Online/Virtual Stalkers On Social Media

Posted in Ramblings | November 05th, 2009

Written by
Tami Duad

Campaign Operations Executive, clickTRUE. Manage search engine marketing campaigns (SEM). Does research & consultancy. A Google fan girl. Has a habit of Googling just about everything & a social media addict.

Where do you belong?

social media

I think almost everyone is guilty of stalking online these days. The funny thing is it may not necessarily be the stalker’s fault when you have tons of people being exhibitionists once they go online- trying to make themselves heard, shouting out their frustrations to all & sundry and feeding everybody with their useless babble about life. And yes, I may have contributed to the rise of the stalkers by being slightly more open with my personal life (heh, you can check out my latest party pictures..hee)

So what constitutes stalking? Ex-boyfriends/girlfriends or frienemies (the same person being a Friend & an Enemy) secretly checking your profile. A random friend you only met once but who now regularly checks your profile. Creepy, I know! Or stalking being defined as the “The Lurker” in CNN’s recent article about “The 12 most annoying types of Facebookers”.

The Lurker. The Peeping Toms of Facebook, these voyeurs are too cautious, or maybe too lazy, to update their status or write on your wall. But once in a while, you’ll be talking to them and they’ll mention something you posted, so you know they’re on your page, hiding in the shadows. It’s just a little creepy.

Although social media is a boon to those in the online advertising industry for reaching out to the audience at a more intimate level, the vast amount of information available online (e.g. telephone numbers and addresses) is creating a brand new breed of “VIRTUAL STALKERS” – there is no need to physically stalk someone now.