Social Networking Sites

Just about everything can be done on the internet now. We should have known it would only be a matter of time before socializing, formerly achieved through personal contact, moved into the cyber region as well. Facebook and MySpace are two of the major social networking sites available online today; they provide instant access into the everyday lives of millions of people around the world and make getting to know someone (sometimes without their knowledge) that much easier. Social networking sites definitely offer a lot of advantages, especially for college students, but a certain level of awareness must be maintained in order to keep the number of advantages higher than the number of risks.

Facebook first began as a site only for students at Harvard University and was created by students Mark Zuckerburg and Chris Hughes. Modeled after the original paper “facebooks” that gave contact information of the incoming freshman class, this new site grew in popularity at an unexpected rate. It grew to include all of the Ivy League schools, and by 2004 had over 1 million registered users as its popularity and access spread to other universities all over the United States. It originally was only open to college students, grew to include some high schools, and now anyone with a valid email address can join. The site is known for its profile design featuring a main profile picture, interests, groups that users can affiliate themselves with, a “wall” similar to a message board, and lots of pictures. In fact, Facebook is the only social networking site that allows members to upload an unlimited number of pictures for no charge. MySpace has always been a much broader networking site allowing members as young as 13 to join ever since its creation in 2003. MySpace not only attracts individual users, many entertainers, bands, service organizations, and even businesses now have MySpace pages that allow internet users access to information about them any time of the day or night. MySpace offers many more creativity options in regards to page setup. Whereas Facebook has a standard format that only allows users to change text, MySpace users can be as creative as they like with patterns, colors, sound effects, and more. MySpace is actually one of the top ten internet sites in use today.

All types of people use social networking sites to stay connected with friends and family all around the world. As the world found out through email, it is much easier to sit down at a computer and check messages and photos than it is to actually take the time and money to make a long distance phone call, write a letter, or print out photos to mail. Students, in particular, connect with classmates over these sites in order to complete group projects, find someone to study with, or just to find out what’s going on the next weekend. Sites like Facebook and Myspace are a great way to keep in touch with friends who may be attending different universities or live far away, and they make it easier than ever to keep in touch with lots of people at one time instead of writing numerous individual emails.

The biggest problem that critics find with these sites and others of their sort is the fact that putting too much information online can create all sorts of safety risks and lead to privacy disputes. Users who are too young to join or even users who just don’t understand the risks involved with posting personal information on a public domain are finding themselves the victims of stalkers and identity theft all the time. Also, employers are now making use of all of the personal information available on these sites about their job candidates, often without the candidate even knowing. This has led to several privacy code disputes, but with social networking sites being a public site, employers have the same legal access to them as anyone else.

Even law enforcement has used these sites to their advantage in solving crime. Posted messages on profiles and pictures from “the night before” have served as a useful tool for law enforcement when trying to either solve a crime or prevent gatherings at common spots from getting out of control the following weekend. Once again, this sounds like a positive attribute, but others argue against it. Even though social networking sites are public, some people argue that the information viewed on them should not be used against them in any way without their consent.

Privacy features are available on both of these sites, and users can increase them as much as they like. Many options are available, including limiting all or some parts of one’s profile to only friends approved by the user. However, many people are not aware that they can control these privacy settings or either do not think about the consequences of making too much information available to the general public. If they are used properly, the sites’ benefits definitely outweigh the downfalls.

Overall, social networking sites are a recent phenomenon that won’t be going away anytime in the near future. They provide instant access to friends and family, and despite privacy issues, are a great way to share information with more than one person at a time. In and out of the classroom, these sites have become a way of life that is almost as common as an email address.