Quest 8 Social Networking

Part 1 article “ Your Guide to Social Networking Online”

Looking at the history of social networking online is a snapshot of the past. In years gone by, teens and young adults had the telephone. Remember talking on it for hour with your friends. Then came the personal computers and the Internet, which gave YA’s email; chat rooms; personal websites; Usenet; bulletin boards; and Live Journal. Now, it is MySpace and Facebook. The geeks and fandom still prefer Live Journal. In the past one would join a club in one’s hometown now there are special interest social networks that let one interact with people a world away. There is an anonymity that one does not get locally. Ah, like everything else it is here today gone tomorrow. So, what does the future hold? As technology advances and changes, each generation changes. Oh, what fickle youth. The geeks are always looking towards the future. One only has to read the comments at the end of Mark Glaser’s article.

Part 1 articles “Tips for Educators or Parents” and “Social Networking Sites: Safety Tips for Tweens and Teens”

Although both articles had some good advice, good luck getting YA’s to listen to anything an adult has to say. YA’s view parents and other adult authority figure as complete idiots who know nothing and who never were a teen. YA’s are sophomoric. They know it all and cannot see why they cannot be treated like an adult. They are invincible. From experience as a parent, there were times when I felt I would get better cooperation from a wall. I found that reverse psychology worked best. Remember what a parent love a teen hates and vice a verse a. Tell a teen not to do something guarantees that they will. Just ban a book, and every teen will then read it. My tip to educators and parents is one that was not listed in either article. Monitor your teens Internet use. Some schools have blocked social networking sites like MySpace, because they are not educational related. At home, have the computer in the family room not the kid’s room. If your child does have a MySpace page, check it out. Like the TV adds from the 80’s, do you know where your teen is and what they are doing?

Part 1 article “ Social networking fuels new Web boom”

What can I say? Money, money, money, big money always goes where it can make more. Yesterday, it was the dot coms. Today it is MySpace and Facebook. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Part 2 Discovery exercise

Ok, I took a look at all five social network sites. First off, I read all the sites privacy policies. Two things that they all have in common are cookies and web log files to track usage. Only Linkedin did not seem to share certain non-personal information (ip addresses and browser information) with advertisers. All the others do. Also, the advertisers use cookies. All the sites let the user set their own security level (friends only, friends of friends, or everyone). MySpace, bebo, and Friendster do share some user profile information (members pictures, first names) with the public in order to help in user interaction. Facebook and bebo have age limitation of no one under 13. One can always lie. Linkedin has an age limitation of no one under 18, since this is a site for professionals to network. It also has two levels for members to join (paid and free) depending on the level of service. Since, bebo, friendster, facebook, and MySpace are very similar, I found bebo interesting. I liked the way bebo had it tabs at the top of the page, particular the music and authors. I know that I am out of it, but I did not know all the different types of music. Under feature authors was the book Seeker by William Nicholson and yes CCPL does own it. I like the way they do their cataloging of the music and authors. Yes, I know that MySpace has something similar. As for MySpace, I just helped my younger daughter pimp her page. As for searching for libraries on any of these sites, it would be easer if the libraries had a link off their web sites.