1. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Safe Online Social Networking? Positives, Dangers, and Challenges Dr. Charles D. Knutson Brigham Young University www.charlesknutson.net

2. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Social network Any network of individuals who interact for any reason Traditional face-to-face networking Ward activity Football game Family reunion Bowling league Our concern is with the emergent online variety… 2

3. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Social networking site Websites that host an online community Bring together people with common goals, interests, concerns Site may represent a singular interest Site normally permits the formation of smaller networking groups Accepting friends into a closer network 3

4. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson 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 4

5. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson 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 turn 5

6. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Cyberdating Various types of dating sites Generic dating sites Targeted demographics LDS Singles, Christian singles, cat lovers… Elicit "hook-up" sites Concerns… Content Privacy Predators 6

7. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Hobby and special interest Varied interests Genealogy, knitting, books, travel, religion, movie lovers… Also illicit topics… Generally tame communities Still need to gauge the spirit of the community and the participants Assess the rules of the community to see how you feel about it 7

8. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Hobby and special interest Concerns Content is focused and concentrated For good and for bad Privacy Personal information available Predators Particularly where the topics are more salacious Relationships with other users online have to be managed 8

9. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Photo sharing Great value in sharing photos with friends and families Professional photographers can show off their work Most popular sites: 9

10. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Photo sharing Can limit access to selected people But anyone whose work is public can publish to the world Concerns Content Generally all types of material Privacy Your own photos may be viewed if public 10

11. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Video sharing Great value in accessing videos Sources of content Professional content made available User generated content Fairly high noise level Most popular sites: But also… Facebook, MySpace, etc. 11

12. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Video sharing Concerns Some good content, but large quantities of inappropriate material Much is not protected from accidental access by children Privacy Kids posting videos of themselves online Primarily content exchange, rather than relationship building Posted comments often crude or vulgar 12

13. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Music sharing Downloadable music Commercial Shared Streaming music Commercial Shared Some systems couple music sharing with social networking features Meet people with similar playlists 13

14. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Music sharing - Concerns Concerns Downloadable music Peer-to-peer systems are problematic Kazaa, Gnutella, LimeWire, BearShare, etc. Content often illegal Software often loads spyware Can also serve up pornographic material 14

15. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Music sharing Concerns Downloadable music Pay-per-track systems are legal iTunes Store, Amazon MP3, eMusic Need to monitor purchases Budget and content Systems may allow access to other content 15

16. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Music sharing Concerns Streaming music Subscription services Napster, Rhapsody Is unlimited access to music healthy? Regular monthly cost Album covers or other images 16

17. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Music sharing Concerns Streaming music Free systems Playlist, iLike, iMeem Music may not be legal Music may still be downloadable Social networking features 17

18. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Online discussion boards Most informational sites News, sports, blogs Can be a healthy discourse Most often not… Concerns Profanity, base level of discussion Links to other sites Profile pictures of commenters High noise factor 18

19. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Online discussion boards 19

20. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Blogging "Web Log" = "Blog" User generated articles, stories, rants, reports, whatever Every topic imaginable 20

21. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Blogging 21

22. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Twitter Micro-blogging 140 characters or less Can follow people Receive their "tweets" Selected friends' tweets sent to phone Can use Twitter to update your Facebook status 22

23. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Twitter Concerns Privacy Do you really want the whole world to know your whole family is out of town? Noise Do 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 want 23

24. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Twitter 24

25. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Professional networking Very valuable service LinkedIn Think of your Rolodex, but online Your old work buddy moves, you don't lose track of him Very little downside 25

26. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Personal social networking More than 300 social networking sites of this type Membership in personal social networking sites is approaching 1 billion people Facebook, MySpace About 250 million users each 26

27. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Personal social networking Most popular sites Facebook – 250 million MySpace – 250 million Habbo – 120 million Friendster – 90 million hi5 – 80 million Tagged – 80 million Orkut – 70 million 27

28. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Personal social networking Two broad types: 1. Provide interactions for people who already know each other Not cool to approach strangers Facebook, LinkedIn 2. Help people to meet who don't already know each other Encouraged to meet new "friends" MySpace, most other sites 28

29. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Personal social networking Positive value is huge… Sharing family photos, news, and other information with a trusted network of friends Some of whom are remote Reconnecting with long lost friends Two of my favorite missionary companions with very generic names, made contact in the last 3 months via Facebook! After almost 30 years 29

30. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Personal social networking Downside is significant Meeting "friends" that you don't know in real life is obviously problematic Reconnecting with long lost friends That were maybe best left in the lost past Privacy concerns are always significant Predator issues Especially for the youth 30

31. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Personal social networking Addiction concerns Content Despite terms and conditions, there is a large amount of pornography or other inappropriate material on most social networking sites Obsessing and time wasting Youth especially suffer from social networking withdrawal Digital equivalent of hanging out at the mall 31

32. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson 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 32

33. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Personal social networking Sites have their own personalities and value systems You can learn by checking them out Read their policies and Online Safety pages Two examples… 33

34. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Personal social networking 34 Tagged.com – "Online Safety"

35. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Personal social networking 35 Orkut.com – "Advice for Parents"

36. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Personal social networking How does the site make you feel spiritually? What sorts of things are they promoting on the front page? Some examples… 36

37. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson 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." 37

38. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Personal social networking "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 38

39. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Personal social networking 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 site Often immodesty or other teaser content in these user profiles 39

40. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson 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 40

41. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson 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 41

42. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Social network guidelines Be very selective when it comes to being involved in a social network My take is that Facebook is by far the most tame, and the safest Still doesn't make it the right choice for you and your family 42

43. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Social network guidelines Profiles Do 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 43

44. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Social networking guidelines Parents Monitor where your kids are and what they are doing Determine age specific guidelines for your household Still 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… 44

45. © 2009 Charles D. Knutson Questions? Internet Safety Podcast www.internetsafetypodcast.com Internet Safety Wiki wiki.internetsafetypodcast.com Dr. Charles Knutson knutson@cs.byu.edu 45