Social media and the changing concept of privacy

The increased use of social media such as blogs, ugc and social networking over the past 5 years have created changes in people's perceptions of what is private and public information. Increasingly online public spaces are used for personal media and personal opinions and musings.

When I told a friend recently that I had 'reworked' my blog and taken out all the more private references to children and 'personal' issues like being a mum and work/life balance (or the impossibility of such as thing) she said she thought I should keep these posts in. I think like a lot of people my first attempt at blogging was fairly autobiographical in some ways but after a period of time I decided I didn't really want too much of my personal information in the public sphere. I decided to give my blog a more 'professional' focus and take out the more personal stuff.

However I'm of a different generation to the now called 'digital natives' who have grown up with instant messaging, chat and social networks. This generation seems to have a more open view of what details of their private lives they are willing to share publicly, although increasingly they are becoming more savvy as to how to protect their privacy as well. Dana Boyd talks about these spaces being 'mediated public' spaces and explores the complexity for teens in negotiating these new public spaces in a paper 'Social Network Sites; Public, Private or What' While there has been a lot of media hype about the danger of these spaces for young people, Dana Boyd encourages educators to learn about these spaces and give young people practicle knowledge of how to use them.

The possible conflict between private opinion and professional practice are reflected in the BBC recently published guidelines for employees who keep blogs and use social networks. Which offer employees advice such as;

staff members who want to start blogging, and wish to say that they work for the BBC should discuss any potential conflicts of interest with their line manager.

If a blog makes it clear that the author works for the BBC, it should include a simple and visible disclaimer such as “these are my personal views and not those of the BBC”.

The advice to managers in the guidelines say

Managers should bear in mind concerns about impartiality, confidentiality, conflicts of interest or commercial sensitivity. In some cases individuals may be dealing with matters which are so sensitive that rules may have to be set on what they can and cannot talk about on their personal blog.

This seems to indicate that employees can blog about their work and opinions about the BBC as long as they state they are personal views and are within the editorial guidelines. If a person does not identify themselves as an employee or discuss the BBC the guidelines don't apply. Still the lines are fairly blurred.

The BBC has in many ways been a leader in publishing blogs that give an insight into the developments, editorial processes and policy decisions through the Editors blog and Internet blog. In this way the inside workings and people of a large organisation can communicate directly with audiences and allow comments and sometimes a dialogue to take place. Although as Alfred Hermida says in his paper 'The BBC goes blogging: Is Aunty finally listening'. The time and resouces to engage in meaningful dialogue on these blogs is not always available.