Life for Sale: Is Facebook compromising our privacy?

The vast majority of people nowadays are registered on the site Facebook, it has at least 500 million users and has become a part of most peoples daily routines. Everybody uses it: we check up on other people through it, message people through it, play games, make groups and pages and generally stay connected. Most people think this is a great thing, not only is it the cheapest way to keep in touch (minus the cost of the internet connection) but it also a multi-purpose communication tool, better than any mobile phone. Sounds fantastic yes?

But what about the darker side of Facebook? If you try to read the privacy statement on the terms and conditions when signing up to Facebook, it will detail anything concerning what other people may do with your information but nothing to with what Facebook themselves will do, which strikes me as peculiar. So does this mean Facebook is hiding something? Every piece of information you type, every photo you upload, every video you post: It is no longer your words, your photos, your videos, they now belong to the Facebook.  

It's a scary thought, knowing that a website you thought you could trust and put into part of your routine owns all of the thing you tell it. But really, we shouldn't be so surprised. We are giving Facebook this information for free, They give us a way to communicate and keep in touch and have fun and in exchange they take our information, compile it and process it. Why? Advertising. Facebook generates most of it's revenue from advertising and by using your information, the can tailor the adverts on your Facebook page top be of your taste, according to what you tell them. After all, it is a business, They need to generate capital somehow.

The information you have given to Facebook can be used by third parties too. Your information can be used as evidence in a court of law and is held for at least 7 years. Even if you post it and then delete it, it's still in their records and if it details anything bad, they will find you. Employers now also use Facebook to gain a profile of you, as well as judging from your CV (unless, ironically, your privacy settings don't allow it). With this in mind, Do you think this invades your personal privacy?

Honestly, no it does not. Facebook is a public website, ANYBODY can view your profile and you knowingly sign up to this place where information of your choosing can be broadcast anywhere. If you are foolish enough to post something that could land you in court or without a job or worse, then it is entirely your own fault. I personally do not fell like Facebook is invading our privacy as technically, we signed for them to do so. However, I do believe that perhaps Facebook could have been much clearer with their privacy policy about using your information for advertisement. All it takes is a little research and common sense sometimes to avoid invasion of privacy it would seem.

"Would you like to live in a world without advertising?"

Imagine a world where every product you bought was in a white, plain box. The product name and other texts are printed on the box in a bland, black font and there is nothing to identify it colour wise. You walk out of the shop and every billboard, every item clothing, shop front e.t.c. is black and white. Nothing is identifiable. Welcome to the world without advertising.

Advertising and branding come hand in hand. If you don't have a brand to advertise then there is no point making an advert. So what defines a brand? A brand can be identified by any colour, name or graphic that you can identify as a product, for example is you see a can that is turquoise blue and says Heinz on the front, you can guarantee that it is a can of beans. Brands give us something to distinguish between product and is one of the main tools that advertising uses to promote brand names and products.

So without brands there would be no point in advertising anything? To answer this question you will need to look at the goal of advertising. Advertising is a tool used by competitors in business to promote their product as being better than their competitors product, therefore ushering the consumer to purchase a product made by the company with the more convincing advert. People are going to want to buy a product more if it is being sold to them as something that will completely change their life, and if it fails to do that, then the brand that 'lost the fight' in getting the consumer to buy will ultimately do financially worse and possibly go bust if they were to suffer more 'defeats'.

If you didn't have the brand, there would be nothing to compete against within that certain market as there would be no difference. For example, if Heinz were to scrap the look of the can label, get rid of their name and change the flavour to a more bland flavour along with every other company that made beans, what would be the point in advertising a product? it would all be essentially the same thing that you were being, with no distinguishable features to sell to a consumer.

Okay, so now imagine a world without advertising, there would be no need for branding any more, as even that is advertising in itself so it would not exist in a world without advertising. Everything would very bland as I described at the start of this entry. Everything would be generic.

In a way, I think it would be a refreshing change from the constant media barrage and peer pressure of advertising as it would probably make everyone feel less stressed and pressured, the world would calm down a bit. However, in terms of economy, advertising is big business and keep products flowing, generating capital for the big companies that sell us our beans. Also, and most importantly in my opinion, it would be a bland and boring world, with no variety and no room for personal taste and creativity, which is within human nature to crave after. Besides, variety is the spice of life right?