As every Friday, we propose a weekly review of all the news that made the headlines of social media. We aim to express our opinions, and further discuss the news with all social media enthusiasts. We welcome opinions in the comments section below.

It has been a while since social media is on everyone’s lips. The spectacular growth and penetration rates social networks like Facebook, Twitter or even beginners like Foursquare have achieved to transform social media into the favourite subject of every tech savvy person.

But was it social media?

Definitions vary depending on the person who is being asked. Words may be switched or different but everyone agrees that social media is an open space, an environment where people ask questions, express opinions, and share thoughts and content. Although,  we are aware that not everyone realizes that every time a status is updated an opinion is being expressed or information is being shared.

This brought us to the question of why is everyone so scared and concerned about privacy settings. As we have stated in previous articles, Facebook’s privacy settings and the direction the social media giant is giving to social media, has been a subject of many polemic discussions all around the world. Specialists are scared that due to Facebook´s activity, we might be entering an era of “over sharing”. Time magazine has released its cover story about Facebook privacy setting, highlighting again the way in which the social network is connecting users.

From our point of view, Facebook is applying a model that they have studied a lot before deciding to use it, and that the structure of it was established to satisfy people’s needs. Facebook users may not be aware of where their information is going, but they do want to read their friends information. The Open Web is a place created by people, and if it’s not Facebook that will connect them, then another network will do that. In the era of sharing, people need information, and advertisers do too. We have the tendency to believe that people won’t stop using social media just because of privacy settings. People need social media and the information it provides them with. What may be a good action for Facebook is to release a form that easily explains privacy setting to average users including the advantages and weaknesses of it. Users also need to focus more on what exactly they want to communicate via their social networks, and be conscious about the effects of their actions.

MySpace tries to bring back good old times

Meanwhile, what used to be the world’s biggest social network, MySpace, tries to take advantage of all the negative press Facebook is receiving, and proposed a series of easy to understand privacy settings to attract more users. Although, the announcement was made this week, no actual improvement has been released, so MySpace should move fast if it wants to regain the lost audience.

Foursquare still growing steady

News of buying and recent entries in the location based space have not stopped the amazing growth of Foursquare, and as it was announced today, the social network is expanding to dimensions that are hard to believe even by their enthusiastic founder, Dennis Crowley. The positive attitude of Dennis Crowley is contagious but whether Foursquare is going to be able to face the competition has yet to be seen. We have discussed more about this in an article here.

These were the news that drew our attention from this week’s happenings. What do you think about Facebook’s privacy settings? Should Facebook revise them or this is the direction that the web is heading to?

Later edit: Facebook has taken measures about its privacy settings. Mark Zuckerberg’s statement can be read here.