Online Policy Primer – Facebook Essay

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Social networking has become a whirlwind phenomenon that the 21st century population cannot ignore or suspend (Powell, 2009). Among all demographic categories of people, social networking seems to have no barriers, and today, many people around the worlds have become fast receptors of social networking services (Rutledge, 2008).

Social networking has been enabled largely by advancement in information technology (computers) whereby, internet has become the basic forum where most of interactions take place (McManus, 2010). As a result, there seems to be no boundaries among people, organizations, groups and the larger social environment in using social network services for their various needs (Ryan, 2011).

People use social networks differently, but in most cases, social networks have become popular avenues for interaction, sharing of interests, ideas, events and popular activities that individuals may find interesting or valuable (Lusted, 2011). Some of the current popular social networks include Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, and many more (Lusted, 2011).

Key features that most social network exhibit include profile pages on which different individuals identify themselves by posting information concerning them, category pages for messaging, chat forums, and so on, and connection links such as like, join, add, remove, and bloc (Kelsey, 2010). All these features combine to make different social networks popular sites that people have gradually become addicted to.

Facebook, as noted above, constitutes one of the popular social network services that individuals around the world use for social connection (Facebook, 2011). And in order to effectively use the services provided by Facebook, users have been required regularly to agree to terms and conditions that Facebook, as a company, has established (Facebook, 2011).

The terms and conditions, just like in any other organization, reflect the overall regulatory rules and regulations set by different institutions or bodies, which people are required to abide to. This is always done to ensure rights and freedoms of individuals, groups, organizations, or societies are not abused, instead, they are respected even as one uses Facebook forum.

This leads us to ask and subsequently evaluate the basic proposition which states that, why Facebook terms of use would be effective and more so, why is it necessary to choose the particular service or platform.

Answer to the above statement requires a holistic journey of evaluation into the policy of Facebook regarding terms and conditions for usage of the service or site. Facebook, like any other social entity in a pluralistic society, is prone to abuse, where people in different ways may misuse the forum at the disadvantage of other people (Weintraub, 2011; Kumar and Zhang, 2010).

In order to limit this, terms of use established by Facebook aim at instituting some level of control on how information and all other aspects can be used. At the same time, terms of use instituted are aimed at effectively regulating commercial use of members’ information (Dixon and Gellman, 2011). Marketing in the 21st century has become tech-hitch and all efforts are done to meet targets at the lowest cost.

Given that many people use Facebook, it becomes fertile ground for marketers. And in an effort to protect members, terms of use become appropriate. In the same measure, Facebook terms of use are implemented to effectively ensure protection and operate within legal framework regarding copyright, trademark, publicity, privacy or any other form of individual right (Garfinkel, 2011).

Moreover, as the issue of security becomes a global concern, there is need for individual protection against all forms of insecurity that may also include hate-speech and discrimination, which Facebook tries to effectively regulate through terms of use (Garfinkel, 2011).

On overall, effectiveness of Facebook terms of use aim to ensure sensible promotion, exchange, and usage of information on the site among different individuals that meet social needs of different groups of people within tenets of legal and human rights (Garfinkel, 2011).

The need to choose particular service can be perceived to be greatly influenced by the need for effective regulation, monitoring and subsequent guidance, all aimed at ensuring maximum security and observance of human rights for the use of Facebook forum (Bankston, 2009).

Given that regulation sometimes becomes a problem especially with advent of sophisticated information technology tools, it can be deduced that choosing a particular service or platform makes it both for the user and owner to ensure security, freedom and rights are respected.

In conclusion, it can be stated that different social networks exist today and although each has different features and usage needs, they all appear to perform a singular role of connecting people worldwide.

Nevertheless, Facebook terms of use as an online policy primer have effectively regulated the usage on the forum although some level of criticism has been advanced (Jones, 2009; Bankston, 2009), which calls for future consideration and appropriate modification of the terms of use (BBC News, 2009).

References

Bankston, K. (2009). . Electronic Frontier Foundation. Web.

BBC News. (2009). . Web..

Dixon, P and Gellman, R. (2011). . CA: ABC-CLIO. Web.

Facebook. (2011). ”. Web.

Garfinkel, S. L. (2011). “When private information is not”. Technology Review, Vol. 114, No. 4, p. 63. UK: Cambridge. Web.

Jones, K. C. (2009). “Facebook’s terms of use draw protest”. InformationWeek Article. UBM TechWeb. Web.

Kelsey, T. (2010). : From Facebook to Twitter and everything in between. NY: Springer. Web.

Kumar, A. and Zhang, D. (2010). : Third international conference on ethics and policy of biometrics and international data sharing, Hong Kong, January 4-5, 2010. NY: Springer. Web.

Lusted, M. A. (2011). : Myspace, Facebook, & Twitter. NY: ABDO. Web.

McManus, S. (2010). : Connect with family and friends old and new. MA: John Wiley and Sons. Web.

Powell, J. (2009). : how to create, influence, and run a successful business with social networking. NJ: Que Publishing. Web.

Ryan, P. K. (2011). . NY: The Rosen Publishing Group. Web.

Rutledge, P. A. (2008). . NJ: FT Press. Web.

Weintraub, M. (2011). . MA: John Wiley and Sons. Web.

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