Virtualūs socialiniai tinklai: viešumo ir privatumo problematika
Authors: Savicka Aida 
Published: December 2024

The modern technologies of instant communication lead to the increasing convergence of public and private communication styles and discourses which allows researchers to talk about the cultural shift from formality towards familiarity in all
spheres of communication. It is certainly caused by continuously increasing pace of
communication and subsequent diminishing of the formality of public communication
since communication participants simply have no time to elaborate their thoughts,
language structure or grammar (especially in synchronous text-based communication). Not less important are other aspects of this process. On one hand, communication becomes detached from its contexts as mobile communication devices determine
that private conversations can and do take place in public spaces. On the other hand,
they enable personal interaction in unprecedentedly huge groups, which also blurs
the line between public and private communication.
One can confidently say that we live in the society undergoing substantial cultural
changes in which computer technology has become part of everyday life, but there
is still lack of standards, norms and rules of how to use them. In other words, the
culture of interpersonal communication in the new platforms still is at its embryonic
stage. This article raises questions what is interpersonal communication, when it is
accomplished through the digital mass media? How does it affect the self-awareness
and self-presentation of communication participants? And are the users of modern
communication technology sufficiently aware of the communication features when
compared to the traditional interpersonal communication?
It seems that the dissemination of personal data is the new value in modern society, as
people on social networks come together exactly to share their information with the
widest range of people. One can argue if it is good or bad; the consequences (advantages and disadvantages, norms and values) of nowadays fashionable communication
in social networks will become explicit only after a few decades when the generation
of it‘s most ardent followers, current teenagers, will mature and live through their
lives. However, it can already be stated that this is not just another alternative means
of human communication, as it is quite often believed without deeper thought about
the motives that lead people to spread the details of their life for tens, hundreds or
even thousands of “friends” with whom they have no possibility maintain consistent
communication in real life. Virtual social networks are a fundamentally new type of communication platform, where mass and interpersonal communication become intricately intertwined. On the one hand, communication becomes disconnected from
the context: the mobility of the new means of communications determines that private conversations can and do take place in public spaces. On the other hand, they enable personal interactions among the members of groups of previously unimaginable
size, which blurs the line between public and private communication.
This is not the first technological breakthrough in the history of mankind, and thus
humanity will find ways to adapt to it in a way that it would meet their daily needs
and minimize risks. Only then one will be in a position to judge what comes as a prio
rity: the possibility to present oneself to other people in a desirable way through consequential performance of one’s identity on social networks or willingness to protect
one’s privacy and personal data against possible misuse. However, it is necessary
for the users of social networks sites to comprehend that virtual space is another
important “scene” of individual self-presentation and to make it makes virtual space
of human interactions as close to real life dealings of people as possible with its own
culture of communication, ethics and norms.