Question

You have been invited to speak to a group of parents during the Family Day of Cemerlang High School on the following topic:

Social media has become increasingly popular amongst teenagers. What risks do sharing personal information on social media websites have and how can we combat them?

Write the speech that you will be making to the parents. Provide two (2) main risks that sharing personal information on social media have and two (2) ways we can combat them. (write a speech of about 600-700 words)

Answer 1

Social media refers to any digital platform, system, website or app that enables people to create and share content, and connect with each other.

Social media one of the most trending and growing craze among the youth is raising serious questions. But it is always said that All glitter are not gold.

There are numerous cases when our innocent children becomes victims of the various kinds of threats in the absence of any awareness and ability to combat it. The boys and girls or any member of a society who is on social media and post his or her personal information makes him exposed to to rest of the world. The speed at which the social media circulate the personal information is completely uncontrollable. There are numerous challenges ,risks and threats to which our personal information is exposed. Among all these threats the risks to the privacy is most serious challenge. The first risk includes identity theft that leads to loss of personal information includes photographs shared online on social media. There are numerous cases regarding the stolen photographs of the users from the social networking sites . There are serious challenges related to sale of personal information for commercial purpose to advertisors by the social networking sites. The theft of identity may include the steal of names ,date of birth , residential status , hobbies , interest and many other things.

Apart from it when the world is becoming unsafe for the women day by day it becomes social media poses a serious threats regarding the safety of our young girls as well as women of our family and society. Sharing of personal information on the social media is also leading to the stalking by use of shared personal information.As it is said on social media nothing is personal everything is in public domain and can be used by any one in any way. Stalking is not limited to only common person but big personalities also becoming the victims of it. As popular social networking sites becomes hub or web of friends and acquaintances and sharing with them your photos and personal information , contact without any safety precautions or actually meeting them put you slowely in deep dangerous grab of stalking. Cyber stalking is the most serious issues of the time. There are various social networking sites that doesn't even care about the protection of the privacy of their users . Stalking is one of the criminal activities that is the result of such ignorant behaviour of social networking websites.

When a person uploads photos to a social networking site, others are able to track their most recent location. Some smartphones are able to embed the longitude and latitude coordinates into the photo and automatically send this information to the application. Anybody using the application can search for a specific person and then find their immediate location. This poses many potential threats to users who share their information with a large group of followers.^[66]

Facebook Places, is a Facebook service, which publicizes user location information to the networking community. Users are allowed to "check-in" at various locations including retail stores, convenience stores, and restaurants. Also, users are able to create their own "place," disclosing personal information onto the Internet. In order to protect ourselves from the threats of the sharing of personal information on the social networking websites the efforts must be on both at personal as well as institutional levels. There is a need of awareness among people regarding sharing of personal information on the social networking websites. They should not press agree button before reading the privacy terms of social media. At the same time institutional efforts includes both efforts by government to make norms for the protection of the personal information on the social networking websites and the social networking websites should also develop a mechanism for the protection of the people personal space and information on the social networking websites. Apart from it people should know the website properly before using its. Its background, term and condition, privacy settings should be carefully checked

. Be familiar with the privacy protection provided. Users should take the extra time to get to know the privacy protection systems of various social networks they are or will be using. By being aware and spreading awareness we can make the social networking websites to serve their real purpose and become a place for happiness, joy, information and not the place of theft , constant stress and stalking. By taking such small steps we can make the social networking websites safer for our children and society.

Thank you.