The Failings of Social Networking

26/04/2010 lpower 35 comments

Introduction

Social networking sites have acquired such a huge following in a short amount of time it is understandable that there has been both positive and negative impacts. Here I will argue that social networking sites have a negative influence on teenagers, in the workplace and society in general. This paper is a component of the Social Networking stream for the NET204 Conference as it relates primarily to social networking and the impact it has on society. It is important to gain an understanding of what social networking is and to be aware of the influence it has on society. Social networking sites allow their users to build a profile of themselves which is freely available to a select community with links to others within the community who are able to view and share information (boyd & Ellison, 2007). There are already over 400 million users accessing Facebook (Kirk, 2010), 75 million registered users on Twitter (Gaudin, 2010) and 125 million users with access to MySpace (MySpace, n.d.). In such a short period of time social networking sites have thrived in the community, impacting the lives of both adults and teenagers alike.

There has been a considerable amount of negative publicity regarding social networking sites and the media has contributed a great deal towards public concern over this phenomenon. Livingstone argues “at best, social networking is time-wasting and socially isolating, and at worst it allows paedophiles to groom children in their bedroom or sees teenagers lured into suicide pacts while parents think they are doing their homework” (2008, p.395). Unfortunately, there is a dark element to social networking and without appropriate supervision, it can become a dangerous activity. The majority of unwanted sexual solicitation is associated more with chat rooms, however, this still does occur on social networking sites with 4% reporting an incident through social networking sites from a study of 1,588 youth in 2007 by Ybarra & Mitchell (as cited in Pujazon-Zazik & Park, 2010). Online sexual predators often prey on youth. They learn how to speak teenager’s language, understanding their interests and cultures in an effort to be able to relate with youths in a bid to become close and intimate (van Manen, 2010). It is not unusual to build a relationship online with someone without ever meeting them. Unfortunately, some young people are not aware of security issues and the need for privacy. They can easily provide personal information and become intimate with strangers online not being fully aware of the consequences (van Manen, 2010).

Friends: how many is too many?

Popularity is important for most teenagers and with the introduction of social networking sites, some teenagers can feel the pressure of being accepted. Many users on social networking sites have lists of friends sometimes in the hundreds or even thousands (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). Are these really friends or acquaintances or are they people they have never met? The Collins Australian Dictionary (2007, p. 650) defines the meaning of friend as “a person known well to another and regarded with liking, affection, and loyalty”. A study by Zywica & Danowski, 2008 (as cited in Utz, 2010), considers the number of friends relates to popularity. The more friends a user has the more popular they become. This may lead to insecurities for users who have a small number of friends. Hutson (2009) also claims that too few Facebook friends may label you a “loser” and too many brand you a “social slut”. Hutson (2009) believes people are “friending out of desperation rather than popularity”.

Social networking sites are a very self absorbing pastime. As Livingstone argues, “social networkers are supposedly wholly narcissistic” (2008, p. 395). Narcissism can have a negative impact on the individual and their friends. Social networking sites are an appropriate venue for narcissists as the ability to maintain a large number of superficial friends and being able to self promote is important (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008).

Workplace Conflict

Another serious repercussion of social networking is the effect it is having in the workplace. There have been numerous news reports regarding users of social network sites losing their job or had disciplinary action over inappropriate postings on these sites. Virgin Atlantic sacked a number of its staff for posting offensive comments on Facebook about passengers (Fairfax Digital, 2008). Many companies have banned employee access to social networking sites as it has been regarded as unproductive. According to Nucleus Research (2009) “companies effectively lose an average of 1.5 percent of total office productivity when employees can access Facebook during the work day”. This research (2009) was conducted using 237 randomly selected office workers where “one in every 33 built their entire Facebook profile during work”. Politics, although embracing social networking sites for the recent elections, has also dismissed employees because of Facebook postings. A political advisor was sacked for posting offensive content on Facebook (Violante, 2009). There are prospective employees missing out on jobs because of Facebook postings. What may be an innocent posting between friends can become public knowledge. Bragging about drinking and drugs can be detrimental to your career (MSN NZ Money staff, 2010). Teenagers are publicly displaying reference to inappropriate behaviour on their profiles and it may affect future employment opportunities and college acceptance (Pujazon-Zazik & Park, 2010).

Impact of Cyberbulling

One major problem with social networking is cyberbullying. Pujazon-Zazik & Park (2010) identify the negative effects of online socialising including cyberbullying, risk taking activities and sexual predators. Bullying actions can range from posting malicious photos to spreading rumours and intimidating users (Pujazon-Zazik & Park, 2010). As it is easy to be anonymous on social networking sites, it makes it a simple job for cyberbullies to target their victims. The incidence of cyberbullying is mainly targeted at teenagers. According to an online survey conducted in the US in 2007 by Ybarra & Mitchell (as cited in Pujazon-Zazik & Park, 2010, p.81), “1,588 youth reported an online harassment last year”, that’s 33% of those surveyed. Activities associated with risky behaviour include swear words, referenced alcohol use, marijuana use, tobacco use, and revealing photographs (Pujazon-Zazik & Park, 2010).

Facebook – A Destructive Effect

Sadly, there are many negative aspects to Facebook which outweigh the positive. As previously mentioned, cyberbullying is one facet of social networking which cannot be ignored. Recently when a teenager committed suicide in the US there were hurtful posts about the teenager after her death (Associated Press/NBC New York, 2010). In another incident a teenager in Britain jumped to her death after reading cruel messages on her Facebook page (Wynter, 2009). These instances of cyberbullying are becoming more prevalent and are a facet of social networking which creates a negative influence. In 2008 in the UK, a husband killed his wife when not long after they separated she changed her Facebook status to single (BBC News UK, 2008). The impact postings on social networking sites can have on people should not be underestimated. Another more recent incident was of a child contestant on “Britain’s Got Talent” television show. The child star had sickening messages left for her by paedophiles on her Facebook page (Robertson, 2010).

You don’t have to look far to find articles about the negative impact of Facebook: “Café boss uses Facebook to sack schoolgirl” (Australian Associated Press, 2010), “Murdered Michelle’s Facebook tribute defaced” (Kwek, 2010), “Facebook linked to rise in syphilis” (Moses, 2010). Another problem that has emerged from Facebook is tagging photos. It may seem insignificant but tagging photos can be a socially unpleasant. Thompson (2008) recites a conversation he overhead between friends where one was complaining that old high school photos of her were being tagged and appeared in searches for her. Her grievance was the photos were “hideous” and she didn’t want anyone finding them. Thompson (2008) also reveals Facebook users are staying registered just to keep track of what is being said about them to ensure their “virtual version” of themselves is accurate. If you don’t define who you are, someone else will. There is a great amount of pressure put on teenagers today and with the introduction of social networking sites this has contributed to the stress (Livingstone, 2008).

The Twitter effect

Twitter has also received negative feedback since its inception in 2006. The mere fact that tweets are limited to 140 characters reveals that there is no real content within tweets, making them insignificant. To support this theory, Thompson’s (2008) article delves into intimacy on social networking sites, describing social network site postings as ‘mundane’ and ‘ambient updates’. Alex Beam, a Boston Globe columnist, questioned (as cited in Thompson, 2008) “who really cares what I am doing, every hour of the day? Even I don’t care”. Pemberton’s (2009) article also illustrates the unexciting phenomenon of Twitter. Dr David Lewis (as cited in Pemberton, 2009) states that Twitter users are insecure and are using Twitter to give their lives a sense of meaning. However he recognizes that Twitter will not cure insecurities but only prolong them. Twitter is a useful marketing tool for people that want attention and want to be at the forefront of people’s minds (Pemberton, 2009).

The fall of MySpace

“In 2007, MySpace.com accounted for 80 percent of visits to any social networking website on the internet” (Reuters as cited in Patchin & Hinduja, 2010). MySpace’s popularity has diminished somewhat with the introduction of Facebook and other social networking sites however MySpace is still considered a popular site for teenagers. Patchin & Hinduja (2010) have detailed that adult males have made friends with teenage girls on MySpace and then abused them or had sexual relations with them which has occurred in states across the US. A case which received plenty of publicity was in 2006 when a 13 year old girl in the US, Megan Meier, committed suicide because a “make believe” boyfriend broke up with her. The “make believe” boyfriend was in fact the mother of another student who wanted revenge for gossip about her own daughter (Dillon, 2009).

Spamming Concern

To add to the list of dangers, spammers are also an impediment when it comes to social networking sites. A recent article details Facebook users being the target of spammers trying to steal passwords and other data (Kirk, 2010). The number of articles available to warn users of inherent risks within social networking sites is increasing. Brenner (2010) discusses the problems with Farmville, a farm simulation game within Facebook. The more information users supply, the more of a target they become. For anyone looking to steal information, applications like Farmville are a perfect tool to deceitfully obtain information about users. Another article “Seven deadly sins of social networking security” (Brenner, 2009) outlines the negative effect of sharing information, ensuring there is a balance between personal and professional information, and being mindful of the amount and type of information is posted online. Identity theft is a big problem amongst social networking sites. With such a large amount of information publicly available concerning individuals, it can be used to create a false persona. “People may claim connections to celebrities or other high status people to raise their own status” (Donath & boyd, 2004. p.7). The ease with which someone can create a fake identity and masquerade as another person is unsettling however with the amount of personal information available online it is not surprising.

Conclusion

Social networking sites have taken the world by storm and are not going to go away any time soon. Unfortunately, there are many aspects of social networking sites that are detrimental to user’s privacy and social standing. As I have outlined in this paper, the dangers range from being socially isolated to being stalked b sexual predators. Also, people who already have a tendency towards narcissism have thrived using social networking sites. Cyberbulling is another negative upshot related to social networking sites. The large amount of incidences relating to teenage suicide connected with social networking sites has also contributed to the negative effect. Furthermore, having an influence in the workplace and having an impact on employers using social networking tools to judge a prospective employee is frightening. Personal space is no longer personal. Not as damaging but can be just as humiliating for some users is the idea of collecting friends and the number of friends being associated with popularity. Having to also deal with identify theft and security issues makes it a tool with numerous different aspects users need to be aware of. Maybe social networking is not so social after all.

References

Associated Press/NBC New York (2010). Hateful Facebook Posts about teenage suicide victim spur outrage. Retrieved 28 March 2010 from http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Hateful-Facebook-Posts-About-Teen-Suicide-Victim-Spur-Outrage-89296387.html

Australian Associated Press (2010). Café boss uses Facebook to sack schoolgirl. (2010). Retrieved 29 March 2010 from http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/cafe-boss-uses-facebook-to-sack-schoolgirl-20100324-qv28.html

boyd, D., & Ellison, N. (2007). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11. Retrieved 15 March 2010 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html

Brenner, B. (2010). Inside FarmVille’s Sinister Underbelly. Retrieved 19 March 2010 from http://www.csoonline.com/article/533113/ShmooCon_Inside_FarmVille_s_Sinister_Underbelly?page=1

Buffardi, L.E. & Campbell, W. K. (2008). Narcissism and Social Networking Web Sites. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2008: 34 (pp.1303-1314). Retrieved 28 March 2010 from http://psp.sagepub.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/cgi/reprint/34/10/1303.pdf

Collins Australian Dictionary. (2007). HarperCollins Publishers (Ninth Edition) (p.650).

Dillon, N. (2009). Parents of suicide victim plead to put MySpace cyberbully mum behind bars. Retrieved 20 March 2010 from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/05/19/2009-05-19_parents_plead_to_put_cyberbully_behind_bars.html

Donath, J. & boyd, D. (2004). Public Displays of Connection (DRAFT). BT Technology Journal, 22(4), (pp.71-82). Retrieved 10 March from http://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/Donath/socialnetdisplay.draft.pdf

Fairfax Digital (2008). Virgin Atlantic sacks 13 staff over Facebook criticism. Retrieved 19 March 2010 from http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/web/virgin-atlantic-sacks-13-staff-over-facebook-criticism/2008/11/03/1225560695328.html

Gaudin, S (2010). Twitter now has 75M users; most asleep at the mouse. Retrieved 15 March 2010 from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9148878/Twitter_now_has_75M_users_most_asleep_at_the_mouse

Hutson, M. (2009). Facebook Friends: Too Many, Too Few? Retrieved 20 March 2010 from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainstorm/200901/facebook-friends-too-many-too-few

Kirk, J. (2010). Facebook users targeted in spam attack. Retrieved 20 March 2010 from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9173158/Facebook_users_targeted_in_spam_attack

Kwek, G. (2010). Murdered Michelle’s Facebook tribute defaced. Retrieved 30 March 2010 from http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/murdered-michelles-facebook-tribute-defaced-20100330-raj2.html

Livingstone, S. (2008). Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: teenagers’ use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression. New Media Society 2008: 10 (pp. 393-411). Retrieved 20 March from http://nms.sagepub.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/cgi/reprint/10/3/393.pdf

Moses, A. (2010). Facebook linked to rise in syphilis. Retrieved 30 March 2010 from http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/facebook-linked-to-rise-in-syphilis-20100326-r17y.html

MSN NZ Money staff, (2010). Employers reject job seekers thanks to Facebook page. Retrieved 20 March 2010 fro http://money.msn.co.nz/career/worklifebalance/993054/employers-reject-job-seekers-thanks-to-facebook-page

MySpace (n.d.). Retrieved 20 March from http://www.crunchbase.com/company/myspace

Nucleus Research (2009). Facebook: Measuring the cost to business of social networking. Retrieved 23 April 2010 from http://nucleusresearch.com/research/notes-and-reports/facebook-measuring-the-cost-to-business-of-social-notworking/

Patchin, J. W. & Hinduja, S. (2010). Trends in online social networking: adolescent use of MySpace over time. New Media & Society, 12(2), (pp. 197-216). Retrieved 19 March 2010 from http://nms.sagepub.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/cgi/reprint/12/2/197.pdf

Pemberton, A. (2009). A load of Twitter. Retrieved 20 March 2010 from http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article5747308.ece

Pujazon-Zazik, M. & Park, M. J. (2010). To Tweet, or Not to Tweet: Gender Differences and Potential Positive and Negative Health Outcomes of Adolescents’ Social Internet Use. American Journal of Mens Health 2010; 4(1); (pp. 77-85). Retrieved 30 March 2010 from http://jmh.sagepub.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/cgi/reprint/4/1/77.pdf

Robertson, P. (2010). Facebook pedophiles target Britain’s Got Talent TV star Hollie Steel, 11. Retrieved 4 April 2010 from http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/facebook-pedophiles-target-britains-got-talent-tv-star-hollie-steel-11/story-e6frfmyi-1225849407192

Thompson, C. (2008). Brave New World of Digital Intimacy. Retrieved 20 March 2010 from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07awareness-t.html?_r=1

Utz, S. (2010). Show me your friends and I will tell you what type of person you are: How one’s profile, number of friends, and type of friends influence impression formation on social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 15, (pp. 314-335).

van Manen, M. (2010). The Pedagogy of Momus Technologies: Facebook, Privacy and Online Intimacy. Qualitative Health Research; 1-10. Retrieved 27 March from http://qhr.sagepub.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/cgi/rapidpdf/1049732310364990v1.pdf

Violante, V. (2009). Anger at Lib staffer’s Facebook ranting. Retrieved 19 March 2010 from http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/anger-at-lib-staffers-facebook-ranting/1495195.aspx

Wynter, N. (2009). Parents of Holly Grogan, 15, blame Facebook for teen’s suicide. Retrieved 20 March 2010 from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/09/21/2009-09-21_parents_of_holly_grogan_15_blame_facebook_for_teens_suicide.html

The failings of social networking by Elizabeth Power is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

By Elizabeth Power

Social Networks community, culture, cyberbullying, Facebook, myspace, NET204, profile, Social Networking, spamming, twitter

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Comments

Written by 07EUleighann about 10 months ago. Reply

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Written by JasonK about 2 years ago. Reply

Your paper about the dark side of the net is great and a refreshing change to the the positive SNS army.

I completely agree with you that youth today are mostly naive and blind to the dangers of SNS’s adding complete strangers as “friends” as in Facebook. My own paper looked at this as well and According to Facebook Statistics (2010), the average Facebook user has 130 “Friends”, however up to 50% of people surveyed in the study by Govani & Pashley (2005, p6), have accepted “friend” requests from people they have met just once and a staggering 30% accepted requests from people they have never personally met.

Having so many “friends” has potential privacy implications especially when 30% of these friends people have never met. In Facebook, by accepting a “friend” request from someone, you are by proxy permitting all that sender’s Friends access to your profile and personally identifiable information. Clay Shirky (cited in Grimmelmann, p38) has neatly summarized this
predicament by stating that a, “‘[F]riend of a friend of a friend’ is pronounced ‘stranger.’”

Herein lies the problem and privacy issue with the “Friending” mechanism as it exposes personally private and identifiable information to strangers beyond the immediate person you have just “Friended”.

The negative consequences of SNS’s are many as you have listed. It’s good that you have mentioned workplace conflicts, as another paper here on the site was actually advocating the use of Facebook in the workplace to enhance communication between employees. I found it particularly interesting when you said that according to Nucleus Research, “This research (2009) was conducted using 237 randomly selected office workers where “one in every 33 built their entire Facebook profile during work”. I can just imagine the number of people wasting even more office time online if Facebook were actively encouraged in the workplace. Employees are always looking for ways to waste time, and Facebook would be the perfect avenue for this.

SNS’s do have many pitfalls and can caused problems for people who use them. I think we should remember though, that pretty much any tool that mankind has invented over the millennia can be used in a good or bad way depending upon the social or economic system into which it is embedded. Facebook and other SNS’s inherently have a positive purpose, to connect people and share information, yet these same goals, permit people to misuse them for a darker purpose as you have mentioned in your paper.

In the end, we have a choice whether we want to use these technologies for the purpose they are built for knowing full well that there are potential negative consequences in doing so, or, whether we chose not use them.

Your paper is a valuable addition to this conference and the points you make should be required reading for all school children. Very well presented and written.

Facebook Statistics. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?
statistics

Govani, T. & Pashley, H. (2005). Student Awareness of the Privacy Implications When
Using Facebook. Retrieved from http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/fa05/tubzhlp.pdf.

Grimmelmann, J.T. (2009) Saving Facebook, 94 Iowa L. Rev. 1137, 1160
http://www.law.uiowa.edu/journals/ilr/Issue%20PDFs/ILR_94-4_Grimmelmann.pdf
- Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  Hi Jason
  
  Thanks for the comments. As mentioned in my paper the definition of friend is “a person known well to another and regarded with liking, affection, and loyalty”. If everyone on Facebook used this definition to accept a friend it would be a vastly different network.
  
  In Emerson’s (2010) article the magistrate points out just because people are “Facebook friends” it is not defined as a “friendship in the traditional sense”. The term “friend” in Facebook could mean acquaintance or even in some cases it could mean stranger.
  
  The article continues with a comment from Website editor Jessica van Coppenhagen, 24, “Isn’t that the whole point of this medium – getting in touch with people you wouldn’t normally?” she said. “Why would you just have your friends on Facebook. Wouldn’t you just talk to them? Why would you need Facebook?”
  
  Interesting question …
  
  Emerson, D. (2010). Facebook friends not real friends: judge. Retrieved 16 May 2010 from http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/facebook-friends-not-real-friends-judge/2008/03/27/1206207279597.html
Written by Jiawen Lin about 2 years ago. Reply

Hi Liz, I like your paper as it covers most of significant negative aspects of social network. I also like the way you present your points with interesting title and make the reading easier and fun. Your argument is very clear and you have support it very well with a lot of real life examples which are persuasive. I agree that there are a lot of dark sides of social network, but I still think it is an important part of our daily life as it provides user-friendly tools for us to communicate and interact with others. Do you think if there is any solution for users to reduce the risk and danger of using social network?
- Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  Hi Jiawen
  
  Thank you for commenting on my paper. I think the way to reduce the risks associated with social networking is education. Both teenagers and adult alike need to be educated on security settings and the risks associated with strangers having access to a range of personal information and the implications if this information falls into the wrong hands.
  
  It is not only your friends who can have access to this information but “friends of friends” can sometimes have access to more information than users are aware.
  
  Liz
  - Written by li ying about 2 years ago. Reply
    
    Hi Liz, I agree with your suggestion that adults and teenagers have to be educated about online privacy. I think traditional media should write a feature article about that issue. With this, parents can teach their children about this issue and hence lower the risk of stalkers etc.
    Overall, very interesting paper!
Written by WendyL about 2 years ago. Reply

Just wanted to say that I’m not sure if I have already posted a comment. My son pushed a couple of buttons and my comment disappeared so I apologise if these comments appear twice.
Thanks for your paper.
You have covered a very broad range of issues relating to the negative side of social networks. When reading your paper I felt like I wanted to learn more about each section but I do realise that you were limited to a word count.

As already commented by others I disagree with the statement that these networks are mostly used by teenagers. Social networks have provided a platform that makes it easier to communicate for everyone especially with family and friends who are separated socially.

My paper focuses on the way we have adapted to social networks with positive affects. Social networks are just another way for people to communicate.
- Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  Hi Wendy
  
  I agree that social networks help people communicate especially in rural communities and circumstances where people are not able to socialise.
  
  Social network are a place for people to communicate but not all forms of communication are social or have a positive impact on society. There are many negative aspects to social networking as I have outlined in my paper and users need to be made aware of these negative influences and make their own decision on whether the risk is worth it.
  
  Liz
Written by PeterP about 2 years ago. Reply

Hi Liz,
Good paper. With the number of issues and dangers associated with using social networking sites it really makes you think twice about using them. It’s a bit scary, especially for teenagers who are probably ‘more trusting of others and unaware of the potential harmful consequences’1 of using Facebook and other similar sites.

In particular I think the issue of cyber-bullying has the most potential to harm teenagers and there needs to be a degree of involvement from parents to ensure the teenager is made aware of all of these issues.

These sites do offer some positives for teenagers including offering an easy way to communicate with friends. Based on your research into this topic do you think that the positives would ever outweigh the negatives?

1. Kobseva , N. (2009). Teens And Facebook: Tips For Safety. Retrieved May 10, 2010 from http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Teens-And-Facebook–Tips-For-Safety/1019102
- Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  Hi Peter,
  Thanks for the feedback. I think with the proliferation of so many social networking sites becoming available in such a short period of time, people were eager to sign up without fully understanding the consequences. Now that the dust has settled, users are becoming more aware of the controls they have at their disposal in relation to security on social networking sites.
  Parents and educators are also becoming more aware of the need to ensure children are not at risk and once users are prepared with the right information, the negative aspects will not be as evident as they are currently.
  
  However, if you read Tim Green’s article (2010), he offers the advice “the only sure way to avoid malware and revealing too much personal information through social networks – stop using social networks”.
  
  Liz
  
  Greene, T. (2010). Tips for using Twitter, Facebook and other “anti-social networks”. Retrieved 12 May 2010 from http://www.techworld.com.au/article/345018/tips_using_twitter_facebook_other_anti-social_networks
Written by jhiroberts about 2 years ago. Reply

Hi,

I very interesting paper, a very good general look at the short comings of social networking.

Whist I agree with some of your points, I still believe that social networking should play a part in today’s society.

I think that the greater community needs to be better educated in the pit falls that can occur whist using social networking. I also believe that these Social networking sites also should play a part in this education.

Cheers

Jhi
- Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  Hi Jhi
  
  I agree that there needs to be more education around the dangers of social networking. As with anything, if not used correctly there can be some very negative effects. Unfortunately, I don’t think some of the dangers will ever disappear completely.
  
  Social networking sites already have security in place and information on safety, what other controls do you think they can implement to make it safer?
  
  Liz
  - Written by jhiroberts about 2 years ago. Reply
    
    Hi Liz,
    
    Whist I agree that all SNS do have information and settings for users to change their privacy settings.
    
    I dont think these are well advertised, especially with Facebook, as they tend to change the settings for privacy from time to time.
    
    I would say a quick tutorial when members first sign up, or an email sent to new users when they join would be fine.
    
    Over the past few years Facebook has received a lot of flack over its privacy settings and controls, however they seem to be very slow to change, which makes me wonder why? When something as simple as an email or tutorial could fix a PR nightmare.
    
    Cheers
    
    Jhi
Written by TomEvans about 2 years ago. Reply

Hi lpower,

Thanks for a well written paper. You have given a very detailed summary of the dangers of social networking. It is surprising what people are prepared to reveal about themselves online perhaps forgetting that although they may be sending their message from the safety and privacy of their own room to their listed friends, it can be read by anyone logging onto their profile. Your comments about the repercussions of posting inappropriate content on Facebook were interesting. As you point out, personal space is no longer personal and can be a public reflection of who you appear to be. Are employer’s right to be concerned when one of their employees has an online profile that is not in keeping with the company’s ethical position or public image? US President Barak Obama told a group of high school students late last year “I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life…that’s number one.” I liked your line that social networking may not be so social after all. What is posted today as a bit of fun, taken out of context later can come back to bite.

Montanaro, Domenico (2009) “Obama: Be careful what you post online” – http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/09/08/2057649.aspx
- Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  Hi Tom
  Thanks for your comments. There have been a few occasions where Facebook postings have come back to haunt users as I have outlined in my paper. It is interesting to read that Barak Obama is educating students on the dangers of social networking. According to the article you referred to, the White House has 341,860 “fans” on Facebook. I wonder if he was speaking from experience and has ever posted something he has regretted?
Written by Michael N about 2 years ago. Reply

I liked the various issues you covered to support your arguement. I wonder if in the rush to sign up to all these sites people were not aware of the pitfalls and with some it is through bitter experience that we are hearing more about the unpleasent side of social networking. Certainly a couple of the other papers in this stream think so.

I am on Twitter for business and academic purposes, reading someone is baking a cake annoys me, but I disagree with de botton in this article you quoted by Pemberton (2009):

“To ‘follow’ someone is to have a fantasy of who this person you’re following is, and you use it as a map reference or signpost to guide your own life because you are lost,” says James. “I would guess that the typical profile of a ‘follower’ is someone who is young and who feels marginalised, empty and pointless. They don’t have an inner life,” he says.”

Whilst younger people may make up the majority of users, I believe Twitter has impacted on many people of different ages. I wonder for example if maritial status might impact its use. Certainly celebrities use it but in a controlled manner. I agree SNS might be pointless but not totally, so to just say they do not have an inner life is such a generalisation. Then again it is only a short article.

Pemberton, A. (2009). A load of Twitter. Times Online. Retrieved 20 March 2010 from http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article5747308.ece
- Written by directorcia about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  People make the claim that SNS are useless because of all the blatter about ‘baking cakes’ (for example). However, can’t the same criteria be applied to email? Look at the amount of useless email that abounds. Now add in all the spam, again can’t the same crietria be applied to that? There certainly doesn’t seem to be many people decrying the need to use email, it is simply a given these days. Perhaps in the future social networking wil be as well?
- Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  Hi Michael
  Thanks for your comments. I agree that there are many different uses of Twitter. There are obviously different reasons why people sign up to Twitter and we hear more about the negative aspect referring to mundane, meaningless tweets than the positive aspects. I guess it also depends on who you are following and why. Some people may want to read meaningless tweets however if you manage to filter out the good from the bad there are many interesting uses for both business and academic purposes.
  - Written by Michael N about 2 years ago. Reply
    
    Agree, I have found Twitter has some excellent links to research so it certainly has not totally failed, but as an entertainment medium which some treat it as it is banal.
Written by Andrew Pettigrew about 2 years ago. Reply

Hi Liz,
I enjoyed reading your strongly and uni-directional argued paper that contained numerous real-world examples. Your paper covered seven hot areas of SNS concern, however one could argue that each topic could be a paper in its own right. Importantly you excelled with your use of succinct summarisation, writing style and references from leading academic authorities.

During my examination of online bullying, I found an Australian article dealing with cyber bullying in schools and the legal consequences that every teacher, parent and student should read (Butler, Kift, & Campbell, 2010). Hope this is of interest.

Best wishes
Andrew

Butler, D., Kift, S., & Campbell, M. (2010). Cyber Bullying In Schools and the Law: Is there an Effective Means of Addressing the Power Imbalance? Murdoch University. Retrieved April 3, 2010, from https://elaw.murdoch.edu.au/index.php/elawmurdoch/article/view/24/8
- Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  Hi Andew,
  
  Thanks for your comments and I found the article very interesting. I noted a “Canadian study in 2006 found that 24.9% of adolescents reported they have been cyber bullied” and it refers to a study in 2005 in Australia of 14% reported to being cyber bullied. It would be interesting to see updated statistics from Australia, seeing as Australians spend more time on social media sites than any other country [1].
  
  I agree, it should be mandatory for everyone to be aware of the consequences of cyberbulling and also to ensure the victims are aware there is legislation in place to protect them.
  
  [1] ABC News (2010). Retrieved 6 May 2010 from http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/01/2807088.htm
Written by Zohara Ibrahim about 2 years ago. Reply

Hello Elizabeth,

Your topic is sound like mine topic, The Danger of Social Networking, I agree, each point you wrote make sense, such as cyuber-bullying, twitter effect, workplace conflict and extra. I agree, in spam point too add to the list of dangers, spammers are also an impediment when it comes to social networking sites. A recent article details Facebook users being the target of spammers trying to steal passwords and other data (Kirk, 2010), even though facebook or other social networking have the privacy the user id & password can steal from spam. According to one research, spam refers to unsolicited email from business that advertise good and services, spam usally mass mailing advertise pornography, get rich quucik, scehemes and miracles cures. sometimes, the user will recceived this kind of email without knowing, in this sitution, once the users click it, they will get risk for their user id & password and it is really dangerous, becaes your personal data such as ur birdtahday and ur real name can be risk and steal as well. I agree, social networking, can toward to cyber-bullying, it always happen usually for young users. i have one of article, the 17 years old high school student jumped to his death off the west Gate Bridge after reading death threat online. In this case, kids have get this enormous power of this internet thing and it is out of control, because they are not mature enough to know what are they doing (“Teens killed in cyber, bullying epidemic,” 2009).
And one thing, you should cover addicted point in your topic as well, so that make your point more make sense and more information to argrue.
- Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  Thanks for the feedback. There are a lot of dangers social networking users need to be aware of. You are right about the addiction to social networking sites. This article by Sharon Gaudin [1] states in a Retrevo Gadgetology study “that 48% of those polled say they update Facebook or Twitter during the night or as soon as they wake up”. With so many active users logging in to these sites and with Facebook now more popular than Google more users are at risk of being addicted [2].
  
  [1] http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9172378/Social_networking_addicts_updating_from_bed_bathroom?source=rss_news
  
  [2] http://mashable.com/2010/04/16/facebook-at-work/
Written by karinaMP about 2 years ago. Reply

As Livingstone argues, “social networkers are supposedly wholly narcissistic” (2008, p. 395)
It’s right. I just did a research about this for my paper. I found that whatever we do in social networks sites is just about self-actualizing. How you want people know you and attract the to have interest in you by posting something to your web page.
- Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  That’s right. If you didn’t want other people to find out about you, then you wouldn’t have a presence in social networking sites. Even if it is just for your own friends, you are still posting information about yourself which may seem egotistical. On the other hand I have a presence on Facebook and I don’t think of myself as narcissistic – or am I?
Written by RadekV about 2 years ago. Reply

Hi
In the past we had only bullying, now we have also cyberbullying, I do not think that bullying got worse because SNS, I think that just part of the bullying moved from school playgrounds to SNSs.
- Written by directorcia about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  I agree. Perhaps now technology makes bullying more anonymous which means more people are inclined to perpertrate it because they feel the risk of them being identified is lower?
- Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  I think it’s easier for cyberbullies as they think they can be anonymous. Its much easier to bully someone when they cannot see you.
  - Written by Radek_Valenta about 2 years ago. Reply
    
    Do you think that SNSs should be held responsible for their services misused for cyberbullying, or is it solely up to the school and parents?
    - Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
      
      I don’t think it is the responsibility of the SNS if the service is misused. They are providing a service and it is up to the individual to abide by the rules and regulations.
      
      I think it is difficult to enforce the age of users. Facebook has an age limit of 13 or older but I now children who are younger than 13 that have a Facebook account.
      
      Unfortunately there is no age limit for cyberbullies and it is not only children who are victims.
Written by directorcia about 2 years ago. Reply

Are not all human interactions subject to some form of failure? Would you say that the technology of social networking is in fact neutral and that it is the people who use social networking that are sole contributors to these failings? It is like the old argument ‘guns don’t kill people, people kill people’. Cannot the same logic be applied here?

Perhaps the greatest thing that the technology of social networking now provides is the speed and breath of which human interactions can be transacted. If these are used for good then it is marvellous, if used for harm then it is evil. It simply becomes an amplifcation for normal human nature doesm’t it?
- Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
  
  Yes, you are correct, the same logic can apply to social networking however when the majority of social networking users are teenagers, they need to be educated on the risks associated with social networking.
  
  Social networking has made it easier for cyberbullies to exist as they can be anonymous and harass their victims without their identities known. “Normal human behaviour” has ramifications, there are laws to stop harassment and other unlawful behaviour however the anonymity of social networking sites enables people to hide behind their online profiles without any ramifications for their behaviour.
  - Written by directorcia about 2 years ago. Reply
    
    I disagree with the statement that the majority of social networking users are teenagers. Look at these statistics from Neilsen:
    
    http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/for-social-networking-women-use-mobile-more-than-men/
    
    I agree that technology makes it easier to commit bullying but couldn’t it be equally said that it can be utilized to effectively deal with it? If I get an annoying email from someone I can use email rules to route that email directly to the trash. I can de-friend someone on Facebook.
    
    At the end of the day the technology is neutral I believe. For as much good as it brings it also brings harm. How that is dealt with is up to the user. The secret I believe is education. If you know how to use the technology effectively tehn you are less likley to be a victim. An anology maybe driving. The better and more experienced driver you are (through advanced driver training) the better you are able to handle unexpected situations and reduce you chance of an accident.
    
    I agree that people can hide their idenities with technology but the technology always leaves a foot print and if you are dedicated you can track that person down and take action now that you have their actions documented as evidence. Whether people have the skill or seek someone with that skill is perhaps more the question. Maybe our traditional law enforcement agencies (like many other traditional insitutions) need to skill up and change to serve us better.
    - Written by lpower about 2 years ago. Reply
      
      Maybe I should have said there are many teenagers using social networking sites although the statistics from Nielsen refer to mobile usage of social networking rather than overall usage.
      
      I also believe that education is imperative for all users of social networking. Ensuring security settings are in place will make it less likely for bullies to contact social networking users.
      
      There are many ways in which identities can be anonymous however with technology becoming more advanced it will become more difficult to hide behind online profiles and hopefully there will be stricter laws for cyberbullies and they should be made fully aware of the consequences.
      - Written by directorcia about 2 years ago. Reply
        
        I think that perhaps in today’s competitive corporate environment it is incorrect to assume that businesses like Facebook are going to make it easy to ensure people’s privacy is strong by default. It is not in their interests to promote that and will most likely fail to do so until press by consumers and users.
        
        The old adage that you need to assume that ANYTHING you place on Facebook (and the Internet in general) could be up anywhere. What makes that even more powerful is the ability to that content index and archived forever. In future may be a reference check will draw from all sources of Internet information to profile you – scary.
        
        I think that it is still very easy to hide using technology however I believe there are fewer and fewer people who have the technical ability to do that. Thus, we are creating a world where a very small percentage are able to traverse the system and take advantage of all the look holes (a.k.a. The Matrix). Security and privacy are generally the lowest priority for most technology businesses because they mean addition time and cost with little return. While this continues the amount of personal information that leaks onto the public Internet will continue to grow.
        
        Thanks
        @directorcia

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