© 2009 charles d. knutson safe online social networking? positives, dangers, and challenges dr....

© 2009 Charles D. Knutson

Safe Online Social Networking?

Positives, Dangers, and Challenges

Dr. Charles D. Knutson

Brigham Young University

www.charlesknutson.net


Social network

Any network of individuals who interact for any reason

Traditional face-to-face networkingWard activityFootball gameFamily reunionBowling league

Our concern is with the emergent online variety…

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Social networking site

Websites that host an online communityBring together people with common

goals, interests, concernsSite may represent a singular interestSite normally permits the formation of

smaller networking groupsAccepting friends into a closer network

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Types of social networks Personal networking

Facebook, MySpace

Professional networking LinkedIn

Blogging Millions of individual blogs

Online discussion boards Hosted on traditional sites (news, sports, etc.)

Music sharing Last.fm, Playist

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Types of social networks Video sharing

YouTube, Google Video

Photo sharing Flickr, Picasa

Hobby and special interest networking Ancestry.com, all types of hobbies

Cyberdating Match, eHarmony

We'll talk about each of these in turn5


Cyberdating

Various types of dating sitesGeneric dating sitesTargeted demographics

LDS Singles, Christian singles, cat lovers…Elicit "hook-up" sites

Concerns…ContentPrivacyPredators

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Hobby and special interest

Varied interestsGenealogy, knitting, books, travel,

religion, movie lovers…Also illicit topics…

Generally tame communitiesStill need to gauge the spirit of the

community and the participantsAssess the rules of the community to

see how you feel about it

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Hobby and special interest

ConcernsContent is focused and concentrated

For good and for badPrivacy

Personal information availablePredators

Particularly where the topics are more salacious

Relationships with other users online have to be managed

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Photo sharing

Great value in sharing photos with friends and families

Professional photographers can show off their work

Most popular sites:

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Photo sharing

Can limit access to selected peopleBut anyone whose work is public can

publish to the worldConcerns

ContentGenerally all types of material

PrivacyYour own photos may be viewed if public

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Video sharing

Great value in accessing videosSources of content

Professional content made availableUser generated content

Fairly high noise levelMost popular sites:

But also…Facebook,

MySpace, etc.

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Video sharing

ConcernsSome good content, but large quantities

of inappropriate materialMuch is not protected from accidental

access by childrenPrivacy

Kids posting videos of themselves onlinePrimarily content exchange, rather than

relationship buildingPosted comments often crude or vulgar

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Music sharing

Downloadable musicCommercialShared

Streaming musicCommercialShared

Some systems couple music sharing with social networking featuresMeet people with similar playlists

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Music sharing - Concerns

ConcernsDownloadable music

Peer-to-peer systems are problematicKazaa, Gnutella, LimeWire, BearShare,

etc.Content often illegalSoftware often loads spywareCan also serve up pornographic material

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Music sharing

ConcernsDownloadable music

Pay-per-track systems are legaliTunes Store, Amazon MP3, eMusic Need to monitor purchasesBudget and contentSystems may allow access to other

content

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Music sharing

ConcernsStreaming music

Subscription servicesNapster, Rhapsody

Is unlimited access to music healthy?Regular monthly costAlbum covers or other images

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Music sharing

ConcernsStreaming music

Free systemsPlaylist, iLike, iMeem

Music may not be legalMusic may still be downloadableSocial networking features

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Online discussion boards

Most informational sitesNews, sports, blogs

Can be a healthy discourseMost often not…

ConcernsProfanity, base level of discussionLinks to other sitesProfile pictures of commentersHigh noise factor

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Online discussion boards

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Blogging

"Web Log" = "Blog"User generated articles, stories,

rants, reports, whateverEvery topic imaginable

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Blogging

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Twitter

Micro-blogging140 characters or less

Can follow peopleReceive their "tweets"Selected friends' tweets sent to phone

Can use Twitter to update your Facebook status

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Twitter

ConcernsPrivacy

Do you really want the whole world to know your whole family is out of town?

NoiseDo you really need to read updates from

that many people in a single day?Content

Spammers and pornographers using Twitter to promote their content

Can block any followers you want23


Twitter

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Professional networking

Very valuable serviceLinkedIn

Think of your Rolodex, but onlineYour old work buddy moves, you don't

lose track of himVery little downside

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Personal social networking

More than 300 social networking sites of this type

Membership in personal social networking sites is approaching 1 billion peopleFacebook, MySpace

About 250 million users each

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Most popular sitesFacebook – 250 millionMySpace – 250 millionHabbo – 120 millionFriendster – 90 millionhi5 – 80 millionTagged – 80 millionOrkut – 70 million

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Two broad types:1. Provide interactions for people who

already know each otherNot cool to approach strangers

Facebook, LinkedIn

2. Help people to meet who don't already know each otherEncouraged to meet new "friends"

MySpace, most other sites

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Positive value is huge…Sharing family photos, news, and other

information with a trusted network of friendsSome of whom are remote

Reconnecting with long lost friendsTwo of my favorite missionary companions

with very generic names, made contact in the last 3 months via Facebook!

After almost 30 years

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Downside is significantMeeting "friends" that you don't know in

real life is obviously problematicReconnecting with long lost friends

That were maybe best left in the lost pastPrivacy concerns are always significantPredator issues

Especially for the youth

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Addiction concernsContent

Despite terms and conditions, there is a large amount of pornography or other inappropriate material on most social networking sites

Obsessing and time wastingYouth especially suffer from social

networking withdrawalDigital equivalent of hanging out at the

mall

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Personal social networking "During the 2006 power outage in L.A.,

MySpace was down for about twelve hours. It was a dark, dark time in more ways than one. However, the outage has helped me to identify my addiction to MySpace. While it was out, I kept checking to try and log in until finally I got in there, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I read my boring e-mails and felt at ease."

– Jassa, 17, from "Generation MySpace" by Candice M. Kelsey

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Sites have their own personalities and value systems

You can learn by checking them outRead their policies and Online

Safety pagesTwo examples…

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Tagged.com – "Online Safety"



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Orkut.com – "Advice for Parents"



How does the site make you feel spiritually?

What sorts of things are they promoting on the front page?

Some examples…

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Personal social networking "Facebook helps you connect and share

with the people in your life" "Find your friends and meet new people"

– Tagged "orkut is an online community designed to

make your social life more active and stimulating. orkut's social network can help you maintain existing relationships with pictures and messages, and establish new ones by reaching out to people you've never met before."

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"Meet people from all around the world" – hi5

"Friendster is focused on helping people stay in touch with friends and discover new people and things that are important to them."

"Connect with friends and meet new people. Hang out, throw parties, join groups, post in forums."– Habbo

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Do they promote profiles of some of their users?What are these users portraying?Generally, promoting user profiles gives

a sort of "meat market" feel to the siteOften immodesty or other teaser

content in these user profiles

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User profiles

Most social networking sites include: Personal information – "Profile" Friends Blogs Chat, messages, and email Discussion groups Pictures and images Streaming video Streaming music Message boards

Combines all other social networks

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Some statistics More than 10% of teenagers have posted a

nude or seminude picture of themselves or others online 2% of parents surveyed said that about their teens

At least a quarter of the young people polled had posted something they later regretted

22 percent saying they check their sites more than 10 times a day 4% of parents surveyed said that about their teens

54 percent of teens demonstrate risky behavior online

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Social network guidelines

Be very selective when it comes to being involved in a social networkMy take is that Facebook is by far the

most tame, and the safestStill doesn't make it the right choice for

you and your family

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Social network guidelines

ProfilesDo not provide full information

Birth year, SSN, or other identifying information

Keep all profiles private always!Unless you're a public figure and the

profile is a public face for your admiring fans

Remember that anything you post is essentially permanent

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Social networking guidelinesParents

Monitor where your kids are and what they are doing

Determine age specific guidelines for your householdStill doesn't assume unfettered access!

If your kids are on a social network…Join the network and add them as a friend

All other parental guidelines for technology access apply…

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Questions?

Internet Safety Podcastwww.internetsafetypodcast.com

Internet Safety Wikiwiki.internetsafetypodcast.com

Dr. Charles Knutson

[email protected]

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© 2009 charles d. knutson safe online social networking? positives, dangers, and challenges dr....

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