Group items tagged

A really interesting article on the use of social networking platforms during and after protests in Kyrgyzstan. Twitter, Facebook and local forum, Diesel are important sites for citizens to report, share information and discuss issues in a relatively impartial environment as the media has increasingly come under the power of the President. In April protests took place in the captial Bishkek against President Bakiyev. The social networking sites allowed poeple to hear what was going on. It also facilitated groups forming to attempt curbing the violence that was taking place. The downside to this form of communication in this situation was the inflammatory comments that was essentially fear - mongering were posted. Some were found to be untrue, and some believe that it was the Russians attempting to influence the situation in Kyrgyzstan.

In the aftermath of the recent death of 18-year-old Nona Belomesoff, following a "Facebook meeting" comes an outcry from parent and teacher groups to prevent teens from accessing Facebook at school. According to Laurel Papworth, banning access is not the answer. Education is.

This article discusses how banning Facebook is not the answer for prevention of tragedies of deaths like Sydney teen who had met a "friend" on Facebook. Though it may seem commonly obvious, I do not believe simply warning and educating children/teenagers about the potential dangers of social networking and strangers is enough; but perhaps going a step further and accepting that meeting "friends" through social networks has become a social norm. Therefore conversations amongst children/teenagers/friends/parents alike must be initiated so that there is some sort of support system to ensure safety. As the online social networks expand the definition of "friends", one must consider the social construction of how people now view the world based on these norms.

Rather than suggesting that social networking sites should be "banned" to protect the safety of children, people should ensure they understand how to be safe online.  This also includes understanding the changes to a sites privacy policies and the impacts these changes can have to your privacy settings.

The research found that posting material about political or social issues on the Web and using social networking sites politically are forms of online engagement that are dominated by the young-especially the youngest adults.

The founder and Chief Executive of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, announced at a recent conference that Facebook's Open Graph project will soon enable an even greater degree of personalisation as people surf the net. I think this probably has implications for user experience, in terms of viewing popular sites through the prism of social networking - and it gives sites more authority to store data about individuals. Because Facebook seems to be so pervasive nowadays, it seems like we won't have much say in the matter...

Allison, that's a great point, I've tried to quit using the site but I stop when I realise that I won't know about upcoming social events - unfortunately its the primary means of communication used by some friends!

Yes and I think Facebook take full advantage! A lot of my friends have been posting notes on FB about changing privacy settings now that the new features have come in. So, people are trying to resist but in a more subtle way than dropping out of FB altogether.

Social networks become the prime target for cybercrime, according to a Cisco report. Malicious code is masked as an online game on a social networking site, that once clicked, infects the user's computer without them knowing

Looks at a new social networking site for children aged 6-10. It's heavily monitored and controlled by parents for the sake of online safety, but the concern is that young children can just as easily sign up to other social networking sites that aren't so restrictive.

Unvarnished (www.getunvarnished.com) is a recently launched social networking site wherein anyone can create an online profile for a professional (think LinkedIn), and any user can post reviews (mostly negative) about you, anonymously. The website's founder says that Unvarnished gives an individual the opportunity to disprove any negative claims about him/her. However, I agree with the author of the article in believing that the site actually encourages and empowers users to have a backstabbing spree. It will be interesting to see in the next coming months if Unvarnished actually takes off.

Teachers are very much aware and very much worried on how social networking sites, particularly Facebook, are being used by students to "bully" and spread false allegations about them. Not only professional reputations are at stake in acts like these, but hate sites will surely affect the personal lives of teachers as well.  

The Internet Industry Association is working with Police and Government to try and control safety concerns on social media sites. Currently, they are powerless to step in when sites are hosted overseas.

Interesting research: Eight out of 10 employees claim that being trusted to manage their own time and the internet as they wish is more important than pay.

The Dutch consumers'association is trying to take some responsibility for privacy online away from the consumer and shift it to the owners of social networking websites. The association believes it is too difficult and time consuming for consumers to set the privacy settings themselves.

If users are to blame, who should provide media literacy programs?

Another social network site has been blocked in China which is location-based. When people tried to chick-in to the location Tiananmen Square due to its 21th anniveristy, the link were blocked.

High school  teachers in Queensland are questioned because of their profile pictures on Facebook. The fact that they may be really outstanding educators is now overlooked due to the mistake of posting "inappropriate" photos on a very public social networking site. Another example of how Facebook can actually ruin lives. 

CHINA'S President Hu Jintao has set up a microblogging account that has drawn thousands of followers in a country where social networking sites remain tightly controlled.

This article discusses how 42 states in the United States now have some sort anti-bullying laws. Despite these laws, and EULA agreements of social networking sites being in places, victims of cyberbullying do not often come forward for fear of not being taken seriously. One of the suggestions for combating cyberbullying is the real life "comeback", although it is warned that this may backfire, which needs to be scripted and rehearsed. Though there are no studies that indicate this is an effective method to combat cyberbullying, this should be exercise with caution. Cyberbullying appears to be one of those case-by-case situations, as the victims reactions - type of person they are - how they handle the situation - whom they come forward to tell to seek help, may be the biggest factors in how an ordeal of this nature should be considered. Sadly it appears that cyberbullies - like in the offline world - like to try and collect followers in the online world, and perhaps one of the better practices is to inform people that they should not be participating in the act of cyberbullying another, and hopefully reducing the motivation to continue.

Social networking sites are serving as a new breeding ground for sex offenders who use popular sites such as Facebook and Skype to prey upon minors. Is tougher legislation the answer or does more need to be done to keep children safe online.

The website was designed by a University of Technology Sydney student named Chris Webster, the website examines the effects and severity of cyberbullying, and offers a wide array of information (types of cyberbullying, Internet safety, mobile phone tips, examples of cyberbullying etc) and surveys on cyberbullying and Internet safety. Cyberbullying causes incredible distress to those who fall victim to it. Cyberbullying does not leave physical scars, however the cruelty of others becomes evident through web pages, social network sites that exist on the Internet, as taunting does not only persist during school hours; but extends to time at home where cruelty is displayed through online text messages, posts, and other outlets that leave an extensive amount of emotional damage.

This article discusses the online safety aspects of patients who share their experiences of disorders with others on websites like CureTogether.com and PatientsLikeMe.com, though the privacy does warn not to disclose too much personal detail to ensure online safety. The notion of crowd-sourcing is introduce in regards to shared expereiences can potentitally provide better control of the disorder, as details of the conditions, successes or failures of drug treatments are shared amongst the members. These websites offer early warning signs of drug and health safety problems, the user data is gathered from the member profiles and sold to scientific or marketing research organizations. Much like Facebook, users of any social networking site should enter with caution.