Social networking technology (including Facebook) may seem to offer a lot of fun and a unique ways to connect and share information with others, but there is a dark side that has costs that could outweigh the potential benefits. American workforce productivity and user privacy have both become challenged with the infiltration of Facebook across the U.S.; depending on your perspective that might be a good thing, or that might be a bad thing.
Productivity
Facebook users continue to grow and so does the amount of time that these users spend interacting and networking. In February of 2012, Peter Cohan, a contributing author for Forbes.com, (Forbes: 2/2012) estimated that Facebook could be negatively impacting America’s working output by nearly 10%, which he equated to nearly $1.4 Trillion in U.S. GDP. That’s a significant number! When broken down, it really equates to an average use of 68 minutes/day, used each day across a 30-day month. An average 5-day work week would lose 5.6 hours to Facebook use.
Considering that Facebook is accessible through our smartphones, tablets and any internet-connected computer, it’s not difficult to tally 68 minutes of Facebook time each day. The scary part? The average use is growing, exponentially. In the same aforementioned Forbes article, Cohan cites a Nucleus Research study that showed Facebook users increased their average use time by 626% from 2009 to 2012. In a nutshell, Facebook is quickly becoming a time-sucking habit, sweeping across the nation.
However, the truth of the matter is; human beings are social creatures and therefore are dedicated to creating and participating in social networking in order to express and share their ideas. With the rise of the internet people began merely satisfying this natural urge for online communities through internet forums. In all actuality, the very same company (Forbes) that is used to argue, that Facebook and other outlets of social media are contributing to the downfall of society, is the very same company that uses Facebook to captivate and maintain successful business people in the world, in addition, attempt to recruit add-ons.
Indeed, the previous statistics appear to be big numbers and percentage signs that might throw the reader off the rocker, but it should also be noted that Mr. Nathan Forbes and Mr. Michele Jacobs, both Managing Partners and Corporate Director of Marketing Forbes have benefited from social networking when they exceeded over 738K site hits since February of 2012.
Privacy
As with any social networking site, the use of Facebook carries concerns and risks around privacy. And privacy is a two-fold concern: 1) privacy of information and photos that are shared online – protecting those from wandering or unauthorized eyes, and 2) that Facebook has too much access to private (or sensitive) information; Facebook’s ability to monitor, mine and sell specific consumer data is significant.
Back in March of 2013, Facebook launched a new Facebook interactive platform named “Home” which became integrated into the entire smartphone device. This erupted concerns that Facebook would have more access to the user’s device and all other interactions that the device is used for: texts, calls, website visits, etc. The Home platform has much higher security concerns than the traditional Facebook App, since Home is “always on” and is tracking all of the smartphone interactions. With traditional Facebook, tracking ability is turned on/off simply based on when the user is logged in/out. Regardless of your stance on privacy, if you use Facebook, you have shared information that is at risk. In the digital age, any interaction and/or information is stored on a server and will always be accessible.
Through a different perspective, Facebook has maintained a valuable role in contributing to society. Though one may argue that its apps such as the “Home” app created in 2013 could violate public privacy, it’s more important to be safe than to be sorry. Reading the article written by EMS1 staff, they write: “New Facebook Apps help friends and family connect through Facebook when major catastrophic emergencies happen such as hurricanes and earthquakes” (EMSI, 2012).
Secondly, reading Police Embrace Social Media As a Crime Fighting Tool authored by Heather Kelly in fall of 2012 wrote a piece about a gang member named Melven Colon of New York who posted public photos of weapons and narcotic-related crimes and now have been taken into custody by the NYPD on charges of murder. Colon was turned in by one of his “Friends” on Facebook that agreed to let the police access his “private” information (Kelly, 2012). So the question now is; how can Facebook save your life either financially, economically or physically? Or better yet, how has Facebook changed your life and influenced others? A world without the creation of Facebook is a world full of chaos and anarchy.
Clearly, these two topics and how they relate to Facebook introduce a wide range of perspectives. Is Facebook increasing productivity by way of increasing networking activity, or is it simply draining valuable time away from primary work functions? With regards to privacy, is Facebook too risky for users to trust information shared, or can it be trusted and is this simply the next step in the evolution of privacy in a Facebook-driven world? Without stronger imperial data to suggest otherwise, Facebook seem destined to continue to steal away valuable productivity and to slowly leach away user privacy, one policy and one picture at a time.
REFERENCES:
Cohan, P. (2012, February 8). Retrieved from www.Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2012/02/08/is-facebook-slicing-1-4-trillion-out-of-u-s-gdp/2/
EMSI. (2012, June 5). EMSI . Retrieved from New Facebook Apps Support Personal Preparedness for Emergencies : http://www.ems1.com/ems-products/technology/articles/1297175-New-Facebook-apps-support-personal-preparedness-for-emergencies/
Kelly, H. (2012, August 30). CNN.com. Retrieved from Police Embrace Social Media As A Crime Fighting Tool : http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/30/tech/social-media/fighting-crime-social-media/
Social Baker . (2013). Retrieved from The Most Interesting Soical Networks : http://www.socialbakers.com/resource-center/808-article-the-20-most-interesting-social-networks
13 comments:
The colors used for text and back ground are not user friendly to view, very hard to read. Try to read but stop, just hard to view.
I liked the post because I can see at the office as you walk down the hall, heads are tilted downward as people look at their phones, etc. Granted, everyone has a chance to take a break, etc. But your statistics from the Forbes article are alarming just how much productivity is affected. One thing I'd recommend is linking to that article (in a new window) or any other external references to link to them in a blog. If the reader wants to continue reading, they can view it and still have your page up. Plenty of references support your post and good current information doesn't make the post dated. I can't believe how society has gone from Privacy hoarding to open book. I saw a picture (on Facebook) that stated "Of course we drank underage, we just didn't take pictures of us doing it to incriminate us later in life." Your post kept my attention throughout the article. - Mike Leary
Online privacy is an important topic for me. I often discuss with my wife and daughters how constantly posting their locations to social media helps would be criminals to establish patterns of behavior and makes them easy targets. The information gathered by these sites is not the only privacy concern people should have with social media.
Great article! I had a face book account for about 2 years. I recently deleted my account because of the privacy concerns. In my opinion there is way too much personal information that can be viewed. Although it is the person's responsibility to make certain things private, we have to remember that there are minors who have face book pages.
Sammy Farag
I agree with this article, personally I believe that a Smartphone’s main function is “to link individuals, communities, and our world” enough “to create a collective conscience”. The smartphone is able to accomplish this function by being able to utilize the internet and according to poyntr.org, 64% of the internet is used for social media networking sites. Thanks to its introduction we have no problems in keeping in touch with family and friends across the world. We no longer have to wonder or wait to hear from a loved one, it’s just a matter of sending a voicemail or message reassuring that everything is fine. Research has indicated that through social networking, family members are able to form a connection to their granddaughter, sister, father, etc who live far away, an opportunity that gives them a chance to get to know one another (Technology). As a result, the smartphone becomes the platform for social media networking sites.
Great suggestions and feedback; Thank you!! Some HTML edits would improve the readability (break up the paragraphs, indent) - I agree with that feedback!
-Luke
People tend to be becoming more and more lax in guarding their personal information online, especially in Facebook. I believe that it's going to take one big "security breech event" to foster awareness for this problem and bring about real change and stringent regulations regarding how web companies are managing their customer's information.
This is a great article covering highly debated information especially in regards to the "downfall" of productivity. I would like to know the pre-Facebook figures on wasted time at work. Has Facebook replaced the water cooler? Are we wasting as much time as before, yet now we can measure this time better by using Facebook usage as a gauge?
Dave
This is a great article. Facebook has clearly consumed a large portion of the population that has access to computers and the internet while at work. I would agree that Facebook has cut down on productivity in the workplace and I might even argue that time spent on Facebook is in addition to the other activities that most people do at work to "kill time". As far as privacy in social media, I think people really need to focus on the content they are sharing and if it is really something that they want share, they need to realize that essentially anyone has the possibility of seeing it. Social media phenomenal development but it seems as if it is taking over a growing percentage of lives and taking the place of actually going out and being social.
Great article. I didn't find it surprising that we spend so much time on Facebook. Just today, I walked into an auto shop for an oil change, and the minute each person was waiting in line sat down to wait for their car, they almost all clicked on the Facebook icon on their phones and continued to scroll. Very interesting how much we depend on this site for something as shallow.
I have a Facebook account, but I am hardly ever on there. This article actually sheds light on something I see all the time at my job. I have colleagues who spend half of their day on Facebook- either on their phones or because there is no Firewall for the site on our computers, have a browser open with their Facebook page up all day long. It's interesting to see the numbers surrounding users. It doesn't surprise me, but to actually see the statistics, is an eye-opener. This was a good read.
Facebook is great for posting pictures and updating what is happening in your life to friends and family that may live far away or even close friends that you don't see all the time. However, if privacy is a major issue for the user, it might not be the best platform!
Laurie Reinhard
Definitely an eye-opener. I see multiple people clicking and swiping away on Facebook every day at work. Our company knew this would be an issue and put up firewalls and site blockers on all of our computers to prevent Facebook from being used at work. That only stopped it from being accessed on company computers… Now what I get to see throughout the day is people sitting in chairs or walking down hallways, face down, glued to their smartphones. It might not always be Facebook, but it is quite often.
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