Chances are you are on Facebook. More than 2 billion people around the world are active monthly users. I joined in 2006 because my brother said he wouldn’t send pictures of his first grandchild by email anymore – I could see them on Facebook instead. I joined. And then I soon figured out it was a great way to keep in touch with family and friends around the country.

I have always been suspicious of apps that I could sign into through Facebook. I didn’t want uncontrolled data sharing. I did not answer the many Facebook quizzes; I had heard someone say that the answers were probably building a profile on you for who knows what purpose.

I sometimes check out a sponsored ad if the product really grabs my attention, but I rarely purchase it. It’s an online shopping/browsing thing like looking at catalogs that still come in the mail.

I am vocal about my politics in my original posts, my likes, comments and shares of other posts. And I have joined certain private groups that share my politics. So yes, somewhere there is a profile on me and my politics.

On Twitter, I try to maintain a professional presence as much as possible and leave politics for my Facebook circle instead. I have read so much about online harassment of women on Twitter, and we do have a President who appears to be the cyberbully-in-chief.

With the latest exposure that Cambridge Analytica used Facebook data on 50 million Americans to influence the 2016 election, I am questioning how we can protect our personal information yet continue to utilize social media platforms and all the good they bring: keeping families and friends in touch or accelerating social movements around important issues. For example, The March For Our Lives this Saturday, March 24th in many cities has been organized through social media in just 5 weeks.

Mark Zuckerberg’s March 21st statement on Facebook helps us start to understand the steps the social media giant has taken in the past and will take in the future. But it is just the beginning. Much more information is needed. The story of what happened, how it happened, and how Facebook will ultimately need to make changes is just beginning. And there are far greater issues here around data privacy and security in our social media connected world of 2018.

A LinkedIn post from Sara Holoubek, CEO and founder of Luminary Labs, warns that we must be mindful of unintended consequences as we continue to advance technologies. Sara’s consulting firm develops strategies and innovation systems to help Fortune 500, government, and nonprofit organizations thrive in the face of change. Her post is worth noting here:

“Between the Facebook/Cambridge Analytics affair to a self-driving Uber killing a pedestrian, it’s time to admit that we are not ready for the world we have programmed. So how did we get here? It’s not as if we are completely unaware of potential consequences. Science fiction and even animated films such as The Incredibles (2004) and Wall-e (2008) imagined the self-learning machine out of control and the world that eats itself up. But the problem with science & technology is that it is nearly impossible to go backwards.  So why do we insist on moving faster and faster? Innovation – the kind that improves life for all humans – is a long game. So yes, keep inventing, breaking, and making. But be mindful of unintended consequences and be willing to forgo the quick buck today if it means a more sustainable world for future generations. Short-termism is bad for the economy. And it’s even worse for people.”

As a healthcare CIO, I have dealt with privacy and security issues – that sacred trust healthcare organizations and patients must have to protect their information. At times, the deployment of new technologies has had to take a pause or be slowed down to ensure we get it right.

There may be similar implications at a much larger scale with the social media platforms we have all learned to take for granted.