Changing face of social media
“I’m a completely different person to who I was aged 12. It scares me to think that the personal things, photos and videos I shared without thought back then are lingering on accounts I’ve forgotten about.”
Lisa, Information Commissioner’s Office staff member.
Friends Reunited. MySpace. Habbo Hotel. Piczo. Bebo. Friendster.
For many, thinking back to the early generation of social media platforms will generate a mixture of both nostalgia and confusion. Did we really used to rank our Top Friends? Did we ever stop to think about who was looking at our pages - and how they might look when we were 10 years older?
Social media in its infancy created a wave of optimism and possibilities. People could meet others from across the world who shared their niche interests, old friends could reconnect, and we could suddenly know more and share more than we’d ever previously thought possible. The world became both smaller and impossibly large at the same time, as everyone became a potential friend for the first time.
With this new horizon came the downsides, some of which we are still grappling with today. Some platforms were specifically targeted at young children, or lax about who was accessing their site, allowing for the young and vulnerable to be exploited. People are also now learning that our digital footprints loom large. Information posted by people who were very young or couldn’t possibly imagine where it might end up is often impossible to remove, even where it is embarrassing or deeply personal.