From every angle, social media is anathema to privacy. The very
founding concept of paleolithic AOL Chatrooms and Usenet
Newsgroups, and later Facebook, MySpace and the earliest blogging
sites was to provide a forum for people to share with each other.
People shared ideas, humor, emotions, preferences, prejudices,
priorities, and often misguided attempts at profundity. Newer sites
simply broadened and deepened the sharing – Twitter users
share commute times and coffee temperatures, Tumblers share memes
galore, and Instagramites share a wealth of doctored
photographs.
We learned things about the people in our world, and they about
us. Thanks to social media, we now knew that if our nearest
co-worker were a tree, she would be a willow, and the celebrity she
believes that she most resembles is Angelina Jolie. We also know
that Shirley's kids are honor students and that Tom's
brother was just released from prison (early, for good behavior),
that Jeffrey lives and dies
