Activities :: Social Networking Sites :: Opportunities & risks
Opportunities & risks
Social networking sites appeared with the Web 2.0 boom. They allow their users to share content which they have produced themselves and receive content from others. Sharing content is not without risks – users, especially children and teenagers, need to be fully aware of these potential dangers.
Advantages of social networking: create and share with the rest of the world!
- More interaction for users: members of social networks can create and share content (information, videos, pictures, advice), organise their social and political lives online, or plan vacations and business trips.
- Continuous creation of new tools: creating a social networking site does not require massive investments - it is relatively easy for companies to enter the market. The more competition there is, the more creative companies become to attract users through new and exciting services.
- New ways of conducting business: social networks allow companies to ask customers about their products. They also influence recruitment and advertising methods.
- Forget about distance: no need to catch a plane if you want to find a childhood friend, keep in touch with relatives, or discuss ideas and opinions with people living at the other end of the world.
Risks of social networking: raising awareness and empowering children
- Cyber-bullying: broad range of behaviours including harassment of minors by people who know them. Harassment can involve the circulation of photographs, rumours or gossip (true or false), “happy slapping” and other behaviour which would be distressing or hurtful to the child.
- Violation of privacy: problems associated with minors supplying personal information online by which they could be identified, identity theft, wrongful selling of user databases to third parties, spam, phishing.
- Exposure to harmful content such as pornography or sexual content, violence, or content inciting to self harm (suicide, eating disorder, etc).
- Grooming: befriending a minor to prepare them to accept inappropriate behaviour (including for sexual purposes). Although the likelihood of such a risk is considered by many researchers as low, it is potentially the most severe risk and a source of high concern.