Teens on Facebook Can Now Post Publicly

Before, teens with Facebook accounts could only share content with friends, friends of friends and specific custom groups. As of Wednesday, teens 13-17 years old will be able to post publicly and gain 'followers' on their profiles, just as anyone over 18 years old has the ability to do so.

Facebook recently blogged saying, "Teens are among the savviest people using of social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement, activism, or their thoughts on a new movie, they want to be heard. While only a small fraction of teens using Facebook might choose to post publicly, this update now gives them the choice to share more broadly, just like on other social media services."

To post publicly, teens will need to manually change their audience preferences on each post to 'public' before sharing. Note that the platform's audience settings will remain the same for all posts for all users, including the newly added teens. Having said that, a secondary reminder will pop up for teens after they choose to post publicly a following time.

Although we agree that younger generations are incredibly tech-savvy, we are curious to see how the recent changes will impact the current Facebook base. Teens naturally gravitate toward social platforms, but with the increase of the ability to share, will this simply add more noise to our already full newsfeeds, or will it simply mean that our community is better connected?

Tellus: How do you think this new freedom for teens will impact Facebook?

-- Samantha

Why People Overshare Online

We all have the friends on Facebook or Twitter who overshare the details of their lives with the rest of the internet. They're the type of people who consistently update statuses and feel the need to share every detail of their lives -- from what they last ate for lunch to their opinion of their favorite TV show. Although it's certainly their right, what makes it so easy to overshare on social media platforms?

Author and social scientist, Sherry Turkle, believes after one shares feelings or thoughts in a public space, the brain's neurochemical reward system is automatically triggered. This action, in addition to the idea that our private lives are constantly being infiltrated by reality TV and social media, adds to an innate urge to share.

In the most recent paper by Russell W. Belk titled "Extended Self in a Digital World," he argues that people's relationships with social media sites are ultimately allowing us to create a more complicated concept of who we believe we are as individuals. With the addition of various platforms that let us be creative through status updates, highly-edited pictures and funny videos, Belk says that humans are able to create a unique, desired identity in a space that makes us feel 'invisible.' Consequently, when individuals believe no one is listening or watching behind a screen, they gain more confidence to divulge personal details about their lives that wouldn't typically be shared in normal day to day life.

Overall, it's clear that the line between private and public is quickly disappearing with each status, tweet and Instagrammed photo. People want to be interesting, popular and cool. They want to be heard and respected -- and will often give up such self-respect to feel valued by their peers. But how far is too far? And how much worse will it get as our world continues to highlight reality stardom and materialistic values?

Tell us: How much do you share via social media? 

-- Samantha

Social Media Regret

With social media creeping into every aspect of our lives, it comes as no surprise that more and more people are beginning to fear that they may be turned down or fired from a job because of an inappropriate social media post. Legal information website, FindLaw.com, recently conducted a survey of 1,000 "demographically balanced" adults, asking them about their social media behavior. The overall result of this study showed that 1 in 4 adults fear that their social media behavior will come back to bite them.

When this figure is broken down a bit more for age, we see that in the group of adults age 18 to 34, 29% said that they have posted something on social media that they fear could be damaging to their professional careers. In order to help control some of the potential damage created by past posts, 74% of people in this age group have removed past activity, like a photo or post, to avoid the negative reaction from current or potential employers. As to be expected, this number is lower in the next age group, 35 to 64, at 36%.

Perhaps the most simple way to avoid making these social faux pas is using common sense. Three basic pointers to follow when using social media are:

• Think twice before you post anything
• Check your privacy settings and make sure they are set appropriately
• Do not make sensitive personal information available online

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is once you put something online, it stays online. It is almost impossible to completely delete something from the internet, so it is paramount that you take a little time to make sure what you are posting is, and will continue to be, appropriate. It is so easy to post, tweet or update these days that mistakes are all too easy to make. What may seem like an innocent expression of your feelings can very easily come back to haunt you. We have said it before and we will say it again -- think before you post!

- Mike & Samantha

Facebook Graph Search Brings New Privacy Concerns

Are you one of the 13 million Facebook users who have not touched their privacy settings? Many people may not be concerned over their privacy settings on Facebook, but with Graph Search rolling out to the masses soon, your personal information security will be at an all time low. If allowing strangers to see your personal information online doesn't scare you, the fact that 91% of employers admit to using social network sites to screen potential employees might. With everything from your vacation pictures to banking information being stored online these days, security is becoming more and more crucial. Be smart and take the time to understand the security settings, not only on Facebook, but all of your other online accounts. The hassle of reading the fine print now is nothing compared to something like identity fraud later. Check out this infographic to learn a little more about the privacy trends on Facebook:

-Mike