local folder permissions vs chown -- security considerations

I was trying to install a plugin, and I kept getting the following error:

Unpacking the package…

Could not create directory.

I'm on Localhost on a XAMPP stack on Mac OS X Yosemite.

The way I solved this was by changing the wp-content folder's permissions in Finder, so that everyone could write to not only the folder but also to all enclosed items.

Per the image below, I right clicked on (1), then changed (2) to "Read & Write" and then chose "apply to enclosed items" in (3).

The proper way to solve this would have been to give the correct user write permission to the wp-content folder by using the chown command.

I didn't use the chown command because (1) I'm still learning how to use it, and (2) it's not clear to me which user is supposed to be given permission to... whether it's the apache user or the ftp user (I'll figure it out eventually).

My question is, if I were to migrate this wordpress site to an online domain based on an Ubuntu server, what are the security implications of my having given everyone write access to this folder?