Real or Fake

The social network I am connected to is Flickr, and when I signed up the only information

I had to supply to get started was my name, my email address and password, unlike Face book

where you have to give, your information as before, as well as things like what kind of music you

like, your birth date, your religion just to name a few.

According to ( McNeil 2012), Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerburg thinks that there is a clear difference between someone's authentic and fake identity, and that people are authentically themselves on face book, but who can know what's authentic and what's not. On my social network,

flickr, you could give a fake name if you wanted, but, I think there is really no need to. You are only uploading photographs and flickr are not asking for personal information, other than your name, email address and password. Facebook asks for more information all the time and it's a worry as to why all that kind of information is needed.

The trouble in supplying all your personal information to a social network, or anyone for that matter, is it's left open to abuse by cyber criminals, according to (Lewis, 2017) can steel your personal information and use it for financial gain. Zuckerburg said it's necessary for certain kinds of performance of self,and in which identity is more complicated. Facebook uses personal information to increase their market flow (Kuttainen, 2017). My social network doesn't have the same problem because they only put photographs on their site to further the skills of photographers and to critique their photos. It is where they can put their photos for friends and family to enjoy them.

Fig 1: Fake or Real (retrieved from photobucket.com.)

In a article called Facebook Fakes, “The Dark side of Social Networks” (Prince, B. 2012),

“The problem is that most Facebook profiles are unverified,” according Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. That's not just a problem on (Facebook), it's an issue for other social networks too. Even if you do link up with a genuine profile, you can't always be sure that it's a real person talking to you as their account could have been compromised. I don't think Zuckerburg is right because there is so much wrong with Facebook and the way it is run. I think there should be more government control over social networks. McNeil has some good points he bought up about Facebook and its founder.

Fake or Real? Colossus the baby kitten [Image] Retrieved from http://photobucket.com/images/fake%20or%20real?page=2

Kuttainen, V (2017). BA1002: “Virtual self narratives: slide 9”, [Powerpoint slides] Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-2859204-dt-content-rid-5847203_1/xid-5847203_1

Lewis, K. (2017). How social media networks facilitate identity theft and fraud. Entrepeneurs Organisation. Retrieved from https://www.eonetwork.org/octane-magazine/special-features/social-m

Prince, B. (2012). Facebook fakes: The dark side of social networking. Retrieved from http://www.securityweek.com/facebook-fakes-dark-side-social-networking