Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have grown tremendously in popularity but have also been plagued by controversies related to privacy, security, and misuse of personal information. While these sites allow people to connect and share content globally, they have faced issues with unauthorized access to private user data, cyberbullying, hoaxes, and inappropriate or criminal behavior facilitated by users. There are also ongoing debates around how public certain shared content truly is, and whether sites adequately protect users' privacy and personal data for commercial purposes like targeted advertising.

1. ByDamian McCarthyShane ReenRobert RocheSocial Networking

2. Facebook was launched in 2004 and has 500 million registered users.MySpace was launched in 2003 and has 130 million registered users.Bebo was launched in 2005 and has 117 million registered users.Twitter was launched in 2006 and has 75 million registered users.Major Social Networking Sites

3. Some Social Networking Logo’s.

4. Social networking is a recent invention that has the Internet still at the edge of its seat due to its popularity with people. This is mostly because it really is for the people. Bringing every kind of social group together in one place and letting them interact is really a big thing indeed. Everything about it lies on the advantages and disadvantages of social networking, and what it can do for you.Social Networking in General.

5. Social Networking has been around since the 80’s but only became successful when the internet boom hit.Classmates.com was a huge hit in 1995 and still has over 40 million registered users.But Social Networking didn’t really hit it’s stride until the early “noughties”.Friendster was the first to benefit from the new interest in social networking, boasting over three million users in it’s first year and a ton of investment interest.Recent History

6. Friendster still has 115 million registered users. Most of it’s traffic comes from Asia.The king of networking sites is Facebook. Launched in 2004 it has grown to be a huge part of modern culture.It has become so popular that a film based on it and it’s creator, Mark Zurkerberg, was released on October 15th this year to critical acclaim.

7. Advantages of Social Networking Websites.

8. Advantages of Social Networking to Ordinary People.Some people use Social Networking sites as an opportunity to find a job.Many people use Social Networking sites as a means of meeting new people and making new friends.Social Networking sites are often used by people to keep in touch with friends from close or abroad. People see Social Networking sites as a hobby, as a means to pass time.

9. How to set up a social networking site

10. Setting up a social networking website will require planning, creativity, marketing and funds to design and develop the website. Social networking is gaining in popularity with sites developed for a variety of people to network

11. Create a list of the functions you want the website to have. Do you want people to be able to post photos or videos, chat, instant message, create private profiles, create buddy lists or play games? You need to have a clear idea of the functions you want the site to have to plan the creation of the site.

12. Build a website. The design and development of the website will be the most costly and time-consuming portion of the project. Hire web freelancers if you need help building the site.

13. Use a web hosting company that offers a dedicated server.If your website is going to grow to have many members and have options that use a lot of bandwidth, such as photos, videos or chats, you will need a dedicated server.

14. Design promotional material and ads. Pass out information to everyone you knowPost information on your social site on related blogs and discussion forums.Leave your website address on every blog post or forum post. Search engines pick up your website address, which helps to push your website up in position during a user's web search.

15. Prepare to spend a lot of time getting this site up and running. Troubleshoot bugs.Market and promote the site. It is hard to keep members at a site without enough members to hold member's attention. Members who feel the site has something to offer will spread positive information to other people.

16. Trouble Erupted on the well known Social Networking site Twitter as a well known Fine Gael leader Simon Conveney suggested the Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen sounded half way between “ drunk and hungover on a latest interview. This sparked major feuds between political parties. Example of impact of Social Networking Sites.

17. << An Example of how tobacco Companies use Social Networking sites as a means of as Advertising.

18. In England in 2008 a 41-year-old man brutally stabbed his wife to death because she changed her Facebook status to “Single”.In Teesside, England during March of this year a 33-year-old man posed as a teenager on Facebook. He used his profile to lure a 17-year-old girl into meeting him, at which point he kidnapped, raped and murdered her.In December 2009 a 15-year-old boy from London stabbed an 18-year-old man over a dispute on Facebook.Murder over Facebook

19. In February this year an internet technician from Trinidad stabbed his former girlfriend twenty times after he saw photos of her on Facebook with another man.A Florida woman, angry because her three month old baby’s crying was interrupting her game of the Facebook game “Farmville”, shook the infant to death. She shook the baby, smoked a cigarette and then shook the baby again. She faces life in prison.

20. An emergency medical technician from Staten Island, USA was fired after taking a picture of a murder victim and uploading it to his Facebook page.In May 2010, a glitch on the site allowed some users to see their friends private information like chat conversations. It also allowed advertisers to learn some users’ identities.More Controversy around Facebook

21. The attorney general of the U.S state of Utah created a storm of controversy when he gave the go ahead to a firing-squad for the execution of a convicted killer, posting the news on his Twitter account. His post is showed below…..Controversy on Twitter

22. In March of this year users of Twitter posted death threats aimed towards Barack Obama.One user said: “America, we survived the Assassinations of Lincoln & Kennedy. We'll surely get over a bullet to Barack Obama's head” while another user posted: “If I lived in DC. I'd shoot him myself”This came after the release of an app on Facebook called “Should Obama be killed?”“Should Obama be killed?”

23. Hoax death reports are very common and popular among Americans on social networking sites. Mostly Twitter because of it’s many celebrity users.Reports included George Clooney's private plane going down, Harrison Ford’s yacht had capsized, Miley Cyrus had been in a car accident and that Natalie Portman had tumbled off a cliff in New Zealand. Hoax Death Reports

24. “Cyber-bullying” is a big problem on social networking sites such as Facebook. 39% of users admit to being “cyber-bullied”Cyber-bullying is when someone is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another person using the internet.When schools try and get involved by disciplining the student for Cyber-bullying actions that took place off-campus and outside of school hours, they are often sued for exceeding their authority and violating the student's free speech right. They also, often lose.“Cyber-bullying”

25. Influence of Facebook.Undoubtedly Facebook has been a worldwide phenomenon in recent years .This has been seen with a recent movie having been created about the impact of the website. The movie “ The Social Network” has been granted great reviews from critics.

26. Interesting Statistics.Facebook has over 500 million active users.People spend over 700 billion minutes on Facebook per month.More than one million developers and entrepreneurs from over 180 countries are active on Facebook.50% of Facebook’s active users log on each day.

27. Security Fears on Facebook.

28. Example of Security Fears on Social Networking sites have been well publicised in recent years. For Example on the well known Facebook site.Facebook has had a number of outages and downtime large enough to draw some media attention. A 2007 outage resulted in a security hole that enabled some users to read other users' personal mail. In 2008, the site was inaccessible for about a day, from many locations in many countries.Security Fears on Social Networking Sites.

29. Privacy issues of social networking sites

30. Social-networking sites allow seemingly trivial gossip to be distributed to a worldwide audience, sometimes making people the butt of rumors shared by millions of users across the Internet.

31. On May 5 2010 users discovered a glitch that gave them access to supposedly private information in the accounts of their Facebook friends, like chat conversations.

32. The glitch heightened a feeling among many users that it was becoming hard to trust the service to protect their personal information. As the company has changed its approach to privacy, it has introduced new ways for users to adjust their privacy settings. But these tools have grown increasingly convoluted, leaving many users frustrated and unsure of what information is available to whom. They say a site that they joined for the sake of friends and fun has started to feel too much like work.

33. There are financial motives behind Facebook’s approach to privacy. One of the ways Facebook makes money with its free service is by customizing the selection of advertisements shown to individual users. The more information that users put into their profiles, the more the company can make from such focused ads.

34. Many users are not even aware of the privacy settings.A recent survey from Consumer Reports found that 23 percent of Facebook users either did not know the site offered privacy controls or chose not to use them.