In the launch, growth and evolution of Facebook – the site that set the standard for social media – much has been said about privacy.
Most of this criticism, according to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, comes as the result of an immediate reaction not to trust Internet security on new technology. Zuckerberg spoke at the recent e-G8 forum in Paris, commenting on how Facebook and Internet privacy concerns have changed over the years, and how each relates to the other. He specifically addressed the widespread reluctance and criticism of the launch of the Facebook News Feed. At the time, Zuckerberg said, 10 percent of the site’s user base – approximately 1 million people – protested the feed.
However, users largely came around when they realized the benefits and privacy standards, Zuckerberg pointed out.
"People thought that, you know, it was just too much, right. They wanted to share stuff on the site, but they didn't want it to be so much in people's face[s]," said Zuckerberg. "You know, now it's just part of the site that I think most people in a way would be like 'What's going on? How can there be Facebook without this?'"
This kind of reluctance has become a common trend among the world’s skeptical Internet users, many of whom are often concerned with privacy when they are introduced to new technology.
"We'll roll it out, and pretty often there'll be this backlash, and people will say, Ok, we don't like this new thing,’" said Zuckerberg. "It's, I think, a real anxiety. People were really afraid of more people being able to be involved in the social network."
However, widespread improvements in data security may foster an improved public view. According to a study conducted earlier this year by Verizon, the number of compromised records across the globe dropped from 361 million in 2008 to just 4 million last year.
