As a long running network engineer for Convergent in Pennsylvania, Jeffrey Pell is well aware of the many privacy issues surrounding social media and how those issues can affect a person or business. In the last decade, social media has grown immensely, and become one of the most competitive forms of electronic marketing and communication. New platforms are constantly striving to add to their existing systems, or create new avenues for social media dialogue. Unfortunately, with those rapid changes comes a turn the other cheek approach to a person's need for privacy.
Many of the newest and most popular apps and social media systems use some form of GPS, or global positioning system, to track the whereabouts of their users. When a user signs on to the program, their sign in location is monitored using the GPS that is built into the program. Additionally, many basic Apps now require the user to allow access to their personal information, often through another social media site or through their email account information. This may not seem like an invasion of privacy, but an app or program should not need access to your most recent Facebook status, or the personal pictures you have posted, in order to run correctly. Many businesses and individuals agree to share this information as it gets them one step closer to downloading that new App, game, or entrance into a marketing campaign.
Where this becomes a real problem is when an issue occurs, and the business or client seeks to rely on the non-existent legislature regarding privacy issues. All of the companies that create and sell online programs are allowed to choose how and when they will share your personal information. There is no concrete governing body that oversees the entire process. Each social media company has the ability to change their policies and procedures in regard to privacy as often as they need to, which can be many times per year.
While recent studies have shown that social media users are less concerned with privacy issues than those who avoid social media altogether, that is not always the case when it comes to businesses. A business who chooses to use social media as a marketing platform has a vested interest in keeping their privacy intact. They may not wish for a program or App to have access to their personal business details, their locations, or their electronic habits. A skilled information technology specialist, like Jeffrey Pell, can help corporations and businesses to access and use social media, without running the risk of divulging sensitive information. In the last few years of his career, Pell has worked with a number of businesses in Pennsylvania that are interested in just that.
Many of the newest and most popular apps and social media systems use some form of GPS, or global positioning system, to track the whereabouts of their users. When a user signs on to the program, their sign in location is monitored using the GPS that is built into the program. Additionally, many basic Apps now require the user to allow access to their personal information, often through another social media site or through their email account information. This may not seem like an invasion of privacy, but an app or program should not need access to your most recent Facebook status, or the personal pictures you have posted, in order to run correctly. Many businesses and individuals agree to share this information as it gets them one step closer to downloading that new App, game, or entrance into a marketing campaign.
Where this becomes a real problem is when an issue occurs, and the business or client seeks to rely on the non-existent legislature regarding privacy issues. All of the companies that create and sell online programs are allowed to choose how and when they will share your personal information. There is no concrete governing body that oversees the entire process. Each social media company has the ability to change their policies and procedures in regard to privacy as often as they need to, which can be many times per year.
While recent studies have shown that social media users are less concerned with privacy issues than those who avoid social media altogether, that is not always the case when it comes to businesses. A business who chooses to use social media as a marketing platform has a vested interest in keeping their privacy intact. They may not wish for a program or App to have access to their personal business details, their locations, or their electronic habits. A skilled information technology specialist, like Jeffrey Pell, can help corporations and businesses to access and use social media, without running the risk of divulging sensitive information. In the last few years of his career, Pell has worked with a number of businesses in Pennsylvania that are interested in just that.