Is 'Facebook Stalking' a Relevant Term?

Volunteering information to people is what you choose to do when on Facebook.

Stalking, by definition, is giving undesired attention to people and thereby harassing or persecuting them. It is a very serious criminal offense that can land someone in serious trouble. Oftentimes, people who are being stalked become scared and feel as though their lives are in danger. It is a very real situation millions of people deal with everyday. But on Facebook, it is not.

The term "Facebook stalking" is one you hear quite often when someone feels another person is looking at their Facebook information too much. But the question is, how can someone say someone is stalking them if they volunteer information to a social networking website and have complete control over who can see and who can friend their profile page?

Facebook has equipped its website with some pretty impressive privacy controls. You can block certain friends from seeing certain information on your profile, have complete control over who you add as a friend, and can even block someone from knowing that you have a Facebook account. All of these modifications were made so that people would feel safe putting their information on this website, since it is mainly for socializing.

But when a person accuses another of Facebook stalking simply because they saw a certain picture, status, post, or any other information it is definitely a dramatic exaggeration. When a person accepts another as a friend on Facebook, they are essentially offering out all the information they have put on their profile page to that 'friend.' 

This is not to undermine the fact that actual Facebook stalking can occur, but that can be dealt with very quickly. However, the way that millions of people use the term "Facebook stalking" is almost like an oxymoron; offer out your information, but call someone a stalker if they actually read it.