It’s doubtful that any high school student has 1,500 true friends.
It’s doubtful that any JC student knows 1,500 actual people.
It’s doubtful that those students with 1,500 Facebook friends actually know who their “friends” are.
On Feb. 1, the Heather Williams controversy swept the JC Facebook community, and despite false accusations that the administration created the account, 119 students friended Williams, an alleged transfer into the class of 2012. This leads to an important question: do you know your Facebook “friends”?
The answer is mostly likely “no.”
All Facebook users, especially high school students, need to think before accepting friend requests and giving strangers complete access to their personal information. Heather Williams could have been anyone. All of the tools that “The Patriot” used are available online, making the creation of Heather Williams eerily simple.
Still, 119 people gave “her” access to their profiles. While “The Patriot” neither initiated contact nor viewed Facebook profiles, the open access to student accounts was stunning.
The reality is that a “Facebook” friend has serious privileges – the ability to search through photos, phone numbers, and in the case of those users “checking-in,” a person’s current location. What’s frightening is that students don’t seem to care about or notice these privileges. It’s only common sense that users should only grant those privileges to real, trustworthy “friends.”
The mere passing by in the halls should not merit someone access to the life scrapbook that Facebook has become.
However, in the world of Facebook, “friending” has become a competition of sorts, but the truth is that the number of friends has nothing to do with anyone’s “likability.”
A Facebook profile should be a reflection of a person’s true self, a person’s true friends and a person’s true life. It shouldn’t be a hideaway for a second life.
When students began accepting William’s request, the JC community filled with an overwhelming sense of paranoia as students believed that the administration was viewing students’ profiles. This paranoia only highlights the lack of control that students have when it comes to their own profile and online privacy.
Safety on Facebook goes beyond privacy settings. A single student’s decision could have repercussions for the whole community. Whether inviting an unknown person into the JC network or friending a person simply due to mutual friends, decisions matter online.
It appears that “Facebook” is the future. Every site now features “Like” buttons, and users can “check in” anywhere in the world. In this world of social media, privacy will only become an increasingly difficult, sensitive, and critical topic.
You can start the change now. Scroll through your Facebook “friends,” and keep only those people you actually know.
It’s your profile. Protect it.
– Patriot Staff