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Social networking: are cyber teens in danger?
The hottest new craze among teens and young adults on the Internet is social networking. But concerns related to teen use of social networking sites include unsafe disclosure of personal information, risky sexual behaviour, 'cyber bullying', involvement with dangerous communities and groups, and posting 'cyber threats'
Extracted from Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn To Use the Internet Safely and Responsibly, by Nancy E. Willard
Features of social networking sites
On social networking sites, users create individual profiles that allow them to publicly share their identity and interests. To create their profiles, teens incorporate graphics, upload photos, provide information about their favorite musicians and other artists, and share, both in images and text, aspects of their personality. Teens can also create a blog, where they can post regular commentary and images.
The social networking environment allows members to link their profiles with the profiles of their friends. Once linked as friends, members can post comments on each other's profiles, send messages, engage in IM, and respond to blog entries. For teens, social networking has become their favourite communications tool, whereas most adults still use email.
Most social networking environments also contain public features, such as discussion groups that all registered users can participate in. The environments also allow members to establish their own discussion groups, which they can set up as public or private groups. Teens can form online groups to discuss issues that relate to their own particular community or school. These discussion groups provide the opportunity for members to meet other members who share their interests. Teens may meet someone in a discussion group and then invite that person to establish a friendship link.
What do teens do on social networking sites?
Teens who are members of a social networking site frequently will go online to check the comments feature of their profile and their messages, to see if anyone has written to them. They will then either reply to any messages or perhaps send a few messages. They then might visit the sites of their best friends to see if anything new is 'happening' on their friend's sites, such as new photos, blog postings, or comments posted by others.
They are likely to leave a comment on friends' profiles as they cruise by. If they are active in any discussion groups, they also will check out any new postings in these groups. They might add some new materials to their own profile or blog.
Recent news coverage has raised significant concerns about interactions with strangers, especially sexual predators, on these sites. Many teens spend little time, if any, interacting with online strangers. The vast majority of teens are using social networking sites to engage with known friends and acquaintances from within their school and community. For some, their friendship network may expand to include others they meet in discussion groups. These friends likely are ones with whom they share mutual interests.
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