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Overview - Online Social Networks
Online Social Networks
Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, 2015
Online social network sites enable people to connect with others
who share their interests. Network
members can post news, photographs, videos, and other content,
and can share this material with
designated recipients. The enormous popularity of these sites
has generated debate on a range of
issues, from privacy and safety concerns to questions regarding
the long-term societal effects of online
interactions.
Social network sites arose in the late 1990s. One of the earliest
was Classmates.com, created in 1995.
The site helps registered members search for classmates from
kindergarten, primary school, high
school, university, and the military. Later sites have included
Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Though particular details differ, in
general, these networks offer members the
opportunity to share personal information with a selected group
of “friends” or “followers.” Members
create a personal profile, including biographical information,
interests, photos, and videos, that can be
seen either by all members of the site or only by those whom

the members choose. Members can also
search the network to build a list of “friends/followers,” who
may include family members, friends,
classmates, coworkers, or strangers with whom the member may
share significant interests. When
members make a connection as “friends/followers,” they are
able to share information, send e-mails, and
in some cases gain access to information about other people in
that friend’s personal network.
Some social network sites, such as MySpace, are free and open
to anyone. Others have age
restrictions; Facebook, for example, is open to persons over age
13. And other sites have a particular
focus, such as dating, photography, career networking, or crafts.
Growing Popularity
A survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American
Life Project in 2012 found that 66 percent
of the 80 percent of adults who use the Internet use social
networking sites. The survey also found that
more than half of the US population uses social networking
sites. The largest networks have hundreds of
millions of members. As of 2012 Facebook is the largest online
social network, with more than 900
million monthly active members and 526 million daily users.
According to Experian in 2012, Twitter
ranked second with 182 million visitors and Pinterest came in
third with 104 million, pushing ahead of
popular sites such as LinkedIn, Google+, MySpace, and Tumblr.
Twitter allows its users to post and read
limited text-based posts, while Pinterest is a social photo-
sharing website.
A notable trend in the growth of these sites is their increasing
appeal to older users. Another survey by

the Pew Research Center found that average age of those who
use social networking sites has risen to
38 in 2010 from 33 in 2008. This means that half of all social
networking site users are over the age of
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35. The survey showed that the average age of a LinkedIn user
is older at 40, while Facebook users are
38, and Twitter users are 33.
Privacy and Safety Concerns
Online social networks generate revenues through advertising.
Indeed, advertisers use these sites to
gather demographic information and to create targeted ads to
reach particular customers. Examples
include direct advertising, such as banner ads, or indirect
approaches, as when a company creates a
profile page on the network and invites members to join or
become fans. Companies, entertainers,
organizations, and others can use these pages to announce
events such as concerts, free product
giveaways, special sales, and other activities. A more
controversial practice is advertising directed
specifically to a member’s network of friends. Such an ad might
be in the form of a message to a user,
telling him or her that a friend just bought a particular product
and that he or she might also want to try it.
But when Facebook allowed this type of advertising, which it
called Facebook Beacon, many members
were outraged at what they saw as an egregious violation of
their privacy. In a notable instance,

Facebook member Sean Lane’s purchase of a diamond ring for
his wife in 2007, intended as a surprise
Christmas gift, was publicized on the network without his
knowledge, reaching 500 college classmates
and 220 other friends, including his wife.
Facebook apologized for spoiling the surprise and told members
it would allow them to “opt in” to the
service. Later the network announced that members could
disable Beacon permanently. Center for
Digital Democracy executive director Jeff Chester, quoted in
the Washington Post, commented that
Facebook “is really turning over personal profile data to
advertisers. In essence, it’s telling advertisers,
we know exactly who your targets are, what their favorite
entertainment is, the books they read, the kinds
of social networks they have, what their political leanings are.”
After all the commotion and controversy
caused to Facebook users, Beacon was shut down in 2009, amid
lawsuits.
Safety has also become an issue for social network members.
Pedophiles, posing as legitimate users,
can use online networks to gain access to potential victims.
Similarly, stalkers can use networks to keep
track of their victims’ activities. Other kinds of malicious
behavior include bullying, which can take many
forms. Users can post embarrassing photos or videos of people
without their permission or circulate
negative rumors or lies. In some cases members have created
pages that focus on humiliating a victim.
In a notorious incident in 2006, a Missouri woman created a
fake MySpace profile to harass a girl whom
her daughter disliked. Pretending to be a boy named Josh, the
woman used the site to send flirtatious
messages to Megan Meier, age 13. After a few weeks, “Josh”

sent Megan a message saying he did not
like her anymore and that “the world would be a better place”
without her. Megan committed suicide.
Cybercriminals, too, can gain access to sensitive information
from online social networks, making users
vulnerable to identity theft and other crimes. Computer security
firm Sophos reported in February 2010
that there had been an “alarming” increase in spammers and
hackers using online social network sites to
find potential victims. With users spending increasing amounts
of time on such networks and often
sharing sensitive information, said Sophos consultant Graham
Cluley, “hackers have sniffed out where
the money is to be made.” Some 57 percent of online social
network users, according to the study,
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reported receiving spam in these networks; this amounted to an
increase of 70.6 percent from the
previous year. And 35 percent reported having been sent
viruses, worms, or other malicious software,
amounting to a 69.8 percent increase. In response to
exacerbating security threats, Facebook
announced a temporary deal with Internet security firm McAfee
to offer increased protection for
members.
Security specialists recommend that network users take caution
in choosing what to share online, and
with whom. Addressing children and teens, the Federal Trade

Commission recommends not posting full
name, address, e-mail address, phone number, or other personal
information. Analysts also emphasize
that network members should be extremely careful in
communicating with strangers online; people can
lie about who they really are. Likewise, members should be
extremely careful about meeting new online
friends in person and should never arrange a meeting unless it is
in a public place and others know
about it. Adult users, too, should exercise discretion. Potential
employers, for example, have been known
to check a person’s MySpace or Facebook profile before
deciding to make a hire. In 2012 some
employers began asking job applicants for the passwords to
their social networking site accounts such
as Facebook and Twitter. The Virginia State Police was one of
these employers. This situation puts the
employer in a legal gray area, according to the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU), that can open the
door to privacy and discrimination lawsuits. Facebook has since
asked employers not to follow this
practice and amended its Statement of Rights and Responsibility
to thwart users from sharing their
password.
Changing How People Communicate
As people do more and more socializing online, controversies
have arisen about the phenomenon’s
social and psychological effects. Online social networks, say
some critics, create a sense of connection
with others that is not really genuine. Quick status updates
posted by network friends do not provide the
same satisfaction as does a real, face-to-face interaction; they
are instead superficial and impersonal—
even voyeuristic. Describing this effect in the Chronicle of
Higher Education, literary critic William

Deresiewicz observed that “We have turned [our friends] into an
indiscriminate mass, a kind of audience
or faceless public.” With online social networks, he wrote, “the
friendship circle has expanded to engulf
the whole of the social world, and in so doing, destroyed both
its own nature and that of the individual
friendship itself.”
Yet others enjoy online networks as places to keep informed
about the activities of friends and family, or
to make new acquaintances among people with similar interests.
Some sociological studies bear out the
view that online social networks can be beneficial. “There is a
positive relationship between certain kinds
of Facebook use and the maintenance and creation of social
capital,” observed Nicole B. Ellison, Charles
Steinfield, and Cliff Lampe in a 2007 study of college students
in Michigan. Furthermore, the researchers
reported, “Facebook usage was found to interact with measures
of psychological well-being, suggesting
that it might provide greater benefits for users experiencing low
self-esteem and low life satisfaction.”
Online networking can also be used to effect social change.
During the 2008 presidential campaign
many candidates, including Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and
John McCain, had support pages on
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Facebook and MySpace; Facebook offered more than 100
different groups supporting Barack Obama.

As president, Obama has an official Facebook page, which
communicates news and information. Obama
also maintains a Twitter site. In other parts of the world,
Twitter and other online networks are seen as
crucial means through which to convey news that might be
censored on official channels. In Iran for
instance, political dissidents who protested the victory of
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in what was widely
condemned as a rigged election, used Twitter to report on police
crackdowns. Immediately before the
twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy
protests, China blocked access to
Twitter, the photo-sharing network Flickr, and other sites.
In a development with interesting implications for law
enforcement, a Facebook update was successfully
used as an alibi by a man arrested for robbery in 2009. When it
was confirmed that the update was
posted from a computer at a Harlem address during the time
when the robbery took place in Brooklyn,
charges against the man were dropped. Said John G. Browning,
a lawyer quoted in the New York Times,
“We are going to see more of that because of how prevalent
social networking has become.” At the
same time, however, content on networkers’ sites can be used
against them. Browning cited an Indiana
murder case in which the defendant’s remarks about himself on
MySpace caused suspicion about his
character and contributed to his conviction. Divorce and
employment cases have also used content from
online networks as evidence. However, law professor Joseph A.
Pollini, quoted in the same article in the
New York Times, pointed out that “with a user name and
password, anyone can input data on a
Facebook page.” The admissibility of such material as evidence
in criminal cases should not be taken for

granted.
Though some bemoan the growth of social network sites, saying
that they undermine “real” personal
relationships, the phenomenon continues to grow throughout the
world. In the view of many people, the
popularity and rapid evolution of social network sites
demonstrate humanity’s creativity in using the
Internet as a tool for new kinds of communication.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2015 Gale, Cengage Learning.
Source Citation
"Online Social Networks." Opposing Viewpoints Online
Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2015.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
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Social Media Helps Students Write Better
Are Social Networking Sites Harmful?, 2015
Andrew Simmons is a writer, teacher, and musician. He has
written for The New York Times, Slate, and
The Believer.
Many people argue that the slang encouraged by social media
has a bad effect on student
writing. However, social media can help students, especially
male high school students, reveal
emotions and discuss topics that make their writing more
powerful and honest. Male students
are usually encouraged to be silent, contained, and not reveal
emotions. On Facebook, however,
students routinely discuss personal issues and emotions and
receive praise for doing so. This
greater freedom to express themselves improves their writing at
school.
The Internet has ruined high-school writing. Write the line on
the board five hundred times like [cartoon
character] Bart Simpson. Remember and internalize it. Intone it
in an Andy Rooney-esque grumble.
I've heard the line repeated by dozens of educators and
laypeople. I've even said it myself.
Thankfully it is untrue.
Emoticons vs. Emotional Honesty
As a high-school English teacher, I read well over a thousand
student essays a year. I can report that
complete sentences are an increasingly endangered species. I

wearily review the point of paragraphs
every semester. This year I tried and failed to spark a senior
class protest against "blobs"—my pejorative
term for essays lacking paragraphs. When I see a winky face in
the body of a personal essay—and
believe me, it has happened enough to warrant a routine
response—I use a red pen to draw next to it a
larger face with narrow, angry eyes and gaping jaws poised to
chomp the offending emoticon to pieces
Pac-Man-style. My students analyze good writing and discuss
the effect of word choice and elegant
syntax on an audience's reading experience. The uphill battle is
worth fighting, but I'm always aware that
something more foreboding than chronic senioritis lines up in
opposition.
However, while Facebook and Twitter have eroded writing
conventions among my students, they have
not killed the most important ingredients in personal writing:
self-reflection and emotional honesty. For
younger high school boys particularly, social networking has
actually improved writing—not the product
or the process, but the sensitivity and inward focus required to
even begin to produce a draft that will
eventually be worth editing.
High school is cruel to all genders, an equal-opportunity
destroyer of spirit and self-esteem. I'm focusing
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on boys because I've seen the phenomenon play out more

intensely with them. Also, I was a boy once,
and so I understand them better than I understand girls.
The emotional distance fostered by Facebook and other sites can
encourage a healthier candor.
When I was beginning high school in 1994 boys knew not to
reveal weakness and insecurity. Girls didn't
seem to like guys who vocalized vulnerability. Athletes usually
projected stereotypically masculine traits:
along with imposing physical size, aggressive, even belligerent
confidence, an easy stance, gait, and
casual presence, the signs of being comfortable in their own
skins. Even the scrawniest punk guitarists
wore hoodies like armor and possessed a prickly toughness
seasoned by the experience of having been
bullied in middle school. The climate demanded stoicism, cool
detachment as the default attitude for
boys trying not to lose social standing. Young male attitudes
were, as they still are, shaped by music and
other forms of pop culture. Mainstream mid-90s rappers had
cold-blooded personas. Even [rock singer
for Nirvana] Kurt Cobain mumbled through interviews, only
opening up in cathartic song, where the
rawest admissions could be obtuse and readily cloaked in
distortion. Everyone agonized over problems
—height, acne, academic ability, body size, a lack of attention
from girls, parents splitting up, sick
grandparents, needy siblings, general alienation—but no one
wanted to talk about them much. At age
14, I was small, smart, and artistic. I wrote well, but the
prospect of writing anything that would permit
even a teacher to know what I really thought terrified me.
Spilling my guts in a writers' workshop with my
classmates would have been social suicide.

Social networking has dramatically altered how high-school
boys deal with their emotions.
Watching Facebook
I have a Facebook page dedicated solely to my position as an
educator. I don't send friend requests to
students but current and former students can send them to me
and I always accept. I don't post much,
but I keep up with some students and share literature-related
links when I delude myself into thinking
they'll be of interest. Current students often send me requests
without thinking of the possible
consequences of being Facebook friends with a teacher. I have
made it a policy to avoid bringing a
student's posts into a conference with a parent or counselor
unless required to do so by law. A few times
a week though, I log on and observe what students post.
My observations have reaffirmed the widely held notion that the
Internet is no refuge from the pains of
adolescence. It's a really bad neighborhood. On Facebook and
Twitter, students humiliate, jeer, and
shame one another. They engage in antisocial, even criminal
behavior—leaving belligerently racist
comments on links, harassing classmates with derogatory posts.
At the same time, the emotional distance fostered by Facebook
and other sites can encourage a
healthier candor, too. On Facebook, even popular students post
statuses in which they express
insecurities. I see a dozen every time I log on. A kid frets that
his longtime girlfriend is straying and
wishes he hadn't upset her. Another admits to being lonely (with
weepy emoticons added for effect).

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Another asks friends to pray for his sick little sister. Another
worries the girl he gave his number to isn't
interested because she hasn't called in the 17 minutes that have
passed since the fateful transaction.
Another disparages his own intellect. "I'm so stupid, dad told
me to drop out," he writes. Another wonders
why his parents are always angry, and why their anger is so
often directed at him. "Brother coming home
today," another posts. "Gonna see how it goes."
Individually these may seem like small-scale admissions. But
the broader trend I have witnessed in the
past few years stands in sharp contrast to the vigilance with
which my generation guarded our fears both
trivial and deep. In this sense, social networking has
dramatically altered how high-school boys deal with
their emotions.
Instead of being mocked for revealing too much, students who
share in this way win likes and supportive
comments from male friends. Perhaps part of it is the fact that

girls appear to appreciate the emotional
candor and publicly validate it with likes and comments, giving
boys the initiative to do the same. In high-
school halls, guards stay up, but online, male emotional
transparency is not only permitted but also
celebrated. Surely, the current crop of "sensitive" rappers has
also encouraged this—especially
standard-bearer Kanye West, who treats albums like therapy
sessions and doesn't mind welling up on
national television. In addition to their insecurities, boys share
affectionate admissions of platonic love to
one another that they wouldn't feel as comfortable sharing in
person. They post "I admit" and "To be
honest" notes on one another's pages in which they celebrate
fraternal bonds.
Just as social networking frees users from public decorum ... it
allows my students to safely, if
temporarily, construct kinder, gentler versions of themselves as
well.
"You my bro cause you always have time to talk."
"Even when there no one else you got me."
However trite, these public expressions may be the seeds of
richer revelations.
Writing as Healing
Because it happens on the Internet, the candor is a simulation of
how a more evolved young male
culture might operate. Despite the Drake pics captioned with the
rapper's soft-headed couplets, the fight
videos, and the countless time-wasting surveys and games that
pollute the average high-school

student's feed, I see the online social universe my students
traverse as an improvement over my high-
school terrain. Many of my students grow up in households in
which machismo reigns supreme. They've
never been allowed to cry. Their mothers and sisters cook and
wash the dishes and clean. They've been
encouraged to see themselves as dominant, powerful,
swaggering, sullen men, not sensitive and
reflective men, powerfully kind, confidently open. Fostering
those traits is a woman's responsibility, like
housework. In this sense, Facebook is a genuine outlet for the
young men I teach. Just as social
networking frees users from public decorum and encourages the
birthing of troll alter egos, it allows my
Page 4 of 6
students to safely, if temporarily, construct kinder, gentler
versions of themselves as well.
The great news is that this has a positive effect on teaching and
learning. My students in 2013 are more
comfortable writing about personal issues than were my
classmates in the mid-late '90s. When I assign
narrative essays, students discuss sexual abuse, poverty,
imprisoned family members, alcoholic parents,
gang violence, the struggle to learn English in America—topics
they may need to address, not merely
subjects they believe might entertain or interest a reader.
After all, we write for an audience and we write for ourselves
too. I see students recognizing the value of

tackling these topics with honesty. I notice that they are
relieved when they do so. Sometimes students
address the same topic in several essays over the course of the
year, updating me, their confidante, on
the status of a specific situation. When they share these essays
with the rest of the class, they turn the
two-way conversation (their writing, my feedback) into a
network. Writing isn't just about the spilling of
guts, obviously, but the transparency encouraged by social
networking has laid the foundation for this
freedom. When this freedom results in powerful, honest writing,
it can in turn result in true healing for
kids—not just the momentary reassurance a well-received status
update may provide.
Further Readings
Books
Mark Bauerlein The Digital Divide: Arguments For and Against
Facebook, Google, Texting, and the
Age of Social Networking. New York: Penguin Group, 2011.
Danah Boyd It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked
Teens. New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press, 2014.
Nicholas Carr The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our
Brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011.
Manuel Catells Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social
Movements in the Internet Age. Malden, MA:
Polity Press, 2012.
Jose van Dijck The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History
of Social Media. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2013.

Shawn Marie Edgington The Parent's Guide to Texting,
Facebook, and Social Media: Understanding
the Benefits and Dangers of Parenting in a Digital World.
Dallas, TX: Brown Books, 2011.
Elizabeth Kandel Englander Bullying and Cyberbullying: What
Every Educator Needs to Know.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2013.
Christian Fuchs Social Media: A Critical Introduction.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2013.
Joe Grimm, ed. The New Bullying—How Social Media, Social
Exclusion Laws and Suicide Have
Changed Our Definition of Bullying, and What to Do About It.
Canton, MI: David Crumm Media, 2012.
Mizuko Ito et al. Living and Learning with New Media:
Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth
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Project. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009.
Robert W. McChesney Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism Is
Turning the Internet Against
Democracy. New York: The New Press, 2013.
Tom Standard Writing on the Wall: Social Media—The First
2,000 Years. New York: Bloomsbury,
2013.

Clive Thompson Smarter than You Think: How Technology Is
Changing Our Minds for the Better. New
York: Penguin Books, 2013.
Daniel Trottier Social Media as Surveillance. Burlington, VT:
Ashgate Publishing, 2012.
Sherry Turkle Alone Together: Why We Expect More from
Technology and Less from Each Other.
Philadelphia: Basic Books, 2011.
Periodicals and Internet Sources
Sarah Boesveld "'Overblown and Sensationalized': Author Says
Bullying Issue Is More Nuanced than
Black and White," National Post, February 23, 2013.
http://news.nationalpost.com.
Art Caplan "Is Your Doctor Spying on Your Tweets? Social
Media Raises Medical Privacy Questions,"
NBC News, October 21, 2013. www.nbcnews.com.
Daniel Etcovitch "Social Media Doesn't Hurt My Offline Social
Abilities, It Helps Them," Huffington
Post, November 18, 2013. www.huffingtonpost.com.
Sam Fiorella "Cyber-Bullying, Social Media, and Parental
Responsibility," Huffington Post, October
18, 2013. www.huffingtonpost.com.
Michelle Goldberg "In Defense of Jonathan Franzen," Daily
Beast, September 26, 2013.
www.thedailybeast.com.
Lesley Kinzel "Leave Selfies Alone," xojane, November 22,
2013. www.xojane.com.

Larry Magid "Common Sense Media Report Shines Positive
Light on Kids and Social Media,"
Huffington Post, June 26, 2012. www.huffingtonpost.com.
Irene Maher "Social Media Can Become an Addiction, but You
Can Break Free," Tampa Bay Times,
July 25, 2013.
Claire Murphy "The Dangers of Being Always On," PR Week,
November 28, 2013. www.prweek.com.
Nature World News "Social Networking Sites Promoting Eating
Disorders," October 5, 2013.
www.natureworldnews.com.
John Naughton "Twitter and the Transformation of Democracy,"
Guardian, September 14, 2013.
Walter Pacheco "Professor Says Teens' Social-Media Lingo
Hurts Writing Skills," Orlando Sentinel,
July 18, 2012.
Phys.org "Researchers Explore the Impact of Social Networking
on Shyness," July 5, 2010.
http://phys.org.
Page 6 of 6
Ryan Singel "Google Tweaks Buzz After Overblown Privacy
Backlash," Wired, February 17, 2010.
www.wired.com.

Lauren Slavin "The Evolution of Selfie Culture: Self-
Expression, Narcissism, or Objectification?,"
feminspire, 2013. http://feminspire.com.
Adam Tanner "Users More Savvy About Social Media Privacy
than Thought, Poll Finds," Forbes,
November 13, 2013.
Gunnes Tavmen "The Pathology of Expecting Social Network
Websites to Wave the 'Democracy
Flag,'" OpenDemocracy, October 21, 2013.
www.opendemocracy.net.
Clive Thompson "Teenagers and Social Networking—It Might
Actually Be Good for Them," Guardian,
October 4, 2013.
David Trifunov "Texting, Social Media Might Be Creating
Better Student Writers, Study Says,"
GlobalPost, July 17, 2013. www.globalpost.com.
Katy Waldman "Jonathan Franzen's Lonely War on the Internet
Continues," Slate, October 4, 2013.
www.slate.com.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2015 Greenhaven Press, a part of Gale,
Cengage Learning.
Source Citation
Simmons, Andrew. "Social Media Helps Students Write Better."
Are Social Networking
Sites Harmful? Ed. Noah Berlatsky. Farmington Hills, MI:
Greenhaven Press, 2015.
At Issue. Rpt. from "Facebook Has Transformed My Students'

Writing—For the
Better." Atlantic (18 Nov. 2013). Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 21 Apr.
2015.
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Gale Document Number: GALE|EJ3010744227
Page 1 of 7
Social Networking Sites Can Limit Interpersonal
Skills and Physical Activity
Sue Scheff is a parent advocate and founder of the organization
Parent's Universal Resource Experts,

which supports and educates parents of troubled teens. She is
also the author of Wit's End: Advice and
Resources for Saving Your Out-of-Control Teen.
While the Internet is a helpful and accurate source of
knowledge and an easy-to-use means of
worldwide communications, its social networking features can
lead to addiction in teenagers. In
extreme cases, it can limit young adults' personal growth and
thwart social development.
Furthermore, the Internet makes it easy for sexual predators to
contact their prey and harm
teenagers, who are seduced by sexually explicit content.
Finally, Internet addiction might cause
teenagers to neglect physical activity and lead a secluded,
unhealthy life.
In today's society, the Internet has made its way into almost
every American home. It is a well-known fact
that the web is a valuable asset for research and learning.
Unfortunately, it can also be a very dangerous
place for teens. With social networking sites like Myspace and
Friendster, chat rooms, instant
messaging, and online role-playing video games, our children
are at access to almost anyone. Sue
Scheff, along with Parent's Universal Resource Experts™, is
tackling the dangers of the web.
Keeping tabs on our teens' online habits doesn't just keep them
safe from online predators. More and
more parents are becoming wary of the excessive hours their
teens spend surfing the web, withdrawing
from family, friends and activities they used to enjoy. Internet
Addiction is a devastating problem facing
far too many teens and their families. While medical
professionals have done limited research on the

topic, more and more are recognizing this destructive behavior
and even more, the potential mental
effects it can have.
Though the web is a great place for learning and can be safe for
keeping in touch, it is important that
families understand the potential risks and dangers to find a
healthy balance between real and virtual life.
The Dangers of Teen Internet Addiction
It's clear that, for teenagers, spending too much time online can
really deter social and educational
development. The Internet world is such that there is always
something new to do and to distract one
from one's responsibilities. We all do it—take ten minutes here
or there to explore our favorite gossip or
sports site. There is nothing wrong with using the Internet as a
tool for research, news, and even
entertainment. After all, the World Wide Web is the world's
most accurate, up to date resource for almost
any type of information.
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But as the Internet evolves and becomes more tailored to the
individual, it grows increasingly easier to
develop a dependency on it. This is especially true for teens—a
group that tends to be susceptible to
flashy graphics and easily enticed by the popularity of social
networks. In a sense, the Internet is the new
video game or TV show. It used to be that adolescents would sit
in front of the TV for hours on end
operating a remote, shooting people and racing cars. Now they
surf the web. Teens are impressionable
and can at times be improperly equipped to handle certain
situations with a degree of reason and
rationality. And although they may have good intentions, they
might be at risk of coming across
something inappropriate and even dangerous.
Sexual Predators
We've all heard the stories about children entering chat rooms
who end up talking to someone older than
them who may be looking for something more than merely a
chat. These tales may sound far-fetched, or
to some, even mundane, because of the publicity they've

received, but as a parent it would be rather
foolish to dismiss them as hearsay or as something that could
never actually happen to your child. The
fact is, these accounts of sexual predation are all too true and
have caused some families a great deal of
strain and fear. Even pre-adolescents have been known to join
chat rooms. The reality is that there is no
real way of knowing who might be in one at any given time. An
even scarier thought is that these forums
are often sexual predators' main source of contact with young
children. In fact, the popular TV show, To
Catch a Predator ... employs someone to pose as a teen and
entice these sex offenders. The show
profiles the interactions between them all the way up until the
actual meeting. Some of the situations
portrayed are horrifying....
[A]s the Internet evolves and becomes more tailored to the
individual, it grows increasingly
easier to develop a dependency on it.
Sensitive Subject Matter
Human curiosity is perhaps at its peak during one's teenage
years. That curiosity is what aids teens in
the growth and development process. It's necessary for survival
as an adolescent and can provide for
some great discoveries and maturation. However, teen curiosity
can also potentially lead a person into
some questionable situations, and the Internet is a prime
medium through which to quell one's
inquisitiveness. Let's face it—teenagers are anxious to be
knowledgeable about topics such as sex,
drugs, and other dangerous subject matter....
The Internet might be an excellent tool for presenting

interesting data, but it can also grossly
misrepresent certain issues. If a teenager wants to learn about
sex or drugs via the web, he or she might
decide to do a search containing the words "sex" or, perhaps
"marijuana." The results your child might
find may not necessarily be the type of educational, instructive
material you'd hope they would receive.
The Internet may be savvy, but one thing it's not capable of
doing is knowing who is using it at any given
time and how to customize its settings....
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Limited Social Growth
There is no better time to experience new things and meet new
people than during one's teenage years.
Getting outside, going to social gatherings, and just having a
good time with friends are among some of
the most productive and satisfying activities in which teenagers
can engage. While the Internet can
provide a degree of social interaction, online networks and
connections cannot replace the benefits of in-
person contact. Teen Internet Addiction is dangerous because it
limits a person's options when it comes
to communication. Much of learning and growing as a teen
comes from the lessons one learns through

friendships, fights, disagreements, trends, popularity, etc.
The Internet has made it all too easy for teens to recoil from the
pressures of adolescence and remain
indoors. The lure of the web can often make it seem as though
social networks and online gaming are
acceptable substitutes for real life. Teens can find acceptance in
chat rooms and message boards, while
at school they might be complete outcasts. It's easy for
teenagers to rebuff the idea of interacting with
their peers and risking rejection when the Internet can provide
for a seemingly relaxed environment.
Children need to know that Internet addiction and reliance on
online forums will only stunt social growth
and make life much more difficult in the future.
The Internet might be an excellent tool for presenting
interesting data, but it can also grossly
misrepresent certain issues.
Sedentary Lifestyle
Internet dependency also inherently promotes a lifestyle that is
not conducive to exercise and physical
activity. Many teens tend to become so enthralled in games or
chats that peeling them away from the
computer can prove to be an ominous task. The entertainment
the Internet can provide often trumps the
option to leave the house and get exercise. Parents should
encourage their teens to use the Internet for
school projects and some degree of entertainment, but they
should also limit the time that they are
allowed to spend on the computer.... The earlier a child is
introduced to the mental and physical benefits
of outside activity, the more likely he or she is to avoid inside
amusements such as the Internet, TV, and

video games.
Nowadays it seems our whole lives can be conducted via the
Internet. We can order, purchase, and
have groceries delivered all with the click of a few buttons. We
can play games, talk to people, find
dates, and even attend AA meetings online. The Internet may
have made our lives and their day-to-day
processes exponentially easier to accomplish, but by the same
token it has also increased our
dependence on the advantages it can provide. The convenience
it creates has been known to cause
some people to recoil from outside situations, opting to conduct
as much business as possible from
home. We must be careful of this trend, especially with
teenagers, for whom positive (and negative)
social interaction help to form valuable personality and wisdom.
Page 4 of 7
Further Readings
Books
Jason Alba I'm on LinkedIn—Now What???: A Guide to Getting
the Most Out of LinkedIn. 2nd ed.
Cupertino, CA: Happy About, 2009.
Julia Angwin Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most
Popular Website in America. New
York: Random House, 2009.
Patti Anklam Net Work: A Practical Guide to Creating and

Sustaining Networks at Work and in the
World. Boston: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007.
Dave Awl Facebook Me! A Guide to Having Fun with Your
Friends and Promoting Your Projects on
Facebook. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press, 2009.
Jack Balkin et al, eds. Cybercrime: Digital Cops in a Networked
Environment. New York: New York
John Bush, ed. Child Safety: From Sexual Predators.
CreateSpace, 2008.
Christina Garsten and Helena Wulff New Technologies at Work:
People, Screens, and Social
Virtuality. Oxford, UK: Berg, 2003.
Jay Goldman Facebook Cookbook: Building Applications to
Grow Your Facebook Empire.
Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, 2009.
Steve Holzner Facebook Marketing: Leverage Social Media to
Grow Your Business. Indianapolis, IN:
Que Publishing, 2009.
Dennis Howitt and Kerry Sheldon Sex Offenders and the
Internet. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons,
2007.
John Maver and Cappy Popp Essential Facebook Development:
Build Successful Applications for the
Facebook Platform. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley
Professional, 2010.
Samuel McQuade III, James Colt, and Nancy Meyer Cyber

Bullying: Protecting Kids and Adults from
Online Bullies. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2009.
Ben Mezrich The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of
Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius
and Betrayal. New York: Doubleday, 2009.
Mike O'Neil and Lori Ruff Rock the World with Your Online
Presence: Your Ticket to a Multi-Platinum
LinkedIn Profile. Chicago: Networlding, 2010.
John Pospisil Hacking MySpace: Customizations and Mods to
Make MySpace Your Space.
Indianapolis, IN: Wiley, 2006.
Mike Ribble and Gerald Bailey Digital Citizenship in Schools.
Eugene, OR: International Society for
Technology in Education, 2007.
Jean Marie Rusin Poison Pen Pal: Secrets, Lies, and Online
Predators. Bloomington, IN:
AuthorHouse, 2006.
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Diana Saco Cybering Democracy: Public Space and the Internet.
Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 2002.
Neal Schaffer Windmill Networking: Understanding,
Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn; An Unofficial,
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating & Implementing Your LinkedIn

Brand. Charleston, SC: BookSurge
Publishing, 2009.
Clara Chung-wai Shih The Facebook Era: Tapping Online
Social Networks to Build Better Products,
Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff. Boston: Prentice
Hall, 2009.
Mike Sullivan Online Predators: A Parent's Guide for the
Virtual Playground. Longwood, FL: Xulon
Books, 2008.
Emily Vander Veer Facebook: The Missing Manual. 2nd ed.
Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, 2010.
Periodicals
Bruce Bower "Growing Up Online: Young People Jump
Headfirst into the Internet's World," Science
News, June 17, 2006.
Bruce Bower "Internet Seduction: Online Sex Offenders Prey on
At-Risk Teens," Science News,
February 23, 2008.
Curriculum Review "Teens Share Sexually Explicit Messages:
Simple Rebellion or Dangerous
Behavior?" May 2009.
Economist "Primates on Facebook: Even Online, the Neocortex
Is the Limit," February 26, 2009.
Martin Fackler "In Korea, a Boot Camp Cure for Web
Obsession," New York Times, November 18,
2007.
Florida Parishes Bureau "Loranger Teen Booked in Threats to

Harm Other Teen, Cyberstalking," The
Advocate, July 12, 2007.
Adam Geller "VA Gunman Had 2 Past Stalking Cases,"
Associated Press, April 18, 2007.
Lev Grossman "The Hyperconnected," Time, April 5, 2007.
Ann Doss Helms "5 Teachers Disciplined for Facebook
Postings," Charlotte Observer, November 12,
2008.
Arik Hesseldahl "Social Networking Sites a 'Hotbed' for
Spyware," BusinessWeek, August 18, 2006.
Yvonne Jewkes and Carol Andrews "Policing the Filth: The
Problems of Investigating Online Child
Pornography in England and Wales," Policing and Society,
March 2005.
Monica Jones "Your Child and the Internet: Tips to Keep Them
Safe on the Information
Superhighway," Ebony, March 2006.
Rick Kirschner "Why the Need for Human Connection?"
Persuasive Communication and Life Skills,
July 29, 2008.
Karen Klein "How to Start a Social Networking Site," Los
Angeles Times, June 9, 2009.
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Maureen Macfarlane "Misbehavior in Cyberspace: The Rise in
Social Networking Sites and Chat
Rooms Intermingles Free Expression and Student Safety in
Cyberspace," School Administrator,
October 2007.
Claire Cain Miller "Venture Capitalists Look for a Return to the
A B C's," New York Times, July 6,
2009.
Justin Pope "Colleges Warn About Networking Sites,"
Associated Press, August 2, 2006.
Benjamin Radford "Predator Panic: A Closer Look," Skeptical
Inquirer, September 2006.
James Randerson "Social Networking Sites Don't Deepen
Friendships," Guardian, September 10,
2007.
Paul M. Rodriguez "Virtual Child Porn's Very Real
Consequences," Insight on the News, May 27,
2002.
Christine Rosen "Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism,"
New Atlantis, Summer 2007.
Brad Stone "Social Networking's Next Phase," New York
Times, March 3, 2007.
Jon Swarz "Social Networking Sites Boost Productivity," USA
Today, October 8, 2008.
Clive Thompson "Brave New World of Digital Intimacy," New
York Times, September 7, 2008.

James Tozer "Husband Dumps His Wife with Online Message in
'World's First Divorce by Facebook.'"
Daily Mail (UK), February 9, 2009.
Sarah Jane Tribble "The Social Network as a Career Safety
Net," New York Times, August 13, 2008.
Internet Sources
Denise Caruso "Why Is Facebook So Addictive?" Salon, August
7, 2008. www.salon.com.
Center for the Digital Future "Annual Internet Survey by the
Center for the Digital Future Finds
Shifting Trends Among Adults About the Benefits and
Consequences of Children Going Online,"
Center for the Digital Future at USC Annenberg School for
Communication, 2008.
www.digitalcenter.org.
Paul Glazowski "Bebo Founders Talk History of Network and
Past Web Efforts," Mashable, March 16,
2008. http://mashable.com.
Cengage Learning.
Source Citation
Scheff, Sue. "Social Networking Sites Can Limit Interpersonal
Skills and Physical
Activity." Are Social Networking Sites Harmful? Ed. Stefan
Kiesbye. Detroit:
Greenhaven Press, 2011. At Issue. Rpt. from "Wrapped Up In
the Web: The
Dangers of Teen Internet Addiction." www.sue-scheff.net. 2007.

Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
URL
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Social Networks Enable Quick Collaboration
Around Issues
The Global Impact of Social Media, 2012
Micah L. Sifry is a cofounder and executive editor of the
Personal Democracy Forum, which covers the
ways technology is changing politics. He has also served as an

editor and a writer for the Nation
magazine and is the author or editor of four books, the most
recent being Is That a Politician in Your
Pocket? Washington on $2 Million a Day.
First Maureen Dowd writes a (justly parodied) silly dis of
Twitter, and now Matt Bai, who covers politics ...
offers his own misreading of Twitter's importance for politics.
Like many inside the Beltway [Washington,
DC], Bai focuses on the handful of DC insiders who have begun
using Twitter to share details of their day
—some inane, some intimate and some genuinely illuminating.
But to him, this is most like former
Senator Bob Graham's obsessive compulsive diary-keeping:
"just plain weird." He adds, "it just may be
the worst thing to happen to politics and its attending media
since a couple of geniuses at CNN dreamed
up Crossfire back in the 1980s."
Twitter Is a Powerful Tool for Activists
I guess some of the smart kids in the mainstream media just
refuse to learn something new until you
spell it out for them. So here's a note to Matt Bai and the other
big-foot journalists who are dismissing
Twitter:
It isn't what the politicians are doing with it (99% of them, as
Bai points out, are using it as yet one more
uni-directional communications tool, tweeting to thousands of
followers but following—and interacting
with—very few). At best, it's a tool for humanizing some of
them when used that way, and while that's
barely a big deal it hardly seems as harmful as Crossfire was to
the national discourse.

It's the usage by networks of politically attentive individuals
that is far more interesting. Along with blogs,
social networks and other interactive communications tools,
Twitter is helping knit together real-time
response and collaboration across all kinds of political issues
and campaigns.
Just take what we did with Twitter Vote Report, as one salient
example. In about three weeks, an all-
volunteer, loosely linked network of coders, political activists
and journalists came together to popularize
the #votereport hashtag, get all the voter-protection groups to
add it to their Election Day reporting
systems, created robust reporting tools and visualization
systems (including iPhone and Android apps
that collected moving audio reports of people's polling
experiences), and the whole thing worked on
Election Day. More than 12,000 individual reports came in,
NPR [National Public Radio], the LA Times
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and the NY Observer were among the mainstream outlets that
used the data (which was all free for
anyone to work with), and I'm sure hundreds of thousands more
heard about the project because so
many of the reports were flowing in via Twitter. We also pulled
in dozens of volunteers who, behind the
scenes, volunteered time on Election Day to monitor the
incoming reports and help clean up the data so
we could categorize information properly and in some case pass
along urgent issues to folks in the vote-

protection communities and in the press. It's inspired an effort
now in India to use the same methods for
a project called Vote Report India, by the way.
Conservatives and Liberals Are Both Using Social Media
Bai also missed what the conservatives are trying to do to build
new communications networks around
common hashtags like #tcot or #dontgo, and how liberals are
also using the platform to galvanize their
own communities. The other day, the Sunlight Foundation
(which I consult for) conducted a brief push to
get folks to tweet the 17 senators who are currently on Twitter
to get them to cosponsor S. 482, [Russ]
Feingold's bill to get the Senate to file its campaign finance
reports electronically (rather than on paper),
and within a few hours two of them ([Barbara] Boxer and
[Claire] McCaskill) had responded directly, via
their Twitter accounts, to announce that they were signing on.
While I agree with Bai that our political discourse has become
incredibly atomized and sped-up, I would
hardly point the finger at Twitter as the cause of that
(Blackberries and online news sites have been
around a lot longer). It probably does contribute a little more to
the speed-up effect, but I would argue
that these other networking effects are of much greater import.
Further Readings
Books
Victoria Carty Wired and Mobilizing: Social Movements, New
Technology, and Electoral Politics. New
York: Routledge, 2011.
Rahaf Harfoush Yes We Did: An Inside Look at How Social

Media Built the Obama Brand. Berkeley,
CA: New Riders, 2009.
John Allen Hendricks and Robert E. Denton Jr, eds.
Communicator-in-Chief: How Barack Obama
Used New Media Technology to Win the White House. Lanham,
MD: Lexington Books, 2010.
Elliot King Free for All: The Internet's Transformation of
Journalism. Evanston, IL: Northwestern
David Kirkpatrick The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the
Company That Is Connecting the
World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010.
Joe Trippi The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy,
the Internet, and the Overthrow of
Everything. New York: HarperCollins, 2004.
Page 3 of 4
Sean Tunney and Garrett Monaghan, eds. Web Journalism: A
New Form of Citizenship?. Portland,
OR: Sussex Academic Press, 2010.
Periodicals and Internet Sources
Philip Alexiou "A 'Twitter Moment' in Politics?," Voice of
America, July 29, 2010. www.voanews.com.
Paul Allen "Social Media and Elections: The Revolution Will
Not Be Televised, Revisited,"

Paulallen.net, September 29, 2009. http://paulallen.net.
Chen Baoguo "US Controls Threaten Internet Freedom," Global
Times, August 23, 2010.
The Economist "Social Networks and Statehood: The Future Is
Another Country," vol. 396, no. 8692,
July 22, 2010.
Mike Giglio "The Cyberactivists Who Helped Topple a
Dictator," Newsweek, January 15, 2011.
Wen Guang "Google Incident and US Internet Strategy," China
Daily, January 23, 2010.
Ruth A. Harper "The Social Media Revolution: Exploring the
Impact on Journalism and News Media
Organizations," Student Pulse, March 11, 2010.
www.studentpulse.com.
Peter Kirwan "From Samizdat to Twitter: How Technology Is
Making Censorship Irrelevant," Wired,
August 1, 2010.
Claire Cain Miller "How Obama's Internet Campaign Changed
Politics," New York Times, November
7, 2008.
Georgianne Nienaber "Call for Social Networking Reports on
Deepwater Horizon Oil Impacts,"
Huffington Post, May 4, 2010. www.huffingtonpost.com.
Robert G. Picard "Blogs, Tweets, Social Media, and the News
Business," Neiman Reports, vol. 63,
no. 3, Fall 2009.

Jennifer Preston "Movement Began with Outrage and a
Facebook Page That Gave It an Outlet," New
York Times, February 5, 2011.
Samantha M. Shapiro "Can Social Networking Turn Disaffected
Young Egyptians into a Force for
Democratic Change?," New York Times Magazine, January 25,
2009.
Josh Taylor "Facebook Is Ruining Journalism," Newsphobia,
January 20, 2009. www.newsphobia.net.
Jose Antonio Vargas "Internet Freedom, Hillary Clinton and
Being the Web's First Global Diplomat,"
Huffington Post, January 21, 2010. www.huffingtonpost.com.
David Wills and Stuart Reeves "Facebook as a Political
Weapon: Information in Social Networks,"
British Politics, vol. 4, no. 2, June 2009.
Lea Winerman "Social Networking: Crisis Communication,"
Nature, January 21, 2009.
www.nature.com.
Gary Wolf "How the Internet Invented Howard Dean," Wired,
January 2004. www.wired.com.
Li Xiguang "Voices of Online Masses Can Make China Heard
Worldwide," Global Times, February 22,
Page 4 of 4

2011.
Cengage Learning.
Source Citation
Sifry, Micah L. "Social Networks Enable Quick Collaboration
Around Issues." The
Global Impact of Social Media. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit:
Greenhaven Press,
2012. Current Controversies. Rpt. from "Twitter and Politics:
What Matt Bai Doesn't
Get." TechPresident. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
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The Fear of Social Media Is Unfounded
Curtis Silver is a financial/data analyst and a contributor to
Wired.com.
A common fear of Internet users is that social networking sites
require them to share revealing
personal information to everyone. However, Facebook and
MySpace users can easily restrict
access to their pages and freely choose what information to
share and with whom. When used
correctly, social networking sites are great tools to connect with
friends and businesses alike and
offer many advantages when looking for jobs or advertising
your own business. Users need to
gain knowledge and expertise to overcome their fear of social
media, but the advantages
LinkedIn, Facebook, or MySpace offer to participants far
outweigh the possible risks.
When it comes to Social Media, a lot of individuals and
companies are quite afraid. Fear of the unknown.
Fear of lack of privacy. Fear of retribution and negative
response. Fear of ex-girlfriends' new boyfriends,
or of strangers stalking your kids. I hope to quell some of those
fears with some good old fashioned
rationalization and logical determination of what Social Media
can do for you.
Social Media for Personal Use

When it comes to personal use, there is a lot more to fear from
Social Media on an individual level than
on a corporation level. There is a level of comfort that some
were able to adapt to quickly (they all work
in PR) and some took a little while longer to come around.
Some still haven't come around, but have
their little toes in the water and some flat out refuse to be
involved at all. Most of the fear in the latter
categories come from lack of knowledge about the Social Media
networks and false assumptions about
what kind of information you are required to share.
Let's talk about that for a moment. What information, on a
personal level, are you required to share?
That's actually a very simple answer, one that seems to elude
many. None. You are required to share
nothing. Plain and simple. I think this fear of being forced to
provide personal data just because you
signed up comes from cell phones. I'm serious. When cell
phones became mainstream I remember
people lamenting that now their friends and co-workers would
be able to get hold of them wherever they
were and an expectation was set that they would. That's the way
the behavior drove the technology. Few
people, if any, mentioned to me that the solution to that is to
just not pick up the phone.
It's the same thing for Social Media. You are only required to
share as much information as you feel you
should share. This is a fear I myself had to conquer when
moving my persona onto Facebook. But then I
realized that I can put whatever I want up there. I don't have to
tell people my innermost secrets, I don't
have to put my correct birthday or favorite foods. That's all
optional. I don't even have to use my real
name. The fear here is lack of privacy. People are afraid they

will give away too much information. Well,
Page 2 of 7
only if you give away too much information. Again, at a
personal level you aren't obligated to do anything
at all, so it's completely up to you as to how you want to
represent yourself online.
You are required to share nothing. Plain and simple.
Privacy Can Be Maintained
When it came to more career oriented sites like Linkedin, the
logic there was easier. What information
would I be putting up on that site that wasn't already up on
Monster.com or Careerbuilder? My resume,
after being spread around the internet like herpes backstage at a
rock concert, was pretty much public
record. With that thought in mind, creating my profile on
Linkedin was a walk in the park.
The other thing that really scares people, especially when it
comes to networking sites, is connecting
with the past. A lot of people have skeletons in the closet that
they just don't want to let out. Or they don't
want to be faced with the decision whether to "friend" an ex on
Facebook or not. There is a lot of
trepidation about what the expectation is when it comes to
selecting your "friends" online. A great rule of
thumb when it comes to that is—would you stop and talk to this
person in real life? Is this someone you'd

recognize in a crowded room? Someone you'd sit with uninvited
at a coffee shop if you knew them? I
have acquaintances from high school that try to connect with me
on Facebook, but I either A.) didn't like
them then and probably wouldn't like them now or B.) have no
freaking clue who they are. Why should I
feel obligated to connect? Am I that self centered to think that
if I don't connect they are brooding over it?
Chances are, I'm one of a hundred invites they sent out that day.
I spoke to a friend who is consumed by the fear. The media
hasn't helped, with stories of MySpace &
Facebook predators and so on. That's where his fear stems
from—he's afraid his family would be
targeted. It may be a harsh conclusion, but you may as well
never leave the house and never let your
family out of the house as well. It's a rough and tumble world
out there, and even more so online. You
have to have a particular constitution about you and be armed
with the knowledge of what's out there
and what kind of programs you are working with. The fact that
Linkedin pulled in his gmail account
address book scared the crap out of him. You can't be
participating online with that glaring lack of
knowledge about how the internet and its related applications
work. Arm yourself with knowledge and the
fear will subside.
The other thing that really scares people, especially when it
comes to networking sites, is
connecting with the past.
Knowledge Is Key to Social Networking
Getting over these fears are tough. However, they are clearly
worth the benefits. I have several thousand

connections on Linkedin, people I don't know in industries I've
never heard of—but they are there. Ready
and mostly willing to provide information and insight when
needed. I've made advantageous connections
Page 3 of 7
on Facebook with people I've not seen in years, working for or
running businesses that could benefit my
life. I've connected with people outside my zip code—which is
the most important part. I've gotten
freelance jobs through connections, been involved in projects I
never would have known about had I not
been connected. With networks like Twitter, I've got a constant
stream of what's going on in the world
and with subjects I'm interested in. Not to mention the quick
availability to self promote via utilities like
Digg. Those are the benefits....
Social Media for Business Use
With business use, whether it be to self promote or promote
your business, there are different fears but
based on the same inherent base fears. Lack of knowledge is the
big one, followed by general apathy
and ignorance. Businesses don't worry about the privacy issue
as much as an individual would.
What they do worry about is the return on investment. Is Social
Media worth the time and effort? Based
on Social Media consulting being a whole sub-industry of
public relations, I'd say many companies think

it is worth the time and effort. Basically, companies need to ask
themselves if they have the time and
resources to commit to networking. If they don't, then it's a
moot point and less of a fear of using Social
Media than an apathetic response.
The bigger question for companies or individuals looking to self
promote, is do their customers use it?
For me, the answer was a hearty "yes." As a writer, joining
Twitter was one of the best ways to promote
my own work. Did I mention that you can follow me? See? Self
promotion.
I've made advantageous connections on Facebook with people
I've not seen in years, working
for or running businesses that could benefit my life.
Businesses hire Social Media experts to guide them onto the
internet and promote their service and/or
product. This is especially useful if a good percentage of their
customer base is deeply rooted in the
social networks. More companies are adding a Twitter feed to
their contact page, or their CEO suddenly
has his own blog to rant on.
A fear here is feedback. A lot of companies are flat out terrified
of negative feedback. Terrified. Like
walking in the dark and likely be eaten by a Grue [fictional
predator] terrified. However, that suggests
something exists that would cause negative feedback. A good
key for any company using Social Media
is honesty and clarity with customers and consumers. If you
have something to hide and it's revealed,
there will be negative feedback. In any forum however, there
will always be negative feedback. Have you
ever read the op-ed section of the newspaper?

There Is Money in Social Networking
Businesses can benefit the most from Social Media, more than
any personal usage outside of self-
Page 4 of 7
promotion. Because there is money to be made. How is there
money to be made? It's basic economics.
Reach a larger audience, sell more product/service and make
more money. There are companies that
wouldn't exist right now if not for Social Media. Independents
based online are thriving because of the
networking possibilities of Social Media. As are Social Media
consulting firms. Self promotion is another
great side benefit as well. Can you think of how you would self
promote a blog post before Social Media?
Email everyone? That limits you to people you know. Send
them certified mail?
In conclusion, and to sum it all up nicely (especially the part
about using common sense), a quote from
Boston based branding and PR Executive Don Martelli:
The social media fear factor is real, but controllable. Rather
than being scared of eating bugs
and goat intestines, the fear factor—personally and
professionally—is really embedded in one
thing, engagement. People are nervous of connecting with past
lives and sharing stuff that they
care not to. Brands are nervous about the two way

communication street that social channels
pave, especially with those on the road that aren't kind.
Whether from a personal or professional standpoint, the fear
factor can be controlled by using
common sense and being transparent in your communications.
My advice is to leverage the
reach of social media to become a trusted source of helpful
content, which, in turn, will help
companies and their brands build a following or stronger
community.
Further Readings
Books
Jason Alba I'm on LinkedIn—Now What???: A Guide to Getting
the Most Out of LinkedIn. 2nd ed.
Cupertino, CA: Happy About, 2009.
Julia Angwin Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most
Popular Website in America. New
York: Random House, 2009.
Patti Anklam Net Work: A Practical Guide to Creating and
Sustaining Networks at Work and in the
World. Boston: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007.
Dave Awl Facebook Me! A Guide to Having Fun with Your
Friends and Promoting Your Projects on
Facebook. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press, 2009.
Jack Balkin et al, eds. Cybercrime: Digital Cops in a Networked
Environment. New York: New York
John Bush, ed. Child Safety: From Sexual Predators.

CreateSpace, 2008.
Christina Garsten and Helena Wulff New Technologies at Work:
People, Screens, and Social
Virtuality. Oxford, UK: Berg, 2003.
Jay Goldman Facebook Cookbook: Building Applications to
Grow Your Facebook Empire.
Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, 2009.
Page 5 of 7
Steve Holzner Facebook Marketing: Leverage Social Media to
Grow Your Business. Indianapolis, IN:
Que Publishing, 2009.
Dennis Howitt and Kerry Sheldon Sex Offenders and the
Internet. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons,
2007.
John Maver and Cappy Popp Essential Facebook Development:
Build Successful Applications for the
Facebook Platform. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley
Professional, 2010.
Samuel McQuade III, James Colt, and Nancy Meyer Cyber
Bullying: Protecting Kids and Adults from
Online Bullies. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2009.
Ben Mezrich The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of
Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius
and Betrayal. New York: Doubleday, 2009.

Mike O'Neil and Lori Ruff Rock the World with Your Online
Presence: Your Ticket to a Multi-Platinum
LinkedIn Profile. Chicago: Networlding, 2010.
John Pospisil Hacking MySpace: Customizations and Mods to
Make MySpace Your Space.
Indianapolis, IN: Wiley, 2006.
Mike Ribble and Gerald Bailey Digital Citizenship in Schools.
Eugene, OR: International Society for
Technology in Education, 2007.
Jean Marie Rusin Poison Pen Pal: Secrets, Lies, and Online
Predators. Bloomington, IN:
AuthorHouse, 2006.
Diana Saco Cybering Democracy: Public Space and the Internet.
Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 2002.
Neal Schaffer Windmill Networking: Understanding,
Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn; An Unofficial,
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating & Implementing Your LinkedIn
Brand. Charleston, SC: BookSurge
Publishing, 2009.
Clara Chung-wai Shih The Facebook Era: Tapping Online
Social Networks to Build Better Products,
Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff. Boston: Prentice
Hall, 2009.
Mike Sullivan Online Predators: A Parent's Guide for the
Virtual Playground. Longwood, FL: Xulon
Books, 2008.

Emily Vander Veer Facebook: The Missing Manual. 2nd ed.
Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, 2010.
Periodicals
Bruce Bower "Growing Up Online: Young People Jump
Headfirst into the Internet's World," Science
News, June 17, 2006.
Bruce Bower "Internet Seduction: Online Sex Offenders Prey on
At-Risk Teens," Science News,
February 23, 2008.
Curriculum Review "Teens Share Sexually Explicit Messages:
Simple Rebellion or Dangerous
Behavior?" May 2009.
Economist "Primates on Facebook: Even Online, the Neocortex
Is the Limit," February 26, 2009.
Page 6 of 7
Martin Fackler "In Korea, a Boot Camp Cure for Web
Obsession," New York Times, November 18,
2007.
Florida Parishes Bureau "Loranger Teen Booked in Threats to
Harm Other Teen, Cyberstalking," The
Advocate, July 12, 2007.
Adam Geller "VA Gunman Had 2 Past Stalking Cases,"
Associated Press, April 18, 2007.

Lev Grossman "The Hyperconnected," Time, April 5, 2007.
Ann Doss Helms "5 Teachers Disciplined for Facebook
Postings," Charlotte Observer, November 12,
2008.
Arik Hesseldahl "Social Networking Sites a 'Hotbed' for
Spyware," BusinessWeek, August 18, 2006.
Yvonne Jewkes and Carol Andrews "Policing the Filth: The
Problems of Investigating Online Child
Pornography in England and Wales," Policing and Society,
March 2005.
Monica Jones "Your Child and the Internet: Tips to Keep Them
Safe on the Information
Superhighway," Ebony, March 2006.
Rick Kirschner "Why the Need for Human Connection?"
Persuasive Communication and Life Skills,
July 29, 2008.
Karen Klein "How to Start a Social Networking Site," Los
Angeles Times, June 9, 2009.
Maureen Macfarlane "Misbehavior in Cyberspace: The Rise in
Social Networking Sites and Chat
Rooms Intermingles Free Expression and Student Safety in
Cyberspace," School Administrator,
October 2007.
Claire Cain Miller "Venture Capitalists Look for a Return to the
A B C's," New York Times, July 6,
2009.
Justin Pope "Colleges Warn About Networking Sites,"

Associated Press, August 2, 2006.
Benjamin Radford "Predator Panic: A Closer Look," Skeptical
Inquirer, September 2006.
James Randerson "Social Networking Sites Don't Deepen
Friendships," Guardian, September 10,
2007.
Paul M. Rodriguez "Virtual Child Porn's Very Real
Consequences," Insight on the News, May 27,
2002.
Christine Rosen "Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism,"
New Atlantis, Summer 2007.
Brad Stone "Social Networking's Next Phase," New York
Times, March 3, 2007.
Jon Swarz "Social Networking Sites Boost Productivity," USA
Today, October 8, 2008.
Clive Thompson "Brave New World of Digital Intimacy," New
York Times, September 7, 2008.
James Tozer "Husband Dumps His Wife with Online Message in
'World's First Divorce by Facebook.'"
Daily Mail (UK), February 9, 2009.
Page 7 of 7
Sarah Jane Tribble "The Social Network as a Career Safety

Net," New York Times, August 13, 2008.
Internet Sources
Denise Caruso "Why Is Facebook So Addictive?" Salon, August
7, 2008. www.salon.com.
Center for the Digital Future "Annual Internet Survey by the
Center for the Digital Future Finds
Shifting Trends Among Adults About the Benefits and
Consequences of Children Going Online,"
Center for the Digital Future at USC Annenberg School for
Communication, 2008.
www.digitalcenter.org.
Paul Glazowski "Bebo Founders Talk History of Network and
Past Web Efforts," Mashable, March 16,
2008. http://mashable.com.
Cengage Learning.
Source Citation
Silver, Curtis. "The Fear of Social Media Is Unfounded." Are
Social Networking Sites
Harmful? Ed. Stefan Kiesbye. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011.
At Issue. Rpt. from
"Fighting the Fear of Social Media." Wired.com. 2009.
Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
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