Social+Networking

==== Social Networking involves people of all ages. It is common that our young youth are expected to have more knowledge about computers and the internet and also use them more frequently than older generations. In my latest survey it proved the opposite. I found that adults aged 40-70 are more likely to be using Social Networking sites than those adolesents aged between 12- 35. It was evident that almost most of my participants were not effected by Cyberbullying or Hackers. Most of them were aware of some potential threats that relate to the use of Social Networking sites, only a a small quantity of my participants had been effected by threats that lay within the social technology world. ====

** Addiction: **
==== Addiction is an easy concept to be caught up in whether it is smoking, drinking, or gambling. Within the social networking world addiction is a common factor that happens widely around the world. People and most commonly teenagers become victim to the frequent use of social networking sites. It is easy to become caught up in the excitement that messaging sharing data and information can bring. It is considered an addiction if you have to have your social networking site on hands all the time e.g.: Face book being on your phone or iPod touch. Many teenagers show their symptoms by multitasking when doing homework. It is then that the homework is ditched and texting and face book overrides. In some cases they are so addicted they stay up to all hours of the night on their favourite social site and become fatigued when at school or events. As a result of this family issues can arrise as ignorence becomes a new problem in the household. ====

** Privacy: **
==== Privacy is becoming a new worldwide issue of concern. A great number of people are effected by privacy breaches each year. Most people are unaware that what they put on the internet can be viewed, accessed, stored and saved by almost anyone using the internet. What is uploaded on the internet is never deleted and can be downloaded, copied and broadcasted faster than ever before as technology is growing by the second. ====

** Cyberbullying: **
 **﻿** Cyberbullying is an online form of bullying. It can take place through email, instant messenger, chat rooms and social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace. It involves malicious teasing and harrasment of others. In some cases private information can be published online where everyone can see in which may result in a bad outcome for the person being cyberbullyed. It is very easy to become victim to this form of bullying as it is as easy as one two three with a click of a mouse.

**Ethical Issues:**
====Some ethical issues arise from social networking, because the internet is changing people as it is. Often you see people speak differently when they are online. Its like a two way personality of the same person. Many people rely on social networking in order to securely stay in contact with those they know and are related to. If they did not have the option then what else would be overly popular? ====

**Legal Issues:**

** Copyright: **

** Security of information: [[image:hacking-150x132.jpg align="left"]] **
==== Security is a big risk on the internet. It is hard to identify what websites are definetly secured. Everything is stored on a database. Your data could be used or sent to other sources that you dont approve of, such as being targeted by advertising slogans on your page that lure you to enter your bank account details or personal email, phone or home address. Your information can then be sold for other peoples use such as hacking or stealing or stalking. ====

Some legal issues associated with Social Networking, is the act of Copyright infringment and defamation(Making harful and false statements of somebody else). A majority of Social Network Users believe that they can somewhat get away with these acts and stay hidden in their identity. Legal administrators can access in appropriate situations any one persons personal information through a legal process and bring a solution to the problem by applying justice and enforcing the law.

**﻿Policies and rules that apply regarding Social Networks:**
It is recommended that you do not post personal information about yourself online. This including your full name, address, school, work, phone number, email and any other information online preditors can use to their advatage.

It is against the law to post sexual explicit, nude or malicious material on unauthorised websites. It is concidered a crime if you are under the age of 18 also.

Posting negative comments, insulting others and making threats in a harful way online can result in the termination of, school, university, and employment opportunites.

**Personal opinion and possible solution to Social networking issues.**
I personally think that social networking is not something that is automatically dangerous. I believe it is up to the user as to how they choose to treat the internet and use social networking sites that are provided. You can make a social network dangerous if you choose to abuse it and do the wrong thing. Such things happen all the time because of inpropper use such as: Facebook where one person insults another person publicly for everyone can see and it turns into a massive issue, sometimes police are involved.

A possible solution to such issues could include the option for more safety aspects. It would be an advantage to have more choice in how you protect yourself online, such as: having more available restrictions and agreements so you cannot be a victim of people who abuse social networking sites and also having stable consiquences for those who distribute bad material. Not just the same old block,delete option. It simply doesnt protect you from attackers seeking you online. There is the option of making all information about yourself online public and it is very easily done whereas with keeping things private there not as many options.