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Week Ten : Be Social online!
I've been waiting for this week. I think this is the only topic I was really familiar with before this course started. And I've been working with my group for the project on this topic, too, so I've been immersed in social networks for the last few weeks.
I was initially surprised about the concerns regarding online predators, unsafe internet use, and general concern about social networks and teenagers. I have heard a lot about these concerns, but personally, wasn't too worried about them. I've never been approached by someone unsavoury online, and I've been using social networking tools online for a long time (way back to ICQ). Once I started thinking about it, I realized that this might be because I've been very aware of how much information I'm sharing online, and I stayed away from chatrooms (back in the day), and MySpace (more recently) because I'd heard of some major concerns. And I do worry that children and teens today (and even adults) are using the Internet, and posting all kinds of private information, without considering the possible implications. I liked Henry Jenkins' point that we have historically taught children how to deal with strangers on the phone, but that no such education seems to have been translated into an online environment.
However, I've recently jumped in with both feet (I have profiles on Myspace, Facebook, Youtube, and twitter). I only really use Facebook regularly, and just joined Twitter last week, and am reluctant to sign up for even more siloed services - sites where I have to sign in, create my network all over again, and create my profile again too. That's why I was so excited to read the article in the Economist: "We will look back to 2008 and think it archaic and quaint that we had to go to a destination like Facebook or LinkedIn to be social." I, for one, can't wait to see how these individual sites evolve to work together - it will be a major part of the evolution of the web itself, as it truly becomes more social in nature.
I personally like social networking tools like Facebook, but I don't use them to seek out professional services (at least not yet). I still mainly use these tools to keep up with personal contacts, and to join groups on my personal interests. I wouldn't have considered looking for my local library on Facebook or MySpace before this course. I do like that some libraries have made their pages on these networks an extension of their own website - and the ability to search the catalogue from Facebook is also a neat bit of code. I'm just not sure how successful it is right now. I liken it to hearing that the federal government will be implementing web 2.0 type tools in the near future for communicating with the country. I worry that having to worry about running into invasive advertising, being inundated with political blogs (though of course, I won't have to read them), will actually reduce excitement about these tools. It is probably an unfounded fear. I mean, Dalton McGuinty is already maintaining a video blog.
Bottom line - I see the potential for professional networking using online social networks, and will probably create a page for the library I work for, but I certainly won't be relying on it to be the sole online presence for the library, or to generate many new users. One of the difficulties that businesses and advertisers are having with Facebook is figuring out how to market to users in a meaningful way, and tap into the vast social groups, interest groups, and the potential for viral marketing that exists. I'm sure they'll figure out some way to do it soon. Maybe I'll finally stop seeing those ads telling me I can "lose 20 pounds fast." That would be nice.
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Hello Jaclyn,
I was also suprised at the amount of negative feedback that social software applications such as Facebook and MySpace are receiving from a large number of concerned people. I think Wade Roush states it best by pointing out that out of 300,000 children that are abducted by sexual predators (in the US I believe), only 12 of them are abducted by strangers. In addition, Danah Boyd states that less than 0.01% of child abductions are from strangers. Therefore, sexual predators succeeding in online environments does not happen as frequently as we are led to believe. I see this attitude as the older generations of society throwing caution toward new social applications. Some people fear what they don't understand. Instead, these concerned individuals should explore the benefits that social software applications, such as Facebook and MySpace, have to offer. These include promoting participation, enhancing the socialization process for youths, and fostering continuous learning. After additional research, I was pleased to see that Canada is not (not yet anyways!) following the US government in passing laws that restrict young users from using social software applications. Hopefully these drastic actions stay south of the border.
Thanks!
Jennifer
Jaclyn,
There are a couple of points I agree with. First, I had the same type of experience as you because I hadn't started using online network spaces until I was an adult. Thus, I was aware of the concerns they brought with them. Because I knew about the danger of using these spaces I limited the information I posted. Also, I didn't have an idea of libraries using Facebook and Myspace. In an academic setting, it might helpul for librarians during instructional courses to mention that this is one way you can get ahold of the librarian to get the word out. It won;t be the only method of communication, but its an easy, free and flexible way to get to users who might be reluctant to go the library or caught up in their 'online' social life.
Hi Jaclyn,
Lots of good points this week. The one thing I wanted to comment on were your thoughts about how the tools available to us are so siloed- I totally agree. I can definitely see people getting excited about the idea of one 'web id' that would retain all of your personalized details and be applicable to many different web sites and applications. I believe things like this have been tried (and failed) on the web in the past - but mainly in a retail setting. It's really interesting to think about the possibilities of such an idea - just being able to only remember one id and password would be great! :)
I think the web 2.0 world is bringing us closer to such a state, with things like xhtml, the structure of things like myspace (where it's very customizable and external content can be added to your own page), and even RSS feeds - where you sign in to one site and get all of your favorite web content in one place. Maybe we'll see the 'one web id' happen in the web 3.0 world?
Thanks for the post!
I agree that the articles this week did a nice job of pointing out how overblown the issues with sexual predation are. But, I think that the most potential that these online social networking sites have for sexual predators is stalking because they give alot of information about your daily routing and your interests and who you hang out with. It's not a reason to dismiss these sites altogether, but it's just something I wanted to bring up because it wasn't covered in any of the readings.
Let's face it- if somebody wants to stalk you they can come up with some pretty creative solutions on how to do it other than looking at your Facebook account. I think the Jenkins and boyd brought up that these sites didn't invent sexual predation, it's just tool for them to use.