Interacting with porn in the social media space

You may like pornography (I'm not here to judge), but would you "like" pornography in a Facebook kind of way? Would you publicly like an XXX page, comment on the content, and give thumbs up to the posts?

When I take my dogs for a walk, I sometimes pass a gay porn video shop. In front of the mirrored windows that block out the inside of the store, there's always a sandwich board on the sidewalk with specials. Recently, they've added "Like us on Facebook!" to the board. Like...us...on...Facebook.

Now, I'm going to be honest. I've never seen an X-rated movie. It's not my thing. But, even if I did watch porn, I would never advertise the fact. I can just see it in my friend's Facebook streams, "Amber just liked Spanky's Adult Video Palace".  And, heaven forbid a future employer checked out my Facebook likes!

Is this era of social media when we all willingly sacrifice our privacy, is it no big deal for people to put it all out there? The good, the bad, and the ugly? Would YOU "like" a pornography-related page on Facebook?

35 comments:

  1. I have to tell you something. At my old job, one of the bosses "liked" on Facebook several porn actresses. It gets better than that though...at the time he had a webcam pic of himself with no shirt on. He is a bald, fat, pasty 60+ year old man too.

    When I said "I think this sends the wrong message" I was told to STFU and to leave an owner alone.

    I was glad to quit that job...

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  2. interesting post.. I try to keep my Facebook sfw because of the friends I have there. Some wouldn't understand if I liked porn but I do if there isn't actual porn. I do not share any except on my tumblr and nsfw Twitter. I thought about starting a new fb with a different email address but I don't think it's worthwhile.

    I shared your post everywhere, I think it's interesting.. I even shared on Facebook. :)

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  3. I believe that everyone has their own way of seeing the world. Perhaps there are some folks who don't see porn in a negative way. There are some friends of mine who refuse to engage in discussions on religion because they don't want to frustrate themselves with other people's judgements on their views.
    One's interest in porn is often seen as something outside of one's public persona. I believe social media channels such as Facebook allow one to be included in a bigger circle of like minded thinkers. That said, saying I like porn via Facebook may be a 'no biggie' for some.
    Facebook allows me to be real and transparent. But, I am not about to poke anyone with my personal views on porn. That's just not my style.

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  4. Wow! Great story, Nancy!

    Was it a small business?

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  5. It was. They did...wait for it...Internet Marketing! You can't make this stuff up! Too priceless. They would even say they were "social media experts"Mmmm...hmmm...."

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  6. Nothing like a webcam nudie pic to scream social media expert! Yowza!

    Thanks for the great addition to the conversation, Nancy!

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  7. That's one email I did NOT dare download the photos for. ;)

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  8. Ha ha. Funny you should say that. It was kind of scary when I was searching for an image for this. My search history looks kind of questionable now ;-)

    The image is clean, though. No free porn here today, Travis!

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  9. Interesting post.. I try to keep my Facebook sfw because my friends would not understand ;o) I do like posts and pages if there isn't any actual porn there. I would not post anything too racy either. 
    I thought about starting a new Facebook with the email that I use for my NSFW tumblr and twitter but I don't think it is worthwhile. I also found out that I cannot make an account as Dave G like I did on Google. Facebook wants a "real" name. 

    I shared your post everywhere.. even on Facebook :)

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  10. Interesting post and I love that you propose such thought-provoking questions! I'm not at all offended or weirded out by pornography, though I don't think I'd publicly "like" a porn page on Facebook.

    That said, I do often support friends' pages even though I may not normally associate myself with (whatever it is they're promoting), and so, in that regard, should a friend open up a sex shop, for example, and ask for support, I think I'd do it, because if it's someone I want to succeed professionally, I'm fine taking the 2 second to endorse the page (it's the least I can do).

    I also don't think it's justifiable for a potential employer to discriminate against someone based on whether they like (legal) porn-related content on Facebook as that detail alone reflects in no way on their work ethic or capacities.

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  11. Hey Debbie! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the subject! Great to hear your input.

    I, like you, am all about supporting the efforts of my friends and social connections. I "like" many pages that aren't really up my alley, so to speak, merely as a way to show support. In your example, however, I honestly don't think I could like a sex shop.

    Whether or not it is justifiable for potential employers/clients to make decisions based on such factors, I think they do. Everyone has their biases and depending on who's looking at your likes, someone could very easily say supporting or condoning pornography says something about your character. Perhaps my thoughts on this are a bit more conservative given my corporate communications and news background, though.

    Loved hearing your input on this, Debbie! Great addition to the discussion!

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  12. Hey Dave! Thanks for the extra effort in posting this comment today. I've sent a tweet to Disqus to try to fix the problem you're having.

    You can only have one Facebook account, per Mark Z's terms of service. So that would be tricky. You could, however, start a page as a workaround if you really want to.

    Thanks for sharing the post, Dave! Appreciate you sharing your opinion on the topic!

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  13. That's very interesting. This past week, a friend of mine wrote a post about his open relationship and why it worked for him.  It was a thoughtful and well-written post (not sensationalized at all).

    I noticed how hesitant I was to comment authentically on that post even though the chances of anyone I know seeing my comments.  In fact, we continued our conversation on that post by e-mail.  

    It's not exactly the same as your hypothesis, however it did make me think about how much I shared and how that would be received by others.  Great thought-provoking post.

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  14. ROFLMAO!  I am afraid I won't have anything intelligent to share here because I can't even stop laughing long enough to even take this seriously!  Not your post of course...I take them all seriously...but I can't believe that an XXX place would encourage people to "like" them on FB....but even funnier that anyone would actually do it...ROFLMAO!

    Okay now that I have managed to compose myself a lil' bit here....I know employers aren't supposed to discriminate...and technically a "like" of this type would be "private"...but privacy in the age of social media means something a lot different than it used to...and the reality is that an employer could use it against you without you even knowing it.  As for me....I would NOT "like" this type of FB page for any reason.

    Have I told you how much I XXX your Blog?

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  15. I'm wondering if Disqus works at all on mobile or mobile blogspot..

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  16. I'm going to tinker with my settings later today...

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  17. That's a great example, Steve! Not porn, but definitely a similar topic. :-)

    I think of things like that often. What you put out there can live on for years in many cases. And, it also can reflect on your character, ethics, and so on. I suppose I tend to be fairly conservative when it comes to throwing everything out there into cyberspace. Things can very easily come back to haunt you.

    Thanks for sharing that. It was a great addition to the discussion, Steve!

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  18. You crack me up, Rachel! I XXX the header you made for me. I continue to be grateful that you helped me with that. Thank you!

    You are so right, privacy continues to be redefined. And although employers are suppose to judge people on certain things, biases always come into play. We're humans; we can't help it.

    So wonderful to see you online more these days! I really missed you!

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  19. I tried loading the non mobile version of your blog on my Android phone and it took a while to load and was a little shaky. I was using Wifi, on 3G it would be worse.

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  20. Amber, aloha. No, I absolutely would not Like Spanky's Adult video Palace on Facebook.  Even if I did Like Spanky's, I am not ready for the world to know it.  What if I change my mind down the road and I can't remove my Like?

    What if, perish the thought, Spanky's goes to hetrosexual porn instead of gay porn?  Amber, I simply can't take that chance.

    Thanks for keeping me up-to-date in the world of amazing happenings.  Until next time, aloha.  Janet

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  21. Kudos! Excellent points, Janet! You're really thinking this through! That's what I like, my friend!

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  22. Hmm - maybe it's a bit of a reflection on the main-streaming of the porn industry.  It seems porn has now been added to the list of 'normal things to do' and I read an article recently of the affect this 'normalising' is having on relation ships of the Gen Y & younger - not good!.  I don't have a problem with others watching porn (not so sure about the nasty stuff!) but like many things in life - a little bit should go a long way.  Even too much chocolate is bad for you!

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  23. Oh geez. I can only imagine the results if porn behaviors are rippling over into relationship expectations! Yowee!

    As for the chocolate, that's just flat out blasphemy. I'm sticking my fingers in my ears now. La la la la la...I can't hear you...

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  24. Yeppers! http://www.google.com/search?q=photo+of+chocolate+bar&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=xvx&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnse&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=RBSqToH7IOrniALc5dyeCw&ved=0CCcQsAQ&biw=939&bih=564&sei=%20SBSqTrqjBcWhiAK7-tkz

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  25. I would assume that for people who are concerned about people knowing they "liked" a porn site or post, they would do so under an anonymous name? I mean, who would want their friends/family and their biz contacts to either see this or be able to pull it up in a search? I'm not making judgements here either. It's just a matter of social media common sense to me. Interesting post, Amber. :)

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  26. Hey Karen! You'd think so, right? I mean, to have mirrored windows to "protect" your customers' identities, yet expect them to publicly "like" your Facebook page? Seems like a little disconnect with their thinking, eh?

    Thanks for chiming in, Karen!

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  27. Spanky's Adult Video Palace................hmmmmm, I wonder where they came up with that name.

    I guess to each his own, but probably not so good to be known as 'that guy', huh? However, you see so many posts on how 'real' people are online so if you frequent a place like that but don't 'like' it on FB is that being less real (or just being smart)?

    Porn dominates the internet and for some reason I was thinking it wasn't as prevalent in social but I think I'm wrong. I'm guessing there is plenty of activity there as well. 

    Gay porn video, huh; now that's a pretty specific niche. I'm surprised those places survive because of how readily available it is on the internet.......er, uh, or so I've been told...................:). 

    Have a good weekend. 

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  28. Hey Bill,

    I actually changed the name of the store for comic effort and to protect the innocent. I could TOTALLY come up with great names for porn stores across America, huh??? ;-)

    You bring up an interesting point. Being real versus being smart. One could say something similar about sharing our religious or political believes. Abortion, assisted suicide, racial profiling, illegal immigration, etc. However, people seem to have no qualms putting their opinions about those things out there. Although, perhaps, an opinion isn't as strong as a "like"?

    I actually live in an area that has a high gay population, so it would be niche if there was a STRAIGHT porn shop in the area. :-) And, if I was within driving distant of you, I would be stopping by today to check out your internet history :-) #BillDoesFlorida

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  29. This is awesome Amber! Many years ago I had an interview with a sports marketing law firm in L.A.  This was when Myspace was all the rage. I was doing research on the company and person I would be interviewing with and just for shits put his work email - yes his WORK email in myspace search and up pops a man wearing nothing but velvet robe with two bottles of champagne and two women.  My husband said, no way in hell are you going on this interview:) SMDH...

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  30. Wow! Now, THAT is a story, Lindsay!

    This is why comments rock! Real life stories like that are priceless.

    Thanks for going down memory lane with us, Lindsay! Good stuff ;-)

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  31. Do you think that the "like us on FB" was tongue in cheek? Because I bet their clientele get a kick out of it as well.

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  32. Hey Sam, I honestly don't think it was tongue in cheek at all. I'm more inclined to think someone who just wasn't thinking with a clear head wrote it on the sandwich board. :-)

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  33. Anthony: Your comment was lost in Disqus, so pardon the late reply.

    I suppose if you're Facebook friends with other porn lovers, I guess it would be no big deal ;-) It all goes to the circles we travel in, I suppose.

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  34. At this time there are many people use the social networking website for watch the porn. I also use the social networking websites for watch the porno and most of i prefer Facebook to watch it.

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