Social Networking in Plain English

 

 

Facebook

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Facebook is free.  Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region. Once a member you can add friends and update your personal profile by adding photos, listing personal interests, exchange public and private messages, and join groups of friends. Facbook generates revenue from advertising.  Facebook only allows plain text, meaning that you can't customize your profile with colors and things but you can add different applications, like "buttons", "tatoos", and "bumber stickers". 

Believe-it-or-not:  In December 2008, the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory ruled that Facebook is a valid protocol to serve court notices to defendants. It is believed to be the world's first legal judgement that defines a summons posted on Facebook as legally binding. (http://wikipedia.com)

 

 

 

MySpace 

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Myspace is also free with an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos for teenagers and adults internationally.  All users can customize the layout and colors of their profile page with virtually no restrictions, except you can not cover the advertisements. Poor html coding, videos, large graphics and flash on these websites could potentially freeze up web browsers. PC World cited this as its main reason for naming MySpace as #1 in its list of twenty-five worst web sites ever. (http://wikipedia.com)  

 

 

 

Twitter  

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Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick , frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?  Updates are known as tweets and can only be 140 characters long.  Users that have subscribed to a Twitter are known as followers. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, text message (SMS) or external applications. The service is free to use over the Internet, but using text messaging (SMS) may incur phone service provider fees.

 

 

 

Differences Between MySpace, Facebook, Twitter

 

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Feature	Facebook	My Space	Twitter
Account to gain Access	YES	NO	YES
Restrict access to profile	YES	YES	YES (followers)
Customize page colors and layout	NO	YES	NO
Have to have a valid e-mail address	YES	YES	YES
Restricted to content	NO	NO	YES
Can be used from text messaging on cell phone	NO	NO	YES

 

 

 

YouTube 

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YouTube is a site dedicated to viewing and sharing videos.  People easily upload and share video clips across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs, and email.  You do not need an account to watch the videos that have been posted to YouTube.  Videos are not screened for content therefore anything goes.   Cell phones as well video cameras can be used to create a video then upload or post it to the site.  Videos can also be viewed on some cell phones models.  YouTube videos can also be added to a website, blog, or social network page.

 

Edutube

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Edutube is a website for online educational videos, that you can be watched or posted to.  Very similiar to YouTube, but EduTube moderators reserve the right to modify the title, classification and description of submissions if the title, classification or description do not match the content, or if they contain any of the prohibited contents listed (such as advertising).   

 

 

Skype 

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Skype is free software that allows you to chat with other Skype users.  Skype also allows for instant message (IM) and making video calls (this would require a video camera and microphone for the computer).  You can also make local, long distance and international calls to phones and mobiles for a fee.  Skype is not a replacment for your ordinary telephone and can't be used for emergency calling.  This program runs best on a fast network connection like a DSL connection. 

 

 

Tips  

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• Bullying can occur on websites like MySpace, Facebook, or Youtube.  Cell phones are also being used to bully others.

• Sexting is the newest craze for kids.  A student creates a video of two others having sexual intercourse or takes sexy pictures with a cell phone.  The video or picture is then distributed cell phone to cell phone from one student to another.

• Only post information that users are comfortable with others seeing — and knowing about them should be posted. Many people can see the page, including teachers, parents, the police, the college they might want to apply to next year, or the job they might want to apply for in five years.
• Remember that once the information is posted online, it can't be taken back. Even if the information is deleted from a site, older versions exist on other people’s computers.
• DO NOT post personal photos. They can be altered and broadcast in ways that the person posting may not be happy about. Ask whether it’s a picture your mom would display in the living room.
• Consider restricting access to a select group of people, for example, friends, organizations, community groups, family.  Double check that friends of friends can't access the postings.  One might think that only friends in their list can access the content but in all reality thousands could.

 

 

 

Internet Safety Links 

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Safe Netting.... and ethics in the digital world

http://www.safenetting.com/

 

Digital Safety Bookmarks on delicious - this contains links to Internet Safety issues in the news

http://delicious.com/digitalsafety/video 

 

Developed by the Virginia Community Policing Institute with Operation Blue Ridge Thunder Task Force to protect our children from online sexual predators.

http://www.vcpionline.org/online/flash.html