The Future of Social Networking

Final AssignmentIssues in Social MediaJulian Bulgaretti, Robin Hazell, Brittany Hills, Day ParkOctober 20, 2010 Photo source:http://www.jonathannicholas.com/2008/12/social-networking-prospecting-in-web-20/

Popular Types of Social Networking

• Facebook• MySpace• Twitter• Blogger• YouTube• Flickr

Photo source: www.socialmediamom.com

Photo sources: www.offthemark.com ; www.imod.co.za ; http://omglog.com/tag/satire

• Social network service launched in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg

• Has over 500 million active users (July 2010)

• Users can create a profile, add other users as friends, exchange messages, post photos, organize groups/events

• The most popular social networking site in English-speaking countries including Canada, the U.K., and the U.S.

• Although very popular and well-received, Facebook has been criticized for its privacy policies and account terminations

Sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Facebook and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

Sourced from: www.offthemark.com

• Social networking site launched by News Corp. Digital Media in 2003

• Was the most popular networking site in 2006• Facebook is their main competitor and has succeeded

to become most popular in 2008• Profiles have a mood indicator of user, and user can

post blogs, multimedia, and photos• Hugely popular with musicians who have profiles and

post tracks from their albums• Has been criticized for not being user-friendly, security

issues, and child safety

Sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySpace

Sourced from: http://trendsupdates.com ; www.socialsignal.com ; http://www.altafsayani.com ; www.stumbleupon.com

• Social micro-blogging service• Users limited to 140 characters/post but can

“tweet” as many times, whenever they want• “Tweets” can be seen by others who follow

them• Launched in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, has more

than 100 million users• Fans love being very connected to close ones

but some people feel “too connected”• Collects and shares information with third-

parties

Sourced from: twitter.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

Sourced from: newyorker.com ; wallstreetjackass.typepad.com ; www.stumbleupon.com ; www.concurringopinions.com

• Blogger is a free blog publishing service• Users can create private or multi-user blogs• Launched by Pyra Labs in 1999• Has been blocked for certain time periods in

several countries including Iran, Syria, China, Cuba, Myanmar, and Fiji

• Redesigned in 2004, offering templates and photo-posting

• Now completely Google operated after Google acquired Pyra Labs in 2003

Sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Blogger and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogger_%28service%29

• Photo/video management and sharing site

• Blogging in photographs• Launched by Ludicorp in 2004• Bought by Yahoo in 2006• Similar sites include Snapfish

and Photobucket• Criticized for censorship

management

Sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flickr ; http://www.flickr.com/about/ and www.code.ae

• Video management and sharing site• Launched in 2005 by former PayPal employees• Users can upload, search, and watch videos• Awarded for being a “Speaker’s Corner” and

promoting democracy• Criticized for copyright material, privacy, and

controversial content• Blocked for periods of time in some countries

including Pakistan, Iran, China, and Thailand

Sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube

The issues and challenges that the future of social networking is faced with are growing rapidly. We are moving forward to an ever-changing world filled with computers and relying on networking sites in our everyday lives. We use networking sites for employment opportunities, starting a business and we rely on the networking sites as a source of income, fame, entertainment, downloading music, socializing on numerous sites. The social network services connect people who share interests in all aspects. It’s a great way to communicate digitally.

As we go forward we are faced with issues in social networking. You can create a profile, post blogs for everyone to see and share a list of contacts. To protect your privacy, you can control who you can be friends with and who can see your profile but what about a posting that you did 5 years ago? Will that go away? No. You have to remember that internet postings never go away so think before you post something. How do you say that to a 13 year old?

We hear in the news that there have been concerns about giving out too much information on social networking sites and there are things you have to watch out for like sexual predators. For example if you blog about yourself in a funny way-years later it can haunt you. Anyone can search your name including large corporations.

Concerns of Social Networking

One of the concerns is that social networking sites are not protecting our privacy rights. For people who have nothing to hide-that could be okay but you have to be really careful about what you say to people or what other people say about you and someone else can distort information. The problem is that younger people using the networking sites and have no idea about the privacy issues. There should be laws protecting children’s privacy to ensure their safety and wellbeing.

Negative comments or blogging can hurt you in the future, especially in your professional career and can cause consequences in the future.

Users communicating on websites sometimes misuse the intention of socially interacting with others. For example: bullying others, stalking people, etc.

The largest crime to date is child pornography social networking site and some has been dismantled by law enforcement.

There is the problem of others using your personal information and creating multiple identities which is called identity manipulation. How can you stop that? You can’t and the social networking sites should implement measures to stop identity manipulation.

There is tainted reputation which can be destroyed through malicious gossip and hurting people. There is online shaming which is a privacy violation.

There are many issues and challenges on social networking sites and I believe they are not doing enough to stop these issues. They are making billions of dollars as many people are using it but they are not doing enough to stop the serious problems of cyber bullying, identity manipulation, child pornography, etc.

There are theories that Facebook was started by the CIA through connections of capital backers and American Spy Agency. The CIA did say that they use Facebook for job opportunities. Facebook’s privacy policy says it does not share 3rd party information but it will give out information to government agencies to abide by the law. They say that the CIA is watching users on Facebook and could be using this information in other ways.

Source: Info from Throwing sheep in the boardroom, Page 267 Matthew Fraser & Soumitra Dutta

Millions of people are using networking sites and people are expressing their feelings openly for the world to see and sometimes there is concern about privacy invasion, identity theft and reputational damage. We have to remember that privacy is a freedom protected under the Human Rights Code.

Here is an article where Facebook introduced “Instant Personalization” which allows users to view websites based on their interest and social connections and this was raising privacy concerns.

Source: Info from Throwing sheep in the boardroom, Page 80, Matthew Fraser & Soumitra Dutta http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/04/23/tech-facebook-instant-personalization-privacy-concerns.html

Possible solutions to our privacy on social sites

I recommend that each country should set up social networking regulations for the safety of users as it is becoming dangerous. There should be a restriction any type of negative activity on the sites to discourage bad behaviour on networking sites. Each government can set up rules just like there are rules for drivers without seatbelts, drunk drivers. There should be consequences for people that abuse social networking sites. These laws should then be enforced daily and I think we can move ahead in real world relationships and the entire world can prosper and enjoy social networking sites in a positive way.

How privacy is affecting real world relationships There are may benefits of social networking but there are some

disadvantages as one of the major crimes in Social Networking is Child Pornography. This is effecting our real world relationships with others. These issues are affecting the real world relationships and what if our government shuts down Facebook and other sites until they can work together and come up with a set of regulations to enforce bad behaviour and to protect our privacy? How about if we all protest and blog that we want restrictions on the identity and security issues as our privacy is being violated. I think that they would listen to the users and maybe another networking site can provide that for us as we are moving forward in the cyber world.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service

http://www.priv.gc.ca/information/illustrations/index_e.cfm

Here are some ways to protect yourself on social networking sites:

Remember never to expect privacy. Make sure you read the privacy states and policies.

Investigate different social networking sites before you join a site and post your profile. Remember to look for closed network and find out if others can view your profile without your permission.

Use the most highest and restrictive security setting and NEVER give out your birthday, full name, phone number and social insurance number or your address.

Before you post anything on the website – think about what you are going to say to your friends and family. Remember never to post embarrassing moments because it can haunt you in the future. It will be in the history books.

Remember that even if the sites have extensive privacy options where they may have to give out your personal information to the police or law enforcement agencies.

http://www.priv.gc.ca/fs-fi/02_05_d_35_sn_e.cfm

How does social media affects real world relationships with respect to privacy issues?In an article published in January 2009, Google

warns us of privacy issues on the social web in regards to the expansion of the social web are growing and we are compromising our privacy. There is lack of control over activities and unwelcome linkage.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_warns_of_privacy_issues.php

Possible solutions or recommendationsThe issues and challenges with respect to identity

and security issues is that we need to implement a policing system on the websites. You need a group of specialists who can target these people like hackers, identity manipulation, child pornography, cyber-bullying and a list of other illegal activities that are going on. We need to inform users of the privacy issues because a lot of them create profiles without knowing what the consequences can lead to. They have no idea that there is no privacy, especially children.

ResourcesSources cited:

Info from Throwing sheep in the boardroom, Page 267 Matthew Fraser & Soumitra DuttaInfo from Throwing sheep in the boardroom, Page 80, Matthew Fraser & Soumitra Dutta http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/04/23/tech-facebook-instant-personalization-privacy-concerns.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service http://www.priv.gc.ca/fs-fi/02_05_d_35_sn_e.cfm http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_warns_of_privacy_issues.php

Pictures:http://www.priv.gc.ca/information/illustrations/index_e.cfmhttp://bub.blicio.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/privacy_policy_1673_1673.jpghttp://www.greenvalleyrecycling.ca/images/privacy.gifhttp://cdn.thetechjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/51a.jpg

Past, Present and Future of Social Networking

Time can means development of technology

Number of users can mean popularity, same as participations of people

PAST - Early 90’s

BBS (Bulletin board system ) AOL (American Online )

The Infant Years for social networking• Used telephone lines

• Started using e-mail

• Rised of the Dot-Coms

• Communicated with a central system

PAST - Mid 90’s

Created in 1995 , 50 millions members in 2008

Social Networking’s Adolescence• Social networking sites started

• classmates.com is about "Who can I connect with that was once a schoolmate of mine?“

•Sixdegrees.com is about creating circles of friends via online registration and matching-up of likes, dislikes, interests, or what have you

1997 to 2001, 1 million members

PRESENT - 2000’s

The boom Of Social networking sites

Relationship is expanding to from real world to virtual world through social media

World is getting smaller

PRESENT - 2000’s The Golden Period of Social Networking• Vast opportunities of self-expression : broadcasting themselves on Youtube

• Openness of information : sharing and controlling

• Global social networking : more sharing ideas and contents : gathering as same interests

• Microblogging such as "what I'm doing right now,“

• Privacy issues : be searched personal identity

• popularity of social networking in business

Created in 2004 , 500 millions members in 2010

Created in 2006 , 190 millions monthly

Created in 2005

Future 2020

Anywhere and Everywhere like Air

• Continuing development

• Reinventing and the world connected

• High technology : ubiquitous internet access and the servers to enable real time social graph access : advanced mobile devices

• Seamless fabric of classic networks and networked objects

• Privacy issues under the control

Positive and Negative aspects of future social networking

Vs.

Future social networking provides many advantages in real world

At the same time, using social media without control could be dangerous

POSITIVE ASPECTS

Individuals

• Enrich social lives regard less distance and time : bridging, bonding and maintaining social capital

• Saving time and money by using online e g ) interview via web cam

Organizations

• Saving time and money for advertising : Traditional media will be replaced by social media :

• Get more engaged customers through interactions on social media : Customer engagement is key to improving satisfaction and loyalty rates, and revenue

NEGATIVE ASPECTS

Individuals

• Missing valuable face-to face relationships : More relationship and teams will be based on “weak links”

• Imbalance between real and virtual world

• Uncertainty about meaningful conversation and transparency : People will hide behind keyboard

• Digital jet leg : too much information and pressure

Organizations

• Easily lose loyalty from customers : Social media has a viral factor

Conclusion

Social media With advanced technology is changing people’s lives more convenient and faster. Also social media is still positive in spite of some negative things. Ironically, the bigger social networking is in people’s lives, the more traditional values are important such as trust and transparency. Social media is a tool, which is amazing and powerful. At the same time, it is manageable for people. In the future , it will be same

What do people need to do ?

• Keep transparency on social networks : sharing accurate and real time data

• Engage or participate : Openness and revenue or reputation will be related

Resources

http://www.digitaltrends.com/features/the-history-of-social-networking/(The History of Social Networking )

http://www.startupbooster.com/2009/12/30/social-media-a-history-of-social-media-and-social-media-marketing/(Social Media – A History of Social Media and Social Media Marketing)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2aiXUM4Kzo(The Future of Social Media Gerd Leonhard Picnic 2009 Amsterdam )

http://advice.cio.com/kristin_burnham/three_dangerous_social_media_misconceptions(Three Dangerous Social Media Misconceptions )

http://hubpages.com/hub/Positive-Impacts-of-Social-Networking( Positive Impacts of Social Networking )

http://www.future-internet.eu/fileadmin/documents/reports/FI_Panel_Report_v3.1_Final.pdf(Future Internet 2020)

Pictures

http://deadhedge.blogspot.com/2010/03/medicare-understands-social-networking.html

http://matthewbuckland.com/?p=1041

http://compassioninpolitics.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/five-top-social-media-and-web-trends-for-2009/

http://webdevelopmentby.ifoundries.com/2009/01/10-ways-to-measure-social-media-success/

http://www.thenextbigclip.com/balancing-work-and-social-media/business/2009/11/

Identity Manipulation & Misrepresentation

Reasons to Manipulate and/or misrepresent yourself:

Cyber bullyingConvenience Avoiding spam and the ability to be tracedShallow relationships (spying on someone)Make yourself more appealing to the opposite sexPrivacyBusiness

http://ezinearticles.com/?Fake-Accounts-in-Facebook—How-to-Counter-It&id=3703889

Websites which encourage bypassing registering yourself:

BugMeNot.com is a site which allows you to bypass the login section of social network sites and any other login oriented websites.

http://lifehacker.com/031809/bugmenot--bypass-web-site-registration

Around 37% of Facebook accounts are Fake.

Out of friend 10 requests only 7 or 8 are real.

http://www.pc1news.com/news/0325/fake-profiles-on-fakebook-facebook.html

MEGAN MEIER STORY Megan Taylor Meier (November 6, 1992 –

October 17, 2006) from Dardenne Prairie,

Missouri. She had trouble fitting in as she was

overweight, and depressed. She had

been the subject of bullying since she

was 13-years-old. Meier created a MySpace page to connect with friends and become social. Suddenly she started receiving messages

from a 16-year-old boy named “Josh Evans”

telling her how beautiful she was. This grew slowly into an online relationship that Megan took very

seriously.

Shortly after Megan received a message from “Josh” saying "I don't know if I want to be friends with you anymore because I've heard that you are not very nice to your friends".

Rumors started to swirl about Megan.

The last message “Josh” sent read: "Everybody in O'Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a shitty rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you."

Meier responded with "You’re the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over.“

20 minutes later Meier was found dead hanging from her closet.

Six weeks later Megans parents were informed the mother of Megan’s friend Lori Drew, was the creator of “Josh Evans” and between Drew, her daugter and Ashley Grillis, Drews 18-year-old employee they had harrased a 13-year-old girl to her grave.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Megan_Meier

The experiment: Join various social networking websites with this false identity.

Purpose: “Research people’s decisions to trust and share information with the false identity.” 

False Identity: The identity was a young, attractive, educated female.

Goal: Connect with knowledgeable corporate and military personnel, and extract confidential information.

Result:

Robin Sage “exploited individuals trust based on gender, occupation, education/credentials, and connections.”

Collected hundreds of ‘friends’ through different social networks. Some executives at NSA, DOD, Military Intelligence groups, and Global 500 corporations.

Robin was offered gifts, government and corporate jobs, and the ability to speak at security conferences.

Conclusion:  

The creators choice of a young, attractive, educated female allowed her to connect and gain trust and information from multiple well informed government and corporate employees.

“The false identity combined with carefully chosen false credentials led to a false trust that could have resulted in the breach of multiple security protocols.”

http://media.blackhat.com/bh-us-10/whitepapers/Ryan/BlackHat-USA-2010-Ryan-Getting-In-Bed-With-Robin-Sage-v1.0.pdf

Twitter has set the bar.

With high profile celebrities

joining on to their website

Twitter needs to make sure

nobody can impersonate them.

Therefore, Twitter is launching

Verified Accounts.

Each account will have an official notification on the users profile.

This will increase awareness of fraudulent accounts and deter users from attempting to cyber bullying, spying, identity theft, and much more.

http://mashable.com/2009/06/06/twitter-verified-accounts/