Balancing Identity and Privacy - Growing risks and concerns about Essay

Balancing Identity and Privacy - Growing risks and concerns about social networks. Report - Essay Example But inherent in such transformation is the critical need to pay attention for security of the identity. The era of faceless business transactions has accompanied with itself the need to take serious look at the identity of a person. Identity has become a database entry which can now be disconnected from any physical recognition. It can be bought and sold like a commodity and is subject to theft and widespread misuse. This report will take a look at the repercussions of widespread social media on business and society as a whole. Blogging and Tweeting are terms used in the world of social media and they also becoming par to business vocabulary. But such terms are tip of the social media iceberg. Companies like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn are now changing the rules of how companies are doing business. In 21st century social media is changing the working environment of the company. The employees and employers are now practicing more flexibility along with the ability to respond to such conditions quickly. For many businesses social media is a boon which can be used to reach out to large target customers in a cost effective way. But they are also taking a close look the risk involved like theft, cyber bullying, fraud, defamation and invasion of privacy. Many believe that social media has a corporate value and is critical to the success of marketing efforts. Many senior executives believe that there are many potential risks which are involved while using social media. According to them the primary ri sks include disclosure of proprietary information, out-of date information, identifiable information and fraud (Jagatic, Johnson, Jakobsson and Menczer, 2007, pp. 94-100). The presence of Social Media has changed the way people communicate and interact with each other. But the world of social media has created a whole new world of security, privacy, intellectual property, employment practices and legal risks. Privacy risk refers to the process