discussion about none other then Facebook. One friend (shall be called 'X') was a teacher in the subject he had recently finished and had posted a status regarding how little teaching he was doing during exam time, yet how good the pay still was. Apparently his elder uncle had seen the post and complained about how unprofessional this post was, and in some case how it were possible to somehow be discovered by the Dean of his institution and cause him much trouble. Now X was very much sure with his knowledge that there was no way this could have been possible as there was no linkage with any of his peers at the University therefore no way of tracking down his profile or update. His internet-savvy uncle believed otherwise and claimed he had indeed fired employees in the past when he accidently came across their profiles and found complaints and mockery about their jobs. X was too sure all his privacy settings were in place, and only by choice could people know exactly what he chose to let them know.

Facebook policy (http://www.facebook.com/policy.php) states clearly that you can choose whom has access to the information you post. You are as responsible for it as you are for the details of your life. The policy also clearly outlines what kind of information they do require of you when you first join; compulsory details such as date of birth and gender which you can then choose to display. Facebook has indeed become a network of choice. So how then do you explain why many of it's users still abuse the nature of privacy and disclosing of personal actions and information you wouldn't share in general?

I first look at the listing of general information: music, likes, books, religion, political views. You may initially not see the big deal, but users lend detailed descriptions under these headings, whether honest or honest, they are selling themselves to whom they choose. There is absolutely no obligation to fill these boxes in. There is nothing left to the imagination this way, nothing to learn. So why are people so descriptive and committed to their self-descriptions? Is it if they are meeting new people there is an element of creating something interesting, to explain exactly what kind of person you are? Or is it reassuring your friends that you stand for all things you outline? There are privacy settings, yes, but people aren't maintaining any personal privacy, perhaps because it is simply not a big deal to display religious beliefs, to give away names of all family members, to share the name of a partner, to tell people that your favorite car is a BMW. Why the need to disclose this information if the assumption is that the people connected to your Facebook are your friends anyway?

It is clear to me that people genuinely trust those included in their Facebook lives. Iphone apps now post to Facebook the exact location of where you are at any given time - granted that you allow it to. If you've forgotten who's on your 'friends' list you may just want to think twice posting that you are 'in bed' and disclose your address; because we were so interested in the first place.