Per the instructions for this assignment, I set up a new Facebook account. I decided to set my security preferences to “friends” rather than to “public” because I was too nervous to set my profile to where everyone could see it, as I felt that there might be people out there looking to scam others or take advantage of others. I decided to set my security to “friends” because I figured that I would be using Facebook to keep track of my friends and some family members. I did find it interesting to create my profile as a result of writing this assignment, and I added some information on my interests and education.[[insert screen shot of interests and education here]]

Per the assignment, I requested to add a new friend – someone I knew from grade school. I have not yet received a response back. I also posted on the walls of two of the friends that I already had on Facebook. I also “liked” a comment made by another friend after reading their newsfeed.
[[insert screen shots of two posts to friends’ walls here]]
[[insert screen shot of “like” here]]

Additionally, I chatted with a friend through the chat function.
[[insert screen shot of chat with friend here]]

Here is a photo album I manage in Facebook:
[[insert screen shot of photo album here]]

Because this assignment requested that I configure and customize at least five privacy settings in Facebook, I made the following choices for my account: I went to the Privacy Shortcuts and completed a privacy checkup. This told me that I could change my settings for who sees my posts on my News Feed. I left this at “Friends.” Next, I went to the section called “See More Settings” and reviewed how I would allow others to tag me in photos. Again, I chose “friends.” I also set up the “Who Can Contact Me” section to ‘friends,” and finally, I set the “Who Can Look Me Up” section to “friends” as well.
[[insert screen shots from settings section here]]

I do have some concerns with security regarding the use of social media. First, for minors, there is always a chance that there are predators out there who will scan profiles looking for vulnerable children to exploit. Because this isn’t personally an issue for me, I’m not so much worried about myself as I am about younger children. I believe that parents should not allow children to use social media until a child has proven that he or she is mature enough to do so, and then the use of social media needs to be closely supervised and monitored by the parents. The parents should also be the ones making the choices regarding the security settings.

An additional security concern with social media I have is that there are very easy ways for others to access your account. Simply leaving your account open on your laptop, iPad, or mobile device allows others the access they need to get to your account and cause trouble by posting things they should not or even accessing your settings information. Hackers can also easily access your social media accounts. Beyond that, however, is the reality that bullying and harassment can be conducted via social media much easier than it can be accomplished face-to-face. Hiding behind a computer screen with a fake name, there are those who will intentionally cause grief to some individuals. Those individuals often have no recourse and no way to take a stand against the perpetrator. Of course, there are also many positives to using social media. If used as intended and with care, it is a great mechanism for staying in contact with friends and family.