A Report On Social Networking

A REPORT ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES: A BOON OR A BANE
Submitted By:
Name: Harsh Parekh Ms. Gauri Das
Submitted To:
University Roll No: 10300210011 Dr. Amrita Basu University Registration No: 1010300157 Department: Information Technology
Paper Code: HU-481 Paper Name: Communication Skill & Report Writing Date Of Submission: 20/04/2012
HALDIA INSTITUTE OF
A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane
TECHNOLOGY
This is to certify that the project entitled Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane is a bonafide work done by Harsh Parekh, a student of Bachelors in Technology in Information Technology branch, HALDIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,HALDIA(affiliated to West Bengal University Of Technology),and it cannot be copied or reproduced.
Date: Place:
_________________________ ___________________________
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______________________________
___________________________________
Ms. Gauri Das
Dr. Amrita Basu
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PREFACE
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Any attempt at any level cannot be satisfactorily completed without the support and guidance of learned people. I would like to express my immense gratitude to Ms. Gauri Das and Dr. Amrita Basu for their constant support, guidance and motivation that has encouraged me to come up with this report. I am also thankful to all those who have knowingly or unknowingly rendered their whole hearted support at all times for the successful completion of this report.
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Table of Contents
Serial No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.
Topic
Certificate Of Approval Preface Acknowledgement List Of Illustrations Abstract Introduction Online Social Activities Online Social Networking Tools And Platforms Some Commonly Used Social Networking Sites Development Of Social Networking Sites Other Functions Of Social Networking Sites Benefits/Advantages Of Using Social Networking Sites Demerits/Disadvantages Of Using Social Networking Sites Discussions Conclusion References Bibliography
Page No. 1 2 3 5 6 8 9 9 10 15 18 21 25 31
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List Of Illustrations
Figure No.
1.
Description
Usage of social networking sites country wise
Page No.
8
2.
Social networking site profile page and its features
10
3.
Timeline of some social networking sites (20002007)
16
4.
Features people use on social networking sites
21
5.
Social Media Statistics in India
32
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ABSTRACT
What Is Social Networking?
Social Networking...It's the way the 21st century communicates today.
Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups. Although social networking is possible in person, especially in the workplace, universities, and high schools, it is most popular online. This is because unlike most high schools, colleges, or workplaces, the internet is filled with millions of individuals who are looking to meet other people, to gather and share first-hand information and experiences about cooking, golfing, gardening, developing friendships or professional alliances, finding employment, business-to-business marketing and even groups sharing information. The topics and interests are as varied and rich as the story of our world. When it comes to online social networking, websites are commonly used. These websites are known as social networking sites. Social networking websites function like an online community of internet users. Depending on the website in question, many of these online community members share common interests in hobbies, religion, or politics. Once a person is granted access to a social networking site he can begin to socialize with the other members. Thus at the most basic level social networking sites can be described as the sites which allow users to set up online profiles or personal homepages, and develop an online social network. The profile page functions as the users own webpage and includes profile information ranging from their date of birth, gender, religion, politics and hometown, to their favourite films, books quotes and what they like doing in their spare time. In addition to profile information, users can design the appearance of their page, and add content such as photos, video clips and music files. Users are able to build a network of connections that they can display as a list of friends. These friends may be offline actual friends or acquaintances, or people they only know or have met online, and with whom they have no other link. It is important to note that the term friend, as used on a social networking site, is different from the traditional meaning given to the term in the offline world. In this report I will use the term as it is used on a
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social networking site: anyone who has invited, or been invited by, another user, to be their friend. The friends that you can make are just one of the many benefits to social networking online. Another one of those benefits includes diversity because the internet gives individuals from all around the world access to social networking sites. This means that although if a person is in the United States, he can develop an online friendship with someone in Denmark or India. Not only will he make new friends, but he just might learn a thing or two about new cultures or new languages and learning is always a good thing. While there are a number of social networking websites that focus on particular interests, there are others that do not. The websites without a main focus are often referred to as "traditional" social networking websites and usually have open memberships. This means that anyone can become a member, no matter what their hobbies, beliefs, or views are. However, once you are inside this online community, you can begin to create your own network of friends and eliminate members that do not share common interests or goals. Social networking sites also have some potential pitfalls to negotiate, such as the unintended consequences of publicly posting sensitive personal information, confusion over privacy settings, and contact with people one doesnt know. Several of the issues around the use of social networking sites are important from a media literacy standpoint. We define media literacy as the ability to access, understand and create communications in a variety of contexts. In practice, this means that we are seeking to bring about and encourage better public understanding and awareness of the digital media in use today. The most prevalent danger though often involves online predators or individuals who claim to be someone that they are not. Thus SNS have both leeward and upward aspects and in the following report I have tried to provide both the good and bad sides.
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Introduction
A recent report shows that there has been a significant increment in the amount of usage of Social Networking Sites (SNS). Social networking sites can be accessed through any internet connection; however, having the internet at home, and, in particular, broadband access, increases participation in social networking sites. Thus with the advent of internet connections the popularity and the importance of these Social Networking Sites have also drastically increased in our everyday lives. Media reports have suggested that some schools, libraries and work places have banned access to these sites. If these reports reflect widespread practice, it is likely that access to the internet at home will become an increasingly important factor in use of social networking sites. The following graph shows the total percentage of people who have internet connectivity and who use social networking websites.
% of people with internet access and who use social networking sites
Figure 1: Usage of social networking sites country wise
We can talk of online social networking in at least two senses: (a) as an activity or set of activities people engage in; and (b) as the use of a series of specific online tools and platforms.
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Online social networking activities

An individuals social network consists of all those people with whom they have a connection (E.g. family members, friends, teachers, school colleagues, youth workers etc.). Social networking involves creating new connections (for example, through finding people with shared interests, attending events, meeting the friends of friends and chance meetings) and keeping in touch with the people who one already has a connection with. When these activities of creating and maintaining connections with other people take place through the internet then we can talk of it as online social networking. However, whilst it has long been possible to use tools like e-mail and instant messaging to keep in touch with friends, family and other contacts, 'online social networking' refers in particular to using internet tools with specific features for creating and communicating with a network of contacts (friends). It is these specific features and the ways in which they work which leads to some of the most interesting implications of the online social networking boom that has taken place since 2005.
Online social networking tools and platforms

Two of the most important feature of modern social networking platforms, often referred to as Social Network Sites (SNS), mainly consists of (1) public (or semi-public) profiles, and (2) the friends list. The diagram below shows an annotated mock-up of a Facebook (a famous Social Networking Site) profile pointing a number of the different features, alongside the profile and friends list, which exist on many social network sites.
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FIGURE 2: A SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE PROFILE PAGE AND ITS FEATURES
Whilst knowing exactly how the different features of particular SNS work is not critical to understanding how it may impact on people awareness of the key features, and attention paid to their continued development, change and evolution is important for constructing a responsive account of youth work and social networking which has a chance of adapting in light of continual new developments. A public profile: allows users of a SNS allows individuals to publish and share details about themselves and their interests displays a summary of that users 'activity' elsewhere on the particular SNS (and, increasingly, on other services and websites that interact with the SNS). can usually be set to allow anyone on the internet to access to view them can be restricted in various ways by the profile owner. The friends list:
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allows users of a SNS to link to other profiles on the site which belong to their friends or to people (and sometimes organisations or brands) with whom they wish to display a connection. makes it possible (privacy settings permitting) to browse a social network site from person to person exploring the connections between them. allows a user to see a list of recent updates just from his/her friends. (E.g., when a user of Facebook uploads new photos to the site then Facebook will notify all the people on the photo owners friends about the new photo including a link to it.) can be used to control privacy settings so a user can restrict areas of their profile, or media that they upload to only be visible to their friends. Social Network Sites are continually developing sophisticated new features, including: photo and video sharing tools; messaging and instant messaging tools; discussion groups; event organising tools and third-parties 'applications' which draw upon the profile and friends list data of SNS users to provide add-on functions, games and tools.
Some Commonly Used SNS:

Entertainment Networks:
Meetup.com: Meetup.com is a networking site almost entirely devoted to arranging meetings for communities with like-minded interests. Unlike most other social networks, where the focus is towards user profiles and the networks of personal friends or associates, Meetup organizes local interest groups that meet monthly at local cafes and establishments. Meetup earns money from establishments that pay to be listed as possible venues for these meetings, and also from services such as text advertising and its advanced MeetupPlus functionality.
Ryze.com: Ryze was originally an online business networking site, but members have also been using the site to communicate with other members for dating and other social networking purposes through the use of photos in each members profile. It is a free service, but members can also subscribe to gold membership, which is a paid service that enables members to perform advanced searches. The Ryze site also organizes events for people offline. Ryze profiles contain guest books for other members to leave
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messages or emails for other users. It also lists a section for classifieds which members can post to.The site currently contains about 250,000 profiles. Friendster.com: Friendster is primarily a site for social connections: for dating through ones own friends and their friends; for making new friends; and for helping friends to meet new people. A members photo and profile are only shown to people in their personal network and messages can only be sent and received from those with a mutual network of friends.Size of the Friendster network is about 17 million profiles.
Orkut.com: Orkut has attracted a lot of attention because of its ties with Google, for whom the site developer works for. Primarily a social site, Orkut has a relatively low user base as it requires an invitation to join. Communities are created under thirty or so general category headings and contain usual message forums and events listings. Orkut has been criticized for its poor privacy policy, which has recently been revised.
Livejournal.com: LiveJournal is basically a blogging service, but the members can add other members as friends, thus getting a summary blog line of their blog entries.
MySpace.com: MySpace is another network with a slightly blurred target, but mostly friend oriented. MySpace is becoming popular among
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teens and young people. One interesting feature is that musical artists are allowed to create their own profiles and are given the option to post streaming MP3s of their songs to build up larger fan bases. Some bands even allow the MP3s to be downloaded. Size: 14.5 million profiles.
Tribe.net: Tribe aims to keep its services to members free of charge by deriving revenue from job postings and featured listings. While Tribe is primarily used for social purposes, for example if someone moves to a new area and they are looking for information on accommodation or restaurants or concerts, the site does include professional elements such as job postings. As well as each user having a defined set of friends, Tribe contains many categories of communities where each community is termed a tribe, and a message forum and events listing is associated with that tribe. Messages from forums are also made available in RSS format for use in desktop news aggregating applications. Twitter.com: Twitter is an online social networking service and micro blogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, known as "tweets". It was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July. The service rapidly gained worldwide popularity, with over 140 million active users as of 2012, generating over 340 millions tweets daily and handling over 1.6 billion search queries per day. It has been described as "the SMS of the Internet."Unregistered users can read the tweets, while registered users can post tweets through the website interface, SMS, or a range of apps for mobile devices. Twitter Inc. is based in San Francisco, with additional servers and offices in New York City. The Twitter website is one of the top ten most visited on the Internet. Twitter has been cited as an important factor in the Arab Spring and other political protests. Facebook.com: Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook Inc.
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As of February 2012, Facebook has more than 845 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or college, or other characteristics, and categorize their friends into lists such as "People From Work" or "Close Friends". The name of the service stems from the colloquial name for the book given to students at the start of the academic year by some university administrations in the United States to help students get to know each other. Facebook allows any users who declare themselves to be at least 13 years old to become registered users of the site. A January 2009 Compete.com study ranked Facebook as the most used social networking service by worldwide monthly active users. Quantcast estimates Facebook has 138.9 million monthly unique U.S. visitors in May 2011. According to Social Media Today, in April 2010 an estimated 41.6% of the U.S. population had a Facebook account. Nevertheless, Facebook's market growth started to stall in some regions, with the site losing 7 million active users in the United States and Canada in May 2011. Facebook filed for an initial public offering on February 1, 2012
Business Networks:
LinkedIn.com: LinkedIn looks like the most professional looking of all the social networking services, and is very oriented toward your professional network and not your broader personal network. In fact, unlike almost all the other sites, LinkedIn doesn't allow for you to add a photo to your profile page. LinkedIn allows members to look for jobs, seeking out experts in a particular area, or to make contact with other
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professionals through a chain of trusted connections. LinkedIn is probably the site with the least potential for social purposes. Size of the LinkedIn network is about 2.5 million profiles.
Ecademy.com: Ecademy is a business networking site built up of a network of trusted business connections for people to share contacts and business opportunities. It is free to join, however membership can be upgraded to power networker. It has a list of Ecademy clubs that its members can join, as well as listings of meetings and when they will be taking place. It also contains a list of networking regions globally for arranging meetings and events offline.
Spoke.com: Spoke is a professional networking site that helps people build their business network connections online. Spoke helps its members to increase their prospects for opportunities, and in helping to find a job it also enables members to obtain referrals through people they already know.
Development of social networking sites

In many ways the ideas behind social networking sites are not new. It has been possible since the early days of the internet to do many of the things which social networking site users do now, such as creating personal web pages and communicating with others through interfaces such as chat rooms, internet forums, message boards, web communities and blogs. Several sites combining functions of todays social networking sites appeared in the late 1990s. In worldwide terms many people see Friendster as the first to make a serious impact. It launched in 2002 before falling back relative to other sites in 2004. In the UK many people first heard about social networking sites through the media
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coverage of Friends Reunited (launched in 2000), and especially ITVs decision to buy the site for 120m in 2005. A wave of other sites soon followed, and this has continued up to the present, as Figure 1 shows:
Figure 3: Timeline of some social networking sites (2000-2007)
As the number of sites grew, so they have diversified in terms of focus. Alongside more general sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook, other niche sites have sprung up. Examples include LinkedIn, which was founded in 2003 and is based on developing business and employment networks, and Flickr, which is based on photo-sharing. New sites continue to emerge. In October 2007 Saga announced that it was launching Sagazone, a social networking site aimed exclusively at the over50s. There are several factors that help to explain the recent growth of todays social networking sites and the mainstream use of similar technologies.
Home internet penetration has increased as have connection speeds

It is likely that increasing home internet access facilitates the use of social networking sites. Although potential users often have alternative points of internet access (for example at school or at work), they are less likely to be subject to restrictions on using social networking sites at home. Furthermore, increased connection speeds and the wider availability of broadband enable richer use of the internet, including uploading as well as viewing content. Whereas social networking site profiles were previously simple and text-based, they can now support images, site customisation, audio and even video content.
Increasing ICT confidence

There are an increasing number of people who have basic computer and internet skills and the confidence to use them. These people are much more likely to take to new online communication technology such as social networking sites.
User-friendly programmes
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In the past, setting up ones own blog or webpage involved a relatively sophisticated knowledge of computer programming. While this has changed over the years, social networking sites have developed a system that, at its most basic, simply involves filling in the gaps or using drop-down boxes. Even on MySpace, where users can design their own sites using html or java, knowledge of programming is not essential. Other users have set up help sites where people can copy and paste script to design their site.
Communication based around social relationships

An important difference between social networking sites and earlier forms of many-to-many conversations such as chat rooms and blogs is that social networking sites are predominantly based on social relationships and connections with people, rather than a shared interest. Online communication has changed from being merely task-based or for sharing information and is increasingly an end in itself.
Social networking sites are part of the wider Web 2.0 context
The specific technology that has enabled this growth in the number and popularity of social networking sites is part of a wider online phenomenon, enabling self-expression, communication and user interaction online, known as Web 2.0. This technology is not unique to social networking sites and has helped the development of other interactive applications such as user-generated content (UGC) sites (like YouTube), file-sharing sites and Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) such as Second Life, World of Warcraft and Runescape, all sites typical of Web 2.0.12
Applications have increased the versatility of social networking sites

Social networking sites are not limited to messaging, communicating and displaying networks. Nearly all sites allow users to post photos, video and often music on their profiles and share them with others. Started by Facebook, sites have increasingly opened their interfaces to third-party applications. This has led to an expansion in what users can do on social networking sites, from taking part in film trivia quizzes to playing mind games. Established applications and functions have also found their way onto social networking sites in recent years. It is now possible to make voice calls through certain sites using Skype, while Bebo has led the way in incorporating video drama with its Kate Modern Series. Bebo has also signed a deal with the BBC and Channel 4, among others, to provide some of their broadcast content to Bebo users.
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Other Functions of Social Networking Sites
Social networking sites have numerous other functions, in addition to setting up profiles, communicating with friends and loading personal photos and videos.
Applications add versatility to social networking sites

Social networking sites have become increasingly versatile. Beyond basic communication and networking, users can keep up with favourite bands and add applications such as games, quizzes and virtual gift giving. There are a vast number of computer applications which users can add to their profiles at the click of a button. This has been made possible because sites such as Facebook and MySpace have opened up their interfaces to third-party developers who design applications for use on the site. Each social networking site has its own brand of games and activities which the user can download. These ranges from applications which let you turn your friends into zombies, to maps on which you can record all the places that you have visited. Some of these applications have proved very popular among site users and have helped to maintain the momentum of social networking sites use.
Using social networking sites to engage in political and social issues

A common complaint about people generally, and young people in particular, is that they are increasingly apathetic about politics, and due to the popularity of social networking among this group, some see social networking sites as an ideal way of reaching them. Aside from individuals profiles, some social networking sites allow users to set up their own interest group profiles, which individuals can add as friends, receive updates from and be involved with the group. There is a wide range of groups on social networking sites including groups based on brand appreciation, geographic location, music bands, activities, charities, social issues, political issues and political parties. Social networking sites could have a wider application beyond their social communication purpose and they can be used to bring about positive social or political change.
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Case Study
Brian is 36 and lives in an urban/suburban area. His wife introduced him to social networking sites and he has since set up a page to raise awareness about his charity. He does not use social networking sites for making new friends, nor does he spend much time catching up with old ones Thats my wifes job but he does use his site to raise money and awareness of his charity and to find out whats the latest in the vintage car world. He only tends to access his account when he has a specific need and is quite negative about people who spend hours socialising through these types of sites. He wishes that people would use them more for positive social good. Source: New York Times Campaigning networks and social networking site groups have been set up by organisations such as Amnesty International and Stop the Traffik. And hundreds of pressure groups have been set up by grass-roots activists - over 400,000 people joined a group set up to support the protests of the Burmese monks against military rule in October 2007. While registered organisations can benefit from social networking communities, individuals are also using social networking sites to organise support for their causes. A recent example of this is a protest campaign launched on Facebook to stop the Bristol and Bath Railway being used as a bus lane. The site aims to raise awareness of the issue among interested parties as well as to bring the protest to the attention of decision-makers. On a national political level, the use of social networking sites in the 2008 US elections demonstrates some of the potential for using social networking sites to mobilise young people to participate in politics and as a tool for promoting individual candidates. There are several ways in which politics and social networking sites have come together, including: politicians establishing a social networking site profile and using this to communicate with supporters; forum set up by the site to allow users to debate issues, post comments and take part in polls or offer political content; and on Facebook, ABC news reports and videos are streamed onto the forum and the news reports have their own profiles.
Advertising, Marketing and Information Mining

This report has already established that social networking sites have uses over and above individuals setting up profiles and communicating with
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other individuals. In addition to organised groups for bands, charities, political, social and interest groups, there are commercial opportunities for businesses on social networking sites. The benefit is that this is a very cheap way of reaching a potentially very large audience. Although only a single comment, we have mentioned this to draw attention to the potential use of social networking sites in this way in the future, and how individuals as well as organisations can use them to their advantage.50 Media coverage of social networking sites being used for commercial reasons tends to focus on large-scale operations and well-known brands. The advantages of using social networking sites for these organisations are numerous, although there are potential risks as well. The huge numbers involved in social networking, and the dominance of the traditionally hard-to-reach cohort of 18 - 24 year olds, raise companies interest in marketing to social networkers. The enormous amount of information that sites hold about their users enables marketers to target their message to specific demographics or interest groups in a much more precise way than is possible through search engines or traditional advertising channels. For example, a marketer could target 40-45 year old women living in Newcastle and interested in tennis. Another way of reaching consumers is for brands to set up their own profiles on social networking sites, accepting friends who they can keep up to date with the latest brand news. An example of this is Warner Bros. who set up a profile for the film 300 which attracted 200,000 friends. These friends were then able to view trailers and discuss the film. Experian Integrated Marketing and Hitwise reported that social networking sites are becoming an important source of traffic for other websites, particularly websites in the entertainment industry. They described this as being due to organic growth, such as a local band building a following, as well as more organised growth, such as brand campaigns or support groups. The appeal of many of these sites comes from the fact that they are not corporate spaces; organisations will need to bear this in mind if they have or are planning to have a presence on social networking sites.
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The following figure shows what people usually do after logging into their SNS accounts
Figure 4: Features people use on social networking sites
Benefits/Advantages of using Social Networking Sites
i.
Keeping in Touch
Social networking provides a great way to stay in touch with people who may have moved away. Normally, people try to stay in touch with friends via phone calls and the occasional letter or e-mail, but busy lives make it difficult to maintain contact. However, social networking is such a regularly
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used medium that its easy to stay in touch with people even when they move away.
ii.
Getting Feedback
One can use social networking to get feedback on ideas immediately, or to ask questions and get answers quickly. If someone is developing a product or even just an idea, he/she can bounce it off their friends and social networking contacts and find out what they think about it. They can also ask questions and receive answers in near-real-time.
iii.
Share Multiple Points of View
Sheltered individuals may not understand how many different points of view that people have, and that it's possible for people to hold drastically different beliefs. Social networking helps us in learning about diversity and gets exposure to multiple points of view. Ultimately, this exposure can help us to learn to look at things from different angles, and be more tolerant of other people's opinions, things that go a long way in the working world.
iv.
Talking to Other Students
Many student organizations have specific social networks designed to help students connect. Social networking tools can be a great way for students to get in touch with other students in the same school, or when they're considering a college or new school.
v.
Stay in Touch Anywhere
Mobile social networking is becoming increasingly popular as more and more people have cell phones capable of running social networking applications. People can use mobile social networking tools to stay in touch with friends,
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and make plans on the fly. Mobile social networking tools are also great if someone has got a long train or subway commute and want to stay in touch with friends and find out what they're doing.
vi.
Social networks and education
Social networks are also being used by teachers and students as a communication tool. Because many students are already using a wide range of social networking sites, teachers have begun to familiarize themselves with this trend and are now using it to their advantage. Teachers and professors are doing everything from creating chat-room forums and groups to extend classroom discussion to posting assignments, tests and quizzes, to assisting with homework outside of the classroom setting. Social networks are also being used to foster teacher-parent communication. These sites make it possible and more convenient for parents to ask questions and voice concerns without having to meet face-to-face. The advent of social networking platforms may also be impacting the way(s) in which learners engage with technology in general. For a number of years, Prensky's (2001) dichotomy of Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants has been considered a relatively accurate representation of the ease with which people of different agesin particular those born before and after 1980use technology. Prensky's theory has been largely disproved not least on account of the burgeoning popularity of social networking sites and other metaphors such as White and Le Cornu's Visitors and Residents (2011) are gaining greater currency. The use of online social networks by libraries is also an increasingly prevalent and growing tool that is being used to communicate with more potential library users, as well as extending the services provided by individual libraries.
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vii.
Business and Social Networks a. Expanding Market Research
Social networking sites give businesses a fantastic opportunity to widen their circle of contacts. Using Facebook, for example, a small business can target an audience of thousands without much effort or advertising. With a good company profile and little in terms of costs, a new market opens up, as do the opportunities to do business. b. Personal Touch Social networks allow organizations to reach out to select groups or individuals and to target them personally. Businesses can encourage their customers to become connections or friends, offering special discounts that would be exclusive to online contacts. This personal touch is not only appreciated but may give the business access to that customers own network of contacts. c. Improving Reputation Building strong social networks can help a business to improve its reputation with as little advertising as possible. Social networks can boost your image as thought leaders in the field and customers/contacts start to acknowledge your business as reliable and an excellent source of information/products that suit their requirements. d. Low-Cost Marketing Once social networks have become established and people become familiar with the brand, businesses can use the sites or applications to implement marketing campaigns, announce special offers, and make important announcements and direct interested people to the specific Web sites. It is mostly free advertising, and the only cost to the business is the time and effort required to maintain the network and the official Web site.
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Demerits/Disadvantages of using Social Networking Sites
i.
People using social networking sites to bully, lie, start rumors and set up fake profiles
While it is clear that there are many benefits to communicating on social networking sites, whether keeping in touch, or receiving feedback from peers, there is also the potential for people to make negative or upsetting comments in a very public way.
Case study
Alice is a single mother, aged 36, living in an urban/suburban area, who receives little support with childcare. She spends much of her time in the evening chatting to people she has met in chat rooms or through social networking sites and MSN. She has had an affair with one man she met online which lasted eight months. They would talk to each other daily. After eight months they met in public and she learnt that he was married, so she finished their online relationship, although she really felt they had something special. Despite her experience, she still feels that social networking sites are a much easier way for single mothers to meet people, especially as they are not able to go out very much and it gives them a chance to talk to lots of people and feel less isolated. Source: The Telegraph
ii.
Privacy
Privacy concerns with social networking services have been raised growing concerns amongst users on the dangers of giving out too much personal information and the threat of sexual predators. Users of these services also need to be aware of data theft or viruses. However, large services, such as MySpace and Netlog, often work with law enforcement to try to prevent such incidents.
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In addition, there is a perceived privacy threat in relation to placing too much personal information in the hands of large corporations or governmental bodies, allowing a profile to be produced on an individual's behavior on which decisions, detrimental to an individual, may be taken. Furthermore, there is an issue over the control of datainformation that was altered or removed by the user may in fact be retained and/or passed to third parties. This danger was highlighted when the controversial social networking site Quechup harvested e-mail addresses from users' e-mail accounts for use in a spamming operation. In medical and scientific research, asking subjects for information about their behaviors is normally strictly scrutinized by institutional review boards, for example, to ensure that adolescents and their parents have informed consent. It is not clear whether the same rules apply to researchers who collect data from social networking sites. These sites often contain a great deal of data that is hard to obtain via traditional means. Even though the data are public, republishing it in a research paper might be considered invasion of privacy. Privacy on social networking sites can be undermined by many factors. For example, users may disclose personal information, sites may not take adequate steps to protect user privacy, and third parties frequently use information posted on social networks for a variety of purposes. "For the Net generation, social networking sites have become the preferred forum for social interactions, from posturing and role playing to simply sounding off. However, because such forums are relatively easy to access, posted content can be reviewed by anyone with an interest in the users' personal information". Following plans by the UK government to monitor traffic on social networks schemes similar to E-mail jamming have been proposed for networks such as Twitter and Facebook. These would involve "friending" and "following" large numbers of random people to thwart attempts at network analysis.
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iii.
Data mining
Through data mining, companies are able to improve their sales and profitability. With this data, companies create customer profiles that contain customer demographics and online behavior. A recent strategy has been the purchase and production of network analysis software. This software is able to sort out through the influx of social networking data for any specific company. Facebook has been especially important to marketing strategists. Facebooks controversial and new Social Ads program gives companies access to the millions of profiles in order to tailor their ads to a Facebook users own interests and hobbies. However, rather than sell actual user information, Facebook sells tracked social actions. That is, they track the websites a user uses outside of Facebook through a program called Facebook Beacon.
iv.
Notifications on websites
There has been a trend for social networking sites to send out only 'positive' notifications to users. For example sites such as Bebo, Facebook, and Myspace will not send notifications to users when they are removed from a person's friends list. Likewise, Bebo will send out a notification if a user is moved to the top of another user's friends list but no notification is sent if they are moved down the list. This allows users to purge undesirables from their list extremely easily and often without confrontation since a user will rarely notice if one person disappears from their friends list. It also enforces the general positive atmosphere of the website without drawing attention to unpleasant happenings such as friends falling out, rejection and failed relationships.
v.
Access to information
Many social networking services, such as Facebook, provide the user with a choice of who can view their profile. This prevents unauthorized user(s)
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from accessing their information. Parents who want to access their child's MySpace or Facebook account have become a big problem for teenagers who do not want their profile seen by their parents. By making their profile private, teens can select who may see their page, allowing only people added as "friends" to view their profile and preventing unwanted viewing of the profile by parents. Most teens are constantly trying to create a structural barrier between their private life and their parents. To edit information on a certain social networking service account, the social networking sites require you to login or provide a password. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from adding, changing, or removing personal information, pictures, and/or other data.
vi.
Potential for misuse
The relative freedom afforded by social networking services has caused concern regarding the potential of its misuse by individual patrons. In October 2006, a fake Myspace profile created in the name of Josh Evans by Lori Janine Drew led to the suicide of Megan Meier. The event incited global concern regarding the use of social networking services for bullying purposes. In July 2008, a Briton, Grant Raphael, was ordered to pay a total of GBP 22,000 (about USD $44,000) for libel and breach of privacy. Raphael had posted a fake page on Facebook purporting to be that of a former school friend Matthew Firsht, with whom Raphael had fallen out in 2000. The page falsely claimed that Firsht was homosexual and that he was dishonest. At the same time, genuine use of social networking services has been treated with suspicion on the ground of the services' misuse. In September 2008, the profile of Australian Facebook user Elmo Keep was banned by the site's administrators on the grounds that it violated the site's terms of use. Keep is one of several users of Facebook who were banned from the site on the presumption that their names aren't real, as they bear resemblance the names of characters like Sesame Street's Elmo.
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vii.
Risk for child safety
Citizens and governments have been concerned by a misuse by child and teenagers of social networking services, in particular in relation to online sexual predators. A certain number of actions have been engaged by governments to better understand the problem and find some solutions. A 2008 panel concluded that technological fixes such as age verification and scans are relatively ineffective means of apprehending online predators.
viii.
Trolling
A common misuse of social networking sites such as Facebook is that it is occasionally used to emotionally abuse individuals. Such actions are often referred to as trolling. It is not rare for confrontations in the real world to be translated online. Trolling can occur in many different forms, such as (but not limited to) defacement of deceased person(s) tribute pages, name calling, playing online pranks on volatile individuals and controversial comments with the intention to cause anger and cause arguments. Trolling is not to be confused with cyber-bullying.
ix. Online bullying

Online bullying, also called cyber-bullying, is a relatively common occurrence and it can often result in emotional trauma for the victim. Depending on the networking outlet, up to 39% of users admit to being cyber-bullied. Danah Boyd, a researcher of social networks quotes a teenager in her article, Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites. The teenager expresses frustration towards networking sites like MySpace because it causes drama and too much emotional stress. There are not many limitations as to what individuals can post when online. Individuals are given the power to post offensive remarks or pictures that could potentially cause a great amount of emotional pain for another individual.
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x.
Interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication has been a growing issue as more and more people have turned to social networking as a means of communication. Many teens and social networking users may be harming their interpersonal communication by using sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
xi. Psychological effects of social networking

As social networking sites have risen in popularity over the past years, people have been spending an excessive amount of time on the Internet in general and social networking sites in specific. This has led researchers to debate the establishment of Internet addiction as an actual clinical disorder. Social networking can also affect the extent to which a person feels lonely. John T. Cacioppo, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, claims that social networking can foster feelings of sensitivity to disconnection, which can lead to loneliness.
xii. Viruses and Malware

This threat is often overlooked by organizations. Hackers are attracted to social networking sites because they see the potential to commit fraud and launch spam and malware attacks. There are more than 50,000 applications available for Facebook (according to the company) and while FaceBook may make every effort to provide protection against malware, these third-party applications may not all be safe. Some have the potential to be used to infect computers with malicious code, which in turn can be used to collect data from that users site. Messaging on social networking sites is also a concern, and the Koobface worm is just one example of how messages are used to spread malicious code and worms.
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Discussions
I have used two kinds of methodologies for the completion of my project 1) Primary data collection-Use of questionnaire 2) Secondary data collection-Use of internet, books, etc
According to an online survey study, in the workplace, LinkedIn is the predominate SNS used for work-related purposes, while YouTube and Facebook are the leading SNS used for personal purposes. The report also notes that for users who access Facebook at work, Facebook group is the most popular activity for work-related purposes, while photo sharing and photo tagging are most commonly cited activity for personal purposes. Skeels and Grudin recently conducted a study of Microsoft employees workplace use of Facebook and LinkedIn and found that while current or recent students frequently use Facebook, young professionals tend to use LinkedIn, and older professionals especially those with established career, families and social networks have a very little interest in using online social networks.
Reasons to Use For general SNS usage at work, Skeels and Grudin found that Microsoft employees use Facebook extensively to maintain awareness of colleagues and to build rapport and stronger working relationships. For enterprise SNS usage at work, DiMicco et al found that IBM employees use their internal social network, Beehive, mainly as a social tool to strengthen their weak ties and to reach out to employees they do not know. They suggest the motivations for employees to do this include connecting with coworkers at a personal level, advancing their careers, and campaigning for their projects.
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Figure 5: Social Media Statistics in India
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Conclusion
As SNS use are becoming more popular (just like email and instant messaging), its impacts still need to be closely studied. Current literature seems to suggest privacy is not really an issue in Social Networking Sites, but I argue this may not be the case. Privacy issues may be at the background and only manifested via other issues such as impression management. To add to the literature, we hypothesize a number of potential privacy-related issues including complex impression management, peer pressure to disclose more information on SNS, and unintentional social undermining. These issues may be closely related with other workplace issues such as work performance and these issues may develop over time. Therefore, we need more holistic and longitudinal studies to better understand them and more delicate and useable designs and tools to support users collective information practices at work. Striking a Balance What is worrying about social networking sites is that they encourage people to give as much information about themselves as possible. Even the most prudent and well-meaning individuals can give away information they should not. At the same time, nearly everyone today has their own online profile on a social networking site and like the idea of keeping in touch with their contacts and friends via that interface.
If an individual is going to access social networking sites, there are some basic tips which I suggest they should follow: 1. Restricted access: At home children and teens should be given restricted access to the social networking sites. Web filtering software should be implemented in work place which gives administrators the ability to implement time-based access to these sites. 2. Educate: This is very important. Most people are not aware how their actions online can cause security issues. Tell them in a language they
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understand how a simple click on an unknown link they or an application they download can result in malware infecting their machine. Additionally they should also be pay attention when giving out personal details online. Just because employees are clever enough to have an online profile does not mean they are technically savvy or that they have a high level of security awareness. 3. Set security and usage policies should be set at offices: All the employees should be made to sign policies related to the use of the Internet at work, access to social networking sites and what they are allowed to say or do during office hours. Monitoring of all Web activity is important, and employees should be aware that their actions are being recorded and that failure to adhere to company policy can result in disciplinary action and/or dismissal.
I thus feel that social networking is more of a boon than a bane. A correct balance should be struck between the excess usage and complete non-usage of these sites.
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8 Boyd,
D and Ellison, N, Social Network Sites, Definition, History and Scholarship, Journal of Computer Mediated Communication (October, 2007), http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html. 9 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4502550.stm
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A REPORT ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES: A BOON OR A BANE

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Ms. Gauri Das

Dr. Amrita Basu

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Social networking site profile page and its features

Timeline of some social networking sites (20002007)

Features people use on social networking sites

Social Media Statistics in India

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Figure 1: Usage of social networking sites country wise

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Online social networking activities

Online social networking tools and platforms

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

FIGURE 2: A SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE PROFILE PAGE AND ITS FEATURES

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Some Commonly Used SNS:

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Development of social networking sites

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Figure 3: Timeline of some social networking sites (2000-2007)

Home internet penetration has increased as have connection speeds

Increasing ICT confidence

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Communication based around social relationships

Applications have increased the versatility of social networking sites

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Other Functions of Social Networking Sites

Applications add versatility to social networking sites

Using social networking sites to engage in political and social issues

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Advertising, Marketing and Information Mining

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Figure 4: Features people use on social networking sites

Benefits/Advantages of using Social Networking Sites

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Share Multiple Points of View

Talking to Other Students

Stay in Touch Anywhere

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Social networks and education

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Business and Social Networks a. Expanding Market Research

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Demerits/Disadvantages of using Social Networking Sites

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Potential for misuse

A Report On Social Networking Sites: A Boon Or A Bane

Risk for child safety

ix. Online bullying