In Context: 5 Web Perspectives On A Story In The News

How to stay safe on Facebook

(School News) A blogger has exposed a promotions company that created a series of phony Facebook groups in an attempt to harvest personal information from thousands of students. Now some higher-education officials are hoping that colleges will manage online social-networking sites for their campuses. The blogger was looking for a Facebook group for members of Butler University's Class of 2013 -- this year's freshmen. The person who started the group was not registered at the college. He checked further and found hundreds of Facebook groups for institutions nationwide, created by a handful of supposed students. Officials from colleges across the US said that this recent hoax should encourage colleges to be more proactive about popular social-networking sites such as Facebook. They suggest creating private online groups that could be validated by campus faculty.

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Lots of information on hcow to connect safely and avoid scams

Connect Safely
This site is a forum for parents, teens and experts to discuss safe socializing on the web. It includes a section with the latest news about online safety, a link to safety tips, a chat room and episodes of an online TV show called “The Webs” about the Web family and their Internet habits. The site also links you to parental control software sites and provides information for parents including explanations of the kinds of media that is available to their kids. It provides information about user-driven websites and gives advice about safe blogging and social networking. 

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Advice from an expert

Jack Conway
This website gives a list of tips on how to make sure you and your kids stay safe from predators on social networking sites. Divided into two sections -- Tips for Kids, Tips for Parents -- the author answers some common questions such as “How should I help my child use this site wisely?” The author, Jack Conway, is the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He works with local leaders and law-enforcement officers to make Kentucky a safer place to live, work and raise a family. The main way that he goes about doing this is to vigorously prosecute child predators and crack down on Internet crimes. He is part of a group that is working with MySpace and Facebook to create parental safety controls, sweep sex offenders off the sites and develop age-verification software. 

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Study shows one in four teens is 'at risk' on Facebook

Telegraph
This site describes a recent study done by researchers in the U.K. for BBC’s Panorama, which claims that up to a quarter of teenagers could be putting themselves at risk from paedophiles by listing personal details on websites such as Bebo, Facebook and MySpace. During the BBC program, a businessman admits to looking for young girls online and urges parents to take their children’s computers out of their room. Interestingly, the research found that a very small number of parents were aware of just how freely their children were offering their personal information to strangers online. The most popular social website is Bebo, which has 11 million users, the biggest proportion of which are thought to be teenagers. This is shortly followed by MySpace which has 10 million users and then Facebook with four million.

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What are social network sites?

Indiana
This site is a comprehensive page that explains what exactly a social network site is, gives an extensive history of the sites, a description of who uses them and, through the use of graphs, gives a timeline of when sites like Myspace, Bebo and Facebook became household names. What makes social network sites unique is not that they allow individuals to meet strangers, but rather that they enable users to articulate and make visible their social networks. This can result in connections between individuals that would not otherwise be made. There is a lot of information on this site and if you are looking for some quick facts, check out the abstract and the section called ‘A Global Phenomenon’. 

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Facebook stalking at its worst

Youtube
I Can Be Your Facebook Stalker, a parody of an Enrique Iglesias song, was created by a Hindi a cappella group Penn Masala and depicts just how easy it is for someone to stalk others on Facebook. The lyrics include ‘is it weird if I know your hobbies?’ and the video shows the viewer how to learn all about someone else’s interests, as well as how to access other personal information. The group released its first compilation CD, Out of Stock, containing some of their most popular songs. Although the video is regarding a serious topic, it’s pretty funny.