Facebook and MySpace seemed to be the answer to everyone’s communication issues – a central place to keep up with family and friends, to share all your photos and videos (without even having to resize them!), to reconnect with people for the past, in fact share your life and experiences – with ……..??? All you need is a valid email address.
Privacy is not an issue as you can only see the profiles of confirmed friends and people in their networks. I am amazed at the students at my school who have over 300 confirmed friends – how can they possibly know so many people as close friends? Maybe they are some of the 90 million users? Could it be that friends invite friends of friends of friends? Remember Corey Delaney from Melbourne?
Ok I find this really, really scary – especially when connected to primary school children. All I can see is the “dark side”. How can these children know over 300 people? Or even 50 people? Just who are some of these people? Ask the police what they think. Think of some of the photos and videos you have seen in Facebook and MySpace – do you want children even seeing them let alone uploading any themselves? One parent’s experience is here. I have found children to be very trusting and they invariably use their real names, addresses and even phone numbers.
To be fair both sites do have some cyber safety features and do try to act quickly if an occasion arises. Check MySpace and Facebook safety features.
Not only are there concerns regarding cyber safety there are even more concerns over who is behind these sites. Facebook has strong links to the CIA, and PayPal Mafia, whereas MySpace is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Why are these people, companies involved? Could it be to gather information, control adverstising and influence users? Facebook states they have a right to use and sell your information. Whereas MySpace states their users can modify their profiles to limit who has access or contact.
So you have decided to close your MySpace/Facebook site. Be very careful. Users of Facebook have to contact the website to request their accounts be permanently deleted - if you choose deactivation all your information remains on their server. Whereas when users join MySpace they agree that MySpace has a the right to maintain a copy of their data after an account is cancelled.
So, I would have to agree that MySpace and Facebook do a lot to bridge the digital divide in younger people but I believe the risks are to high to use either of them in a school setting. Thank you, Hayley and Rebecca for making us aware of the dangers lurking in these sites.
