The Dangers of Social Networking

The Dangers of Social Networking

Over the last few years the social networking phenomenon has taken a firm hold on the lives of millions across the world. At first the idea of social networking seemed to be something of a novelty – people would sign up and check their accounts maybe once or twice a week, occasionally updating their status, befriending new people and contacting long-lost friends.

Now the likes of Facebook and Twitter have become a permanent fixture in most people’s day to day lives. Many of us can’t go five minutes without checking Facebook or updating their status on Twitter. It has become as much of a part of most people’s lives as driving to work or making a phone call is.

But with widespread popularity and immense saturation of the public domain comes a lot of responsibility that is rested firmly on the shoulders of social network providers.

Crime and Social Networking

Social networking websites are hotbeds for criminal activity and unfortunately for the website owners, they are mostly powerless when it comes to stopping them. Due to the nature of social networking, anyone could effectively sign up with a fake name, fake picture and other fake information and pose as someone that they are not. The results of this kind of activity are apparent, especially in the recent case involving the murder of young Ashleigh Hall.

Paul Chapman, a man with a turbulent past and numerous criminal charges (including sexual offences) created a fake Facebook profile, posing as a seventeen year old named Paul Cartwright. Chapman used a photo of a good looking young man from the internet as his profile picture and began befriending as many women through the website as he could. In reality, he was a 33-year old man living out of his car. He began to have conversations with Ashleigh hall on a regular basis and the pair formed an online friendship. She met him on the 25th of October 2009 and according to the prosecution, "When she met him on 25 October last year, he kidnapped, raped and murdered her."

This horrific case truly highlights the dangers of giving away information and meeting up with strangers through social networking websites.

What steps can be taken to avoid these situations?

An adult user of Facebook should just use common sense when it comes to chatting and giving out information online. You know that there are people “in the real world” that you can trust with personal information, so as a general rule of thumb never give that info to people who you have never met in person.

For parents it can be very difficult to restrict their children’s internet and computer access, largely due to restricted technical knowledge.

Fortunately there is a lot of software on the shelves and online that will allow a greater degree of control over yours children’s surfing activities. You can decide what hours the internet can be used, what websites can be visited and you can also keep tabs on social networking activities.

For a list of Anti-Virus and Internet monitoring software, click here.

When it comes to using a social networking website, there are a few rules that you should ensure your children adhere to while they use it. These guidelines should be used for most children under the age of 15, as after that age it can become a little tricky when laying out rules:

1)    Set profile to private – this means that only your friends can see your posts, status and photos. This can be achieved in most websites "settings" page.

2)    Request that children only befriend people they know – you can keep an eye on this by creating your own profile and adding your child as a friend.

3)    Never give out your email address, location or telephone number on the web – this one is common sense!

4)    Limit the amount of time your child uses social networking sites – this can be difficult if your child has their own laptop, but try and set a reasonable amount of time for them to use the computer.

5)    Sit with your child while they make a profile – this way you can help them through it and learn to understand how the website works with them.

On the whole, using social networking websites is all about having common sense and keeping your wits about you. Never give out an personal information unless it is to someone you know and trust away from social networking.

There are a lot of other areas of internet safety that are tackled in articles that can be found here, as well as further advice on how to keep your, your family and your private information safe.