Archive for the ‘Facebook’ Category

Kids escape parents’ watchful eye through Facebook and Bebo

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Some interesting info on parents and monitoring social networking sites:

While a high percentage of Irish parents say they monitor what their children do on the web, only 46% admitted they really understood what social networking was, despite the fact that 70% of children and young adults under the age of 18 use sites such as Bebo and Facebook regularly.

The research shows that while many parents believe they are monitoring their children’s online activity, less than half are familiar with social networking sites.

This shows a fairly large gap between what the parents know, and what their kids are actually using.

(source article)

Posted in Bebo, Facebook, Monitoring Software, Social Networking, Studies | No Comments »

Facebook group glorifies drunk driving

Wednesday, August 1st, 2007

A Facebook group, originating by it’s founder from Edmonton, has 105 members and glorifies drunk driving.  Edmonton police have looked into it, but said the group members are only practicing their right to free speech.  I’d say it’s more a case of stupid kids being stupid.

Here’s the short full article.

Posted in Drunk driving, Facebook | No Comments »

Parents Should Monitor MySpace, YouTube, Facebook…

Monday, July 30th, 2007

… And any other sites their kids might be getting into as well.

This article on Canada.com does a fine job of outlining the need for parents to keep a vigilant eye on what their children do on social networking websites. Some stats from the article:

  • 58% of parents know where to download parental control software, but only one-third actually use such programs
  • Only 49% of parents know the online aliases their children use
  • 26% of parents are unfamiliar with YouTube (Wiki Article)
  • 33% of parents are unfamilar with MySpace (Wiki Article)
  • 41% of parents are unfamiliar with Facebook (Wiki Article)

Article was originally discovered via JustMySpaceStuff.com

Posted in Facebook, Monitoring, MySpace, Social Networking, Software, Studies, YouTube | No Comments »

Is Facebook the New MySpace? Your Kids will Decide.

Friday, July 6th, 2007

Neil at The Interactive has some food for thought. While MySpace is still ahead in terms of eyeballs looking at the site, current trends indicate that Facebook is gaining, and fast.

The culture at Facebook is more tightly knit, whereas the fake profiles, spammers, and corporate profiles on MySpace are pushing users away.

Linda at The Social Networking Weblog has a different take. She feels that in order for Facebook to make significant gains on MySpace, they’ll have to start making their profiles more customizable, as MySpace pages currently are.

I personally think that the site that ends up with the most kids, wins.

Facebook is driving hard for the younger market. With new widgets like Fluff Friends, it makes you wonder: What 10 year old girl could resist a cute furry creature for their Facebook profile?

Facebook Kid-Bait - Fluff Friends

MySpace isn’t slacking in the battle for your kids eyeballs either. Just yesterday the entire MySpace homepage was pushing the new Simpsons cartoon movie.

Regardless of which site wins, parents need to be aware of both sites and know just how hard they’re trying to get your kid to sign up.

Posted in Facebook, MySpace, Social Networking, marketing | 1 Comment »

What happens on Facebook Stays on Facebook … Not Really.

Friday, March 2nd, 2007

Found this on digg – A chilling compilation of potential privacy exploitations. Definitely makes you think twice before filling in all of your facebook profile information. Some of the connections they make are a little far fetched, but it gives you an idea of what could potentially happen to your personal information.

Check out the disturbing flash movie and then digg the story.

Posted in Education, Facebook, Privacy | No Comments »

Facebook has Child Predators, Too.

Sunday, February 11th, 2007

MySpace isn’t the only site with sexual predators anymore.  Last Wednesday in north suburban Fox Lake, Illinois, authorities arrested a 23-year-old man who used Facebook to pose as a teenage girl in order to lure a 15-year-old boy from Evanston to his home for sex.  The predator’s name is Michael Macalindong.

The reason Facebook has not had the predator problem MySpace has had is because until recently, Facebook only allowed college students to create a profile.  They enforced this by requiring new users to sign up using their school .edu email account.

Facebook has now opened up their site to all users, allowing anyone with an email address to sign up.

I think there is something to be said about having a “kids only” network.  Facebook WAS unique in creating a student-only ecosystem, and until they opened their doors to everyone, the site effectively stayed predator-free.

The arrest of mortgage processor Michael Macalindong came one day after Congress introduced legislation that would require sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses and make them available to social networking sites. It also would make it a crime for adults to lie about their age in pursuit of sex with a minor.

View the full article here.

Posted in Facebook, Predators | No Comments »

MySpace, Facebook attract online predators

Thursday, January 18th, 2007

This is an older article, but the contents are more true now than they were 11 months ago when MSNBC first posted the article. Since that time, MySpace has gone from 40 million to 135 million users, and is still growing.

From the article: “A month ago, police in Connecticut arrested a 21-year-old man, accusing him of raping a 14-year-old girl he found on MySpace. On Long Island, investigators say another man found the work address of a 16-year-old girl on one of the Web sites last fall, lured her to a parking lot, and sexually assaulted her.”

View the full story here.

Posted in Assault, Facebook, MySpace, Predators, Rape | No Comments »