33
MY SPACE or YOURS Social Networking Websites Tish Biggs PhD
MY SPACE or YOURS
Social Networking Websites
Tish Biggs PhD
Definition
l Yesterday
l Local hangout – Place
l Telephone – Com Tool
l Cars/ Cruisin – Meeting Activity
l Purpose – to impress others, network, find friends
l Today
l My Space – Place
l Email/blogs/videos – Com Tool
l Chatting / Meeting – Meeting Activity
l Purpose – to impress others, network, find friends
Definition
Social networking websites offer an interactive network of l photos
l blogs
l user profiles
l groups
l and an internal e-mail system.
My Space.com
Purpose
l To Socializel Find Friends – Meet and chat – Networking
l Find Romance – Dating or Serious relationships
l To Selll Independent musicians
l CDs
l TV shows
l Products
Contents of a MySpace profile
Components
l Profile – l “About Me” – Likes, marital status, physical
appearance, income etc. l BLOG
l Pictures
l “Who I’d like to Meet”
l Calendar
l Email
l Block Users
Searchable
MySpace is also home to various
l By age 18-19 yr olds
l Zip code -
l Single, married, divorced, “Swinger”, in a relationship.
Results 2740 / 157,133,164
Account Settings
Preferred Privacy Setting
l Require email or last name to add me as a ‘friend’
l Approve ‘Comments’ before Posting
l Hide ‘Online Now’
l Show My Birthday only to my Friends
l No Picture Forwarding
l ‘Friend Only’ Blog Comments
l Block ‘Friend Request’ From Bands
l ‘Friend Only’ Group Invites
Instant Messages Settings
l There are three choices for ‘IM’l No one can IM me.
l Only Friends can IM me
l Anyone can IM me.
l Preferredl Only friends can IM me
Not the only one….
l New- Last 3 yearsl Because it requires Broadband Connection
l Rapid growth l April 2006 – 60,000l May 2006 – 70,000l Oct 2006 – 118,000,000l Feb 2007 - 157,133,164
l New marketing opportunity - Viable advertising space
Social Networking sites
43things.com Based on tagging Open
aSmallWorld European jet set and social elite Invite-only
10.Bebo Schools and colleges UnknownOpen
Campus Beaver North American university/college-oriented social network Open to College/University
students, recent grads and high school seniors
Connect.ee Local social networking site in EstoniaUnknownOpen
DeadJournal"Dark" blog community, based on LiveJournal Requires invite or payment
Downelink LGBT communityUnknown Open
Social Networking sites 2
2. Facebook American college and high school studentsOpen to students and
alumn
iFaceparty British teens and 20-somethings Open
Friendster Friend networks Open
GreatestJournal Uses LiveJournal code 1 Open
8. Hi5.com Popular in Europe, Latin America and CaribbeanOpen
Hyves Popular in The Netherlands, mainly students Open
IMVU Based upon a 3D chat client Open
Social Networking sites 3
IRC-Galleria Largest social networking site in Finland Open
JDate Jewish dating website Open
LinkedIn Focused on business relations Open
4. LiveJournal Blogging, networking, and communities Open
Mixi Most popular in Japan Invite-only
1.MySpace Social networks and music Open
7. myYearbook American teen networking Open
Social Networking sites 4
Nexopia Most popular in western CanadaOpen
OkCupid Dating serviceOpen
openBC Worldwide business network Open
Orkut Owned by Google Invite-only
Passado Combines social and business networks Open
Political Friendster A parody of the original Friendster for United States Politics Open
Profileheaven UK teens won community site of the year 2005 from metrix labsOpen
Social Networking sites 5
purevolume.com Music promotion Open
Slide Photo sharing application based network Open
Sconex American high schools Open
sms.ac Controversial mobile phone community Open
Snubster The First Anti-Social Networking Site Open
StumbleUpon Toolbar-based website ratings Open
StudybreakersHigh school students & alumni, formerly "Classface“
Open
Social Networking sites 6
9. Tagged Teen based network Open
6.TagWorld General social site with tagging Open
The Student Center Teen & college community site Open
Tribe.net Communities Open
iWiW Popular in Hungary Invite-only
WAYN Travellers Open
3. Xanga Blogs and communities Open
Social Networking sites 7
XuqaCollege networking site, similar to facebookOpen
5. Yahoo! 360Linked to Yahoo! IDs Open
Controversy – Content (Ed)
l MySpace has been criticized by the media due to some members posting nude or indecent pictures of themselves, in violation of the MySpace Terms of Service [11]. Recently there have been a number of criminal cases concerning such materials; authorities once shut the site down to investigate it in more detail. Such images, as well as the level of profanity in some sections of the site have led some US schools and corporations to block access to MySpace [12].
Controversy – Freedom of Speech
l Many of the responses to criticism have been just as controversial as the criticism itself. While many school districts choose simply to filter the site, others attempt to punish students for their comments posted on the site. When the student is being punished merely for comments, the ACLU and the EFF often become involved, seeing such punishments as a violation of students' free speech rights. Many of these cases are pending in lower courts; however, it would seem that as long as comments on MySpace are written as opinion, they would be considered protected speech.
Controversy - Safety
l There are also cases of adults using MySpace to find, meet, and stalk young teenagers. Such cases are typically the result of the victim displaying personal information on their profile unaware of the potential audience. Law enforcement is working to spread knowledge about this subject to users of social networking sites to help prevent cases in the future. These problems are not specific to MySpace, as any social-networking site can be used to find information about underage users, including but not limited to chat rooms, instant-messaging, blogs, and IRC. According to one of the World's leading internet privacy lawyers the incidents of stalkings, while real are often overplayed in the media and are made to appear much more prevalent than they truly are.
Use In Educational Settings
l Many schools and public libraries in the US and the UK have begun to restrict access to MySpace because it has become "such a haven for student gossip and malicious comments"[8].
l Some private schools, particularly those with a religious base, have even attempted to ban their pupils from accessing MySpace at home[9]. Anybody who violates this policy in this setting would have an automatic suspension.
l On November 7, 2005 only 400 out of 3,000 students of Warren High School in San Antonio, Texas showed up after two male students posted that they were going to bring guns to school. The threat was seen by officials and the students were arrested before anything could happen [10]. Such threats are not uncommon on MySpace. There have been many similar, less-publicized situations involving high-school students making threats that tend to be less serious.
l In 2005, a Connecticut teacher was suspended from teaching after school officials discovered he had a MySpace and used it to communicate with students.
Prevalence
l 1 in 5 children (under 17) have received unwanted sexual solicitations online
l 1 in 33 have received an aggressive solicitation to meet somewhere
l 49% of online solicitations are not disclosed
SAFE PRACTICE (Students)
l Don't forget that your profile and MySpace forums are public spaces.
l People aren't always who they say they are. Be careful about adding strangers to your friends list.
l Harassment, hate speech and inappropriate content should be reported.
l Don't post anything that would embarrass you later. – The Grandma Rule
l Don't mislead people into thinking that you're older or younger.
Setting the rules…
l Societal Rulesl Be street smart in your home
l Give trust sparingly – Trust and Tell…
l Civility
l If you wouldn’t shout it to the world don’t post it
l Be sparingly honest
Protecting vs. Policing (Parents)
l Talk with child about how predators ‘groom’ childrenl Convincing child of sincerity
l Convincing child of similar interest
l Convincing child that they must ‘meet’
l Secrecy
l Discuss and Agree
House Rules…
l House Rules – l Place ‘eyeballs’ on the computer monitor
l Agree on Personal Profile information
l Agree on Privacy Settings
l Agree on IM Settings
l Join the group with your own My Space
l Follow the other family rules….l Share info- communicate
l What Should My Best Friend Do (WSMBFD)
Scary or Secure?
l ----------------- Original Message ----------------- From: mel Date: Apr 16, 2006 1:49 PM
I think it's a mixture of scary and secure. I've received some really wierd friends requests and emails. I have very little personal information on my page for obvious reasons. I swore to myself that I would never use myspace, but after months of a friend begging me to do so, I caved. I'm still having second thoughts.
Scary or Secure #2
l I think my space is fun! I run into like a million people that I went to school. I really don't think that I would have been able to contact them with out it. I think it is great. Only thing that gets on my nerves is the stupid music groups that try to promote themselves on here.
I feel that MySpace is pretty secure. But it is just like anything on the Internet little ones need to be wary of predators. They should only add people that they already know or that their friends know.
If people use MySpace as a dating service then I could totally see people getting into trouble. But that really depends on how cautious the user is.
Setting the rules
Love All
Trust a Few
Do Wrong to No One!
Shakespeare
References
1. "Filling up MySpace" in MercatorNet, Feb 25, 2006 2. ^ Alexa Internet Alexa Web Search - top 500 English language websites. Retrieved March 4, 2006. 3. ^ CNN, May 31, 2001. Online storage firm shutters file depot. Retrieved December 29, 2005. 4. ^ Intermix Media, July 18, 2005. News Corporation to Acquire Intermix Media, Inc.. Retrieved
December 29, 2005. 5. ^ BBC News, January 24, 2006. MySpace looks to UK music scene. Retrieved January 24, 2006. 6. ^ Kuro5hin, July 17, 2005. MySpace: A Place for Dolts. Retrieved December 29, 2005. 7. ^ Slashdot, October 14, 2005. Cross-Site Scripting Worm Floods MySpace. Retrieved December 29,
2005. 8. ^ Curriculum Review, October 2005. Schools race to restrict MySpace. 9. ^ The Daily News, Washington, January 22, 2006. The MySpace case. Retrieved February 15, 2006. 10. ^ WOAI, November 11, 2005. Online Terror Thread Hits Local High School. Retrieved February 6,
2006. 11. ^ The Capital, January 1, 2006. Web site gives raw look into the lives of area teenagers. Retrieved
January 24, 2006. 12. ^ Boston Globe, December 8, 2005. Website's power to overexpose teens stirs a warning. Retrieved
January 24, 2006. 13. ^ MSNBC Dateline, February 4, 2006. To Catch a Predator III. Retrieved February 15, 2006.
