4 pages Essay

4/21/15, 4:19 PMOpposing Viewpoints in Context- Print

Page 1 of 4

Overview - Online Social Networks

Online Social Networks Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, 2015

Online social network sites enable people to connect with others who share their interests. Network members can post news, photographs, videos, and other content, and can share this material with designated recipients. The enormous popularity of these sites has generated debate on a range of issues, from privacy and safety concerns to questions regarding the long-term societal effects of online interactions.

Social network sites arose in the late 1990s. One of the earliest was Classmates.com, created in 1995. The site helps registered members search for classmates from kindergarten, primary school, high school, university, and the military. Later sites have included Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Though particular details differ, in general, these networks offer members the opportunity to share personal information with a selected group of “friends” or “followers.” Members create a personal profile, including biographical information, interests, photos, and videos, that can be seen either by all members of the site or only by those whom the members choose. Members can also search the network to build a list of “friends/followers,” who may include family members, friends, classmates, coworkers, or strangers with whom the member may share significant interests. When members make a connection as “friends/followers,” they are able to share information, send e-mails, and in some cases gain access to information about other people in that friend’s personal network.

Some social network sites, such as MySpace, are free and open to anyone. Others have age restrictions; Facebook, for example, is open to persons over age 13. And other sites have a particular focus, such as dating, photography, career networking, or crafts.

Growing Popularity A survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project in 2012 found that 66 percent of the 80 percent of adults who use the Internet use social networking sites. The survey also found that more than half of the US population uses social networking sites. The largest networks have hundreds of millions of members. As of 2012 Facebook is the largest online social network, with more than 900 million monthly active members and 526 million daily users. According to Experian in 2012, Twitter ranked second with 182 million visitors and Pinterest came in third with 104 million, pushing ahead of popular sites such as LinkedIn, Google+, MySpace, and Tumblr. Twitter allows its users to post and read limited text-based posts, while Pinterest is a social photo-sharing website.

A notable trend in the growth of these sites is their increasing appeal to older users. Another survey by the Pew Research Center found that average age of those who use social networking sites has risen to 38 in 2010 from 33 in 2008. This means that half of all social networking site users are over the age of

4/21/15, 4:19 PMOpposing Viewpoints in Context- Print

Page 2 of 4

35. The survey showed that the average age of a LinkedIn user is older at 40, while Facebook users are 38, and Twitter users are 33.

Privacy and Safety Concerns Online social networks generate revenues through advertising. Indeed, advertisers use these sites to gather demographic information and to create targeted ads to reach particular customers. Examples include direct advertising, such as banner ads, or indirect approaches, as when a company creates a profile page on the network and invites members to join or become fans. Companies, entertainers, organizations, and others can use these pages to announce events such as concerts, free product giveaways, special sales, and other activities. A more controversial practice is advertising directed specifically to a member’s network of friends. Such an ad might be in the form of a message to a user, telling him or her that a friend just bought a particular product and that he or she might also want to try it. But when Facebook allowed this type of advertising, which it called Facebook Beacon, many members were outraged at what they saw as an egregious violation of their privacy. In a notable instance, Facebook member Sean Lane’s purchase of a diamond ring for his wife in 2007, intended as a surprise Christmas gift, was publicized on the network without his knowledge, reaching 500 college classmates and 220 other friends, including his wife.

Facebook apologized for spoiling the surprise and told members it would allow them to “opt in” to the service. Later the network announced that members could disable Beacon permanently. Center for Digital Democracy executive director Jeff Chester, quoted in the Washington Post, commented that Facebook “is really turning over personal profile data to advertisers. In essence, it’s telling advertisers, we know exactly who your targets are, what their favorite entertainment is, the books they read, the kinds of social networks they have, what their political leanings are.” After all the commotion and controversy caused to Facebook users, Beacon was shut down in 2009, amid lawsuits.

Safety has also become an issue for social network members. Pedophiles, posing as legitimate users, can use online networks to gain access to potential victims. Similarly, stalkers can use networks to keep track of their victims’ activities. Other kinds of malicious behavior include bullying, which can take many forms. Users can post embarrassing photos or videos of people without their permission or circulate negative rumors or lies. In some cases members have created pages that focus on humiliating a victim. In a notorious incident in 2006, a Missouri woman created a fake MySpace profile to harass a girl whom her daughter disliked. Pretending to be a boy named Josh, the woman used the site to send flirtatious messages to Megan Meier, age 13. After a few weeks, “Josh” sent Megan a message saying he did not like her anymore and that “the world would be a better place” without her. Megan committed suicide.

Cybercriminals, too, can gain access to sensitive information from online social networks, making users vulnerable to identity theft and other crimes. Computer security firm Sophos reported in February 2010 that there had been an “alarming” increase in spammers and hackers using online social network sites to find potential victims. With users spending increasing amounts of time on such networks and often sharing sensitive information, said Sophos consultant Graham Cluley, “hackers have sniffed out where the money is to be made.” Some 57 percent of online social network users, according to the study,

4/21/15, 4:19 PMOpposing Viewpoints in Context- Print

Page 3 of 4

reported receiving spam in these networks; this amounted to an increase of 70.6 percent from the previous year. And 35 percent reported having been sent viruses, worms, or other malicious software, amounting to a 69.8 percent increase. In response to exacerbating security threats, Facebook announced a temporary deal with Internet security firm McAfee to offer increased protection for members.

Security specialists recommend that network users take caution in choosing what to share online, and with whom. Addressing children and teens, the Federal Trade Commission recommends not posting full name, address, e-mail address, phone number, or other personal information. Analysts also emphasize that network members should be extremely careful in communicating with strangers online; people can lie about who they really are. Likewise, members should be extremely careful about meeting new online friends in person and should never arrange a meeting unless it is in a public place and others know about it. Adult users, too, should exercise discretion. Potential employers, for example, have been known to check a person’s MySpace or Facebook profile before deciding to make a hire. In 2012 some employers began asking job applicants for the passwords to their social networking site accounts such as Facebook and Twitter. The Virginia State Police was one of these employers. This situation puts the employer in a legal gray area, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), that can open the door to privacy and discrimination lawsuits. Facebook has since asked employers not to follow this practice and amended its Statement of Rights and Responsibility to thwart users from sharing their password.

Changing How People Communicate As people do more and more socializing online, controversies have arisen about the phenomenon’s social and psychological effects. Online social networks, say some critics, create a sense of connection with others that is not really genuine. Quick status updates posted by network friends do not provide the same satisfaction as does a real, face-to-face interaction; they are instead superficial and impersonal— even voyeuristic. Describing this effect in the Chronicle of Higher Education, literary critic William Deresiewicz observed that “We have turned [our friends] into an indiscriminate mass, a kind of audience or faceless public.” With online social networks, he wrote, “the friendship circle has expanded to engulf the whole of the social world, and in so doing, destroyed both its own nature and that of the individual friendship itself.”

Yet others enjoy online networks as places to keep informed about the activities of friends and family, or to make new acquaintances among people with similar interests. Some sociological studies bear out the view that online social networks can be beneficial. “There is a positive relationship between certain kinds of Facebook use and the maintenance and creation of social capital,” observed Nicole B. Ellison, Charles Steinfield, and Cliff Lampe in a 2007 study of college students in Michigan. Furthermore, the researchers reported, “Facebook usage was found to interact with measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that it might provide greater benefits for users experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.”

Online networking can also be used to effect social change. During the 2008 presidential campaign many candidates, including Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and John McCain, had support pages on

4/21/15, 4:19 PMOpposing Viewpoints in Context- Print

Page 4 of 4

Facebook and MySpace; Facebook offered more than 100 different groups supporting Barack Obama. As president, Obama has an official Facebook page, which communicates news and information. Obama also maintains a Twitter site. In other parts of the world, Twitter and other online networks are seen as crucial means through which to convey news that might be censored on official channels. In Iran for instance, political dissidents who protested the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in what was widely condemned as a rigged election, used Twitter to report on police crackdowns. Immediately before the twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, China blocked access to Twitter, the photo-sharing network Flickr, and other sites.

In a development with interesting implications for law enforcement, a Facebook update was successfully used as an alibi by a man arrested for robbery in 2009. When it was confirmed that the update was posted from a computer at a Harlem address during the time when the robbery took place in Brooklyn, charges against the man were dropped. Said John G. Browning, a lawyer quoted in the New York Times, “We are going to see more of that because of how prevalent social networking has become.” At the same time, however, content on networkers’ sites can be used against them. Browning cited an Indiana murder case in which the defendant’s remarks about himself on MySpace caused suspicion about his character and contributed to his conviction. Divorce and employment cases have also used content from online networks as evidence. However, law professor Joseph A. Pollini, quoted in the same article in the New York Times, pointed out that “with a user name and password, anyone can input data on a Facebook page.” The admissibility of such material as evidence in criminal cases should not be taken for granted.

Though some bemoan the growth of social network sites, saying that they undermine “real” personal relationships, the phenomenon continues to grow throughout the world. In the view of many people, the popularity and rapid evolution of social network sites demonstrate humanity’s creativity in using the Internet as a tool for new kinds of communication.

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2015 Gale, Cengage Learning.

Source Citation "Online Social Networks." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2015.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.

URL http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage/DocumentToolsPortletWindow ? displayGroupName=Reference&action=2&catId=GALE%7C00000000LVY8&docum entId=GALE%7CPC3010999130&source=Bookmark&u=cant48040&jsid=0cc1f379 e999bead50bc746962fa0ea0

Gale Document Number: GALE|PC3010999130