Nowadays, many people are
sharing their private stories with the so-called internet-celebrities who then share those stories in their social
media platform. People could easily share their deepest, darkest, personal
stories to these influencer accounts. While sharing personal story on the
Internet is not a new thing—for example: blogging personal stories and everyday
life, vlogging on Youtube, writing a
Facebook status, or maybe tweeting your personal opinion about certain kinds of
stuff—the occurrence of people sharing their own story through another person’s
account is an interesting phenomenon to be discussed.
False
Intimacy and Data Privacy
At one hand, the
celebrities’ followers who share similar stories with the stories’ senders may feel
relieved knowing that there are people out there who experience the same thing.
These interactions bring a feeling of intimacy as if they are all connected and
supported each other. These senders may also feel reassured to share their
stories, being ‘listened’ by these influencers and the followers, it gave them
a sense of approval and validation.
However, on the other
hand, it also raises concerns about the individual's data privacy. There are at
least two underlying differences between sharing your personal stories through
your own account versus sharing it through these internet celebrities’ accounts. First, when you share your stories
with your ‘real’ personal social media accounts to these celebrities—real
pictures, real names—you have pretty much given these people access to reveal
your personal data, added with your personal stories. Although these internet-celebrities always try to
ensure the senders’ confidentiality by erasing the senders’ name when they
publish the stories online, they still possess the data of the senders. Also,
we do not know yet how do they secure their personal account from malicious
actors who might try to steal these data. How safe it is to actually to tell
your stories to these internet-celebrities?
Second, the number of
audiences that your story can reach will be magnified by a large number of
these internet-celebrities’
followers; be it on the Instagram, Twitter, or Youtube. While it might be exactly
the sole reason why people share their stories to an internet celebrity—to gain
more attention—we will never know where the stories might end up at. You might
not want your closest friends and families know about your stories, but once
they see it online through their connections, they will eventually know it.
It’s
Always Better to Be Cautious than to Regret Later
Sure, sharing your
personal stories can bring lots of positive impacts to others. It could
encourage people who might have experienced the same story. It could also bring
up awareness about issues that otherwise considered as taboo. Nonetheless, you
need to consider at least these two things: First, don’t use your real personal
account to tell these people your personal stories. You may never know where
your data and stories could end up. For the internet-celebrities who have the
influence to make people share their stories, it is very important to keep
these people’s personal data safe with you. Second, make sure you’re sharing
your story for the right reason and only share what you feel is right to share.
You want to inspire people? Encourage them to stand for themselves amidst the
ups and downs of life? Please do it. However, please also keep in mind about
your personal data privacy while you’re doing so.
