61 percent of teens have a networking webpage posting pictures and information about themselves. 1 out of 5 believe these pages to be safe. The University of New Hampshire researchers found that 1 in 7 youth have received a sexual solicitation online.
Imagine a place where people post thier name, address, phone number, and picture to friends, strangers, and potential predators. Well, a place like this really exists. To many college students and teens Facebook and Myspace are a favorite past time.
Myspace is a networking site open to anyone and everyone. When you sign up to be a member, the first step is creating a webpage. During this process you fill in your name, hometown, and a short paragraph about yourself and your interests. After the "About Me" portion is complete you upload a default photo of yourself. There is alos an option to fill out a survey revealing information such a sexual preference, relationship status, and your reason for joining Myspace. All profiles are open to the public. There is a function called "friend finder." In this space you type in the name of the person you are interested in finding. The database is searched and everyone with the same or similar is revealed. You are able to choose from this list the person you were looking for. You then have to option to ask this person to be your friend. When you ask someone to be your friend a message is sent to them stating they have a friend request. The person can choose to except or reject this request. Myspace does attempt to put limits on its members. All members must be over the age of 14. While this sounds great there is no way to diferentiate between a 9 year old pretending to be 15, or a 50 year old man acting as a 16 year ole highschool student.
Facebook, like Myspace, is also a networking website. It differs in that Facebook was intended for college students. When signing up for Facebook membership you must have a college email address such as @olemiss.edu. With this information the members are placed in "Networks" according to the school they attend. On facebook you are not only restricted to friends in your "network." You can send and accept friend request from people in any "network." Facebook also has a search feature. This allows its members to locate old highschool friends. Within in the search you can conduct and "advanced search." This is a much more specific search to narrow down the outputted results. During this search you not only search for a name, alos included are things like hometown, highschool, graduating year, network, and sex. Although Facebook was started for soley college students it has now expanded and ,like Myspace, is open to the public.
Websites like Myspace and Facebook are a great way to keep in touch with friends, but you have to be smart. Now, both Myspace and Facebook allow its members the option to make their profile "private." By having a private profile the information on your page and pictures are restricted and can only be viewed by the people you have chosen to be your friends. Creating a private profile can reduce the probability of being targeted by an online predator.
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