Privacy and Relationship Before Facebook and During

Since Facebook was launched to the public, it has become a widespread phenomenon with over 400 million users and growing. The growing population on this online community has advocated the rise in online societies and, consequently, many relationships have bloomed as a result of Facebook. Not to say that there were much less relationships before Facebook was around; however, Facebook has revolutionized the term “relationship” in a whole different aspect than before. Susan Jacob has a Phd. in relationship study and she defines relationship in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary as, “the relation connecting or binding participants in a relationship (Kinship) and the state of affairs existing between those relations.” What this meant before Facebook revolutionized the term “relationship” was that relationships were certain bonds between people who deeply cared for each other (ie. Love, Liking, Kinship). However, Facebook changed the term relationship into something much different. Although it does incorporate this aspect and there are many people who do still see it as this way, the term “relationship” has become something that is so common and “tossed” around carelessly that it doesn’t hold its meaning that it did before.

The relationship “status” is not for the persons in the relationship, per se, but actually for those around them to acknowledge and keep track of it. Also, there are those who post the relationship status on Facebook just for the attention and the extra comments. Rather than real-life being enough to know that one is in a relationship, now if it’s not online on Facebook, it isn’t even official to some people. As seen on Time Magazine, Annie Geitner replies, “Some moron tried to convince me that my relationship is not legitimate because I don’t have it on Facebook.” This is appalling to read because who is to say that a whole bond between two different people is illegitimate because it’s not broadcasted on a social networking system? Sabir Greenwell, a close friend, suggests that “since Facebook has come around, relationships have changed meanings in a whole different light. The word stands for a different meaning now. Before, relationships were had because two people really liked each other and it was mainly for themselves but since Facebook has come around, I believe many people are in relationships nowadays for the attention and just to change their status’s on Facebook. It’s just one extra thing on Facebook to get more comments and replies from friends.” His meanings hold true and relationships before Facebook essentially held greater meaning in and of itself rather than after Facebook has revolutionized the term.

Privacy has also become a problem regarding Facebook and relationships. By posting the status's of every part of one's life including relationship status's, any outsider has complete knowledge and access to your personal life. This has gotten so out of hand that there are media reports of murders, suicides, and problems all through Facebook. Because of this, many people are scared of many aspects and have resorted to find ways to protect themselves from these fiendish people. Devin Guthrie, a personal friend, recently posted on Facebook "ReclaimPrivacy.org | Facebook Privacy Scannerwww.reclaimprivacy.org

This website provides an independent and open tool for scanning your Facebook privacy settings. The source code and its development will always remain open and transparent."

This is basically to scan and protect/change privacy settings that can potentially be harmful to one's identity and status. It scans and helps bring to notice many different privacy settings including relationship status's. After I saw this post, I immediately clicked on it to check my privacy settings and saw that i was at risk of privacy thefts and quickly changed the problems. Much like myself, this post got Devin many comments ranging from, "dude this sh*t is legit! Thanks!" to "nice find dude, our film professor spoke of this before and i'm glad most of mine was secure after the scan." The extent to which this privacy issue goes is unknown; however, it is possible to stop privacy issues with the right knowledge and that includes relationship problems. If somebody wants to know the status of how a couple is doing, all they have to do is go on Facebook, click on Wall to Wall between the two people, and read up on their life from past to present and judge for themselves. This is complete invasion of privacy and very scary that almost anybody has access to this information.