Research Project

Research Project Topic Proposal Overview Procedure Hypothesis Relevance Overview of Research Phase I: Gathering Data Phase II: Research Introduction on History of Web Communities Friendster My Space Facebook Timeline of Web page Based Online Communities Review of Media My Space Facebook Whatsupbuddy Friendster Impact And Importance of Media on Children Facebook in colleges Privacy, Terms and Conditions Extreme Cases Postive Impact Works Cited and Consulted

Topic Proposal

Overview

For our wiki research project we plan to evaluate the effects of online social communities and their influences on the saftey among participants. For better understanding of this new subject our group also plans to evaluate the history of these online communities and analyze the reasons for their success.

 

Procedure

Our group plans to research this topic in two phases. First we plan on creating a survey to learn about the usage of Facebook and MySpace at the University of Florida. Further, we plan on interviewing creators of an online social community. By doing this we hope to get an introduction to this media which will let us better understand how to research it.

Our second phase of research will focus the development of online social communities and their influences on it's participants. The communities we will focus on for the research project will be MySpace and Facebook. We will also look at other online communities that are riding on the popularity of these previosly mentioned sites. The group plans to examine the history of these social communities in hopes of finding reasons for their present success. Our group plans on presenting this research in a manner that is both entertaining and informative to the class.

 

Hypothesis

We expect that through our research to find that these social networks are more dangerous than many people beleive. We also hope to present safety tips about online communities to the class. Our group also plans to find that these social networks sucesses have been due to their participants desire to belong in a group.

 

Relevance

Because this is a fairly new and undeveloped medium, we hope that our research exposes the faults of online such online communities. Further, showing that the amount of information available on these communities creates the potential for criminal misuse.

 

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Overview of Research

 

Our group conducted our research in two phases:

 

Phase I: Gathering Data

 

Our group created a survey to find how students at the University of Florida use online social communities. The survey consisted of forty questions. These questions ranged from simple demographics to specific usages of online communities. The survey focused on MySpace and Facebook. This survey and it’s results can be found here.

 

To gain further perspective on our topic our group also interviewed the creators of an online social community called Whatsupbuddy. This interview helped us see such online communities from the developer’s eye – a side usually not looked into.

 

Phase II: Research

 

The final phase of our project required our team to interpret all of the data we had collected and to do further research into the different online communities. We first examined the History. This helped us to obtain a base for our other research to rest upon. Examining the evolution of online communities allowed our group to see the facets of these communities that enable them to flourish. After this we looked into the harm that such communities have caused to people. These findings tied in perfectly with the data our team acquired during Phase I.

 

In all, by dividing our research into two separate phases our team was able to see the different aspects of online social communities from many angles. This allowed us to finnaly determine the impact that this medium has on children.

 

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Introduction on History of Web Communities

 

While Webpage-Based Online Communities will be the focus of our explanation of the history of web communities, it is important to explain how Webpage-Based Online Communities have risen in popularity by being able to combine other formats from other web communities putting them under one roof.

 

 

The earliest of these interaction forums was the chatroom. Useful in the late '70's, the chatroom was very different from the chatroom we all know today, the Multi-User Dungeon servers, or MUD servers were the pioneer platform for communicaiton between groups of people. It was very different from today's chatroom for the fact that it was used primarily between gamers that would play virtual reality games.

 

Then, in the mid-'90's, the first weblogs were being posted and instant messaging services were coming to life, contributing to the popularity of computer and the internet at the time. This growing influx to weblog websites and instant messaging, along with the urge for internet users to chat with others around the globe prompted for developers to create websites that include all of these services for browsers to enjoy in the new millenium. These communities first started with the "Six Degrees" approach, but have now given in to the more popular "Circle of Friends" angle on web communities.

 

 

Friendster

 

 

 

 

My Space

 

Facebook

 

Timeline of Web page Based Online Communities

 

1878: First MUD Servers Connected Computers to Each Other

1984: The National Science Foundation (NSF) Declared the Web Operational. These Were The First Glimpses of the Internet as We Know It Today.

1994: First Weblogs Posted Online By Justin Hall

1995: The Federal Government Opened Up The Internet Network To National Corporations For Commercial Use.

1996: ICQ, A Instant Messaging Programs Makes Its Debut Online.

1997: The First Community-Format Website is founded in "Six Degrees Format" (SixDegrees.com).

2001: The First "Circle of Friends" Format Website makes Its Online Debut.

2002: Friendster is Founded By Jonathan Abrams.

2003: The "Circle of Friends" Format of Community Web sites Starts Becoming Widely Popular With The Help Of Friendster.

2003: My Space is Founded By Tom Anderson And Chris De Wolfe.

2004: thefacebook.com is Founded by Mark Zuckerberg; First "Closed Network" Online Community.

 

 

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Review of Media

 

My Space

Arguably the most popular social community on the Internet today, MySpace has become part of America’s mainstream culture. With membership in the millions this community continues to flourish and provide its members with very useful features. However, despite it’s popularity and useful features, the MySpace community has a major downfall in that the information is available for anybody to see. Further, with children as young as twelve in this community, one could easily see that the free distribution of this personal information has the potential to become very dangerous.

Registration on MySpace is a simple as a few clicks. The only requirement to be a member is that the person registering has a valid email address. Once a member, a profile is added for the member to personalize. Members can add pictures, comments, favorites, addresses, phone numbers, and journals to their personal page. Once this is done, the new member can join groups and add friends they previously know as well as meet new people.

MySpace provides a medium for users to meet people with similar interests. Almost any field on a user’s profile is searchable. For example if your friend likes a certain band, you can click on the band’s name on their profile and you will be directed to a page that lists all members who also listed that band as their favorite. This design of the website allows users to efficiently find other users which they would like to befriend.

Despite all of the above facets of MySpace that make it so popular, there are also some very dangerous aspects of this new medium. The wealth of information on these pages is available to people with criminal intent. Further, the danger of this display of personal information is multiplied by the fact that most of the users are younger children. There have been many accounts of sexual predators stalking victims through this online community. One case in California involved a man sexually assaulting a twelve-year-old girl that he met on MySpace.(news10.net) Further, these young girls sometimes post very provocative pictures of themselves on their personal homepage to attract more visitors.

Some institutions have tried to prevent such incidents such as the private Catholic high school that recently issued a ban on all online profiles, threatening students with suspension (NJHerald.com). While some may argue that this controversial action has imposed on children’s rights, it should be a testament to the growing danger such social communities provide for children. MySpace has also acted because of this recent concern and has added certain privacy features to its services. However, these features are optional and even if activated provide little protection. In addition they have posted warnings on their site for members not to give out personal information.

In conclusion, one can see that the above are major flaws in online social communities and should be addressed as soon as possible. In addition, it would be beneficial to educate Internet users of the dangers of revealing personal information online. If advanced privacy features are introduced, or perhaps stricter age limits imposed, Myspace could continue to securely lead in the online social revolution.

 

Facebook

If you’ve never heard the phrase, “just facebook me,” then you must not be a college student in the United States. Facebook.com is an online community that has quickly become one of the most popular for college age children in the nation. This site gives you the ability to post photos in albums, add and message friends, “poke” people to get their attention, join and make groups, announce parties, and much more. Although there are some risks to joining facebook such as the potential for stalkers to find your information, the facebook craze still grows daily. This website is a great place to find old friends, send emails, and learn about what’s going on in just about anyone’s life. Facebook has made a huge impression on college students and the way they express themselves as Internet personalities.

As an online community, facebook stands out for its many features. Each user can post photo albums of themselves on their site. You can add your pictures to a friend’s facebook page by highlighting their face in a picture and typing in their name. The picture then appears on the other users site as a “tagged picture.” This adds a more involved community feel to the pictures. “Poking” is probably the strangest part of facebook. When viewing any member’s site, it gives the user the option to poke them. When one is poked, a message is sent to them announcing this action and asking if they would like to “poke back”, or ignore the poke. Theoretically, the poke could go back and forth forever, since the same message is sent when you “poke back.” Imagine how strange this would be in real life to have two people sit there poking each other over and over.

Other aspects of facebook are have more of a purpose. You can add friends, and they are sent a request for approval of the “friendship.” Then when it is a friend’s birthday, the facebook will announce it a few days before on the main screen. This has saved many people from making the horrible mistake of forgetting a good friend’s birthday. Also, anyone is free to create a group of any kind. Some examples are, “I Heart Seth Cohen”, or “My name is Kate, not Katie, get it right.” The groups can either be public or private. These groups are a good way to express opinions as well as show common interests you might have with your friends.

The real weakness of facebook is that many people post too much information on this site. It is commonplace for a student to post his/her phone number on her profile, or even where they live. AIM screen names are also often listed in a users profile. This easy access to a plethora of information is a psycho stalker’s wet dream. Many students have experienced the scary feeling of someone they don’t know calling or IMing them with obtrusive or offensive material.

Overall, the facebook experience is a good one. It’s a great way to look up long lost friends from high school, middle or elementary school, as well as keep in touch with friends who you see every other day. This online community has become a huge fad in colleges throughout the US today, and it seems it’s popularity will continue to grow. As long as users are careful with what they post on their profiles, facebook is a harmless, fun way to feel like a part of something.

 

Whatsupbuddy

Looking for friends? Is surfing the net a favorite past time? Well Buddy, online communities are just the ticket, and there is a new showing in town. WhatsUpBuddy.com is a new online community that allows its members to meet new people, share photos, and join groups based around topics of interest. And if your interests are posting pictures and popularity, then this site is for you.

If you enjoy sites like MySpace.com, but wish you could show the online world more pictures of yourself, then your wish has been granted. On this new web community, users are clearly reminded with every sign in that being a member allows one to upload “UNLIMITED photos...UNLIMITED bandwidth...UNLIMITED photo galleries.” Users apply use captions to each picture, name each album, and have other users comment on pictures. With so much emphasis on the visual, it makes this site more about being interested in other users because of their looks, and not on actual common interests or similarities like other sites may offer.

But WhatsUpBuddy.com does have similarities with other online communities. Like other popular online community sites, WhatsUpBuddy.com uses a similar format to have members create profiles that let other users know about them and their interests. In this particular site, there are many different areas where the user can share information about themselves. There is a basic information section, which gives general information like name, relationship status, and contact information. In an additional information section, members can

also fill out such areas as “Favorites” and “My Dreams.” The favorites section covers a lot of fields, like favorite drink, video game, or college football team. However, there are so many “favorites” in which the user can answer, that it becomes ridiculous and superfluous. For example, does one really care about what the users favorite Olympic event is? Maybe if Mary Lou Retton joins the site. Or maybe the Olympics is someone’s dream, and he or she can write about it in the “My Dreams” section. Concerning this section, users might as well pull out some loose leaf paper and spell out M.A.S.H ( the childhood game in which all contents of your future could be determined). Filling out your dream house, vacation, job, and husband, feels like something middle school girls do in pink spiral notebooks at sleep overs. These fields that are included on this site, while they are unique, they also create an immature online atmosphere.

As if sharing about your dreams isn’t enough to take you back to your teenage days, the site also displays users who seem to be the cats meow... the bees knees...those kids who are too cool for school...the most popular users. Users whose profiles are viewed the most are displayed under a section all on their own, appropriately labeled “Most Popular Users,” which can be found on the homepage. Five special users can claim these spots, but don’t be discouraged it you don’t make the cut. There is still hope. If you are a user who has interesting pictures in your picture galleries, you could make the “Most Popular Galleries,” list, which happens if your online photo albums are viewed the most. But to get popular, users have to start somewhere, and the best place to start is by being displayed under the “New Buddies” section. Here, two users are shown to everyone as users sign in on the main page. This allows for members to see other people on the site, and possibly virtually befriend. And yet, if for some reason you still haven’t made a debut, users can have their 15 minutes of fame by randomly being displayed on the top banner of the site. This banner is on every page, not just the main one, and is a random compilation of every user’s pictures from their uploaded photo albums. The selection of pictures changes every time a new page is opened, and when users click on a particular picture, users are then lead to the album in which the picture stemmed from. This tool is actually quite innovative and successful for users to find other members on the site.

There is no limitation as to who can join this site; however, the shallow vibes of the site seems like it is more for tweens and teeny boppers. If you can’t get enough of friend requests, and receiving comments on pictures of yourself , then adding WhatsUpBuddy.com to your list of web sites would probably fit in nicely. However, if you feel online communities are better for educational purposes, stick to TheFacebook.com, and find people in you classes you can study with.

 

Friendster

People all over the world now have the chance to read mail, instant message, post web logs and find other people all in one Web site. Friendster.com (www.friendster.com) is a web community that allows for people all over the world to interact with each other from their at their own privacy at a computer. Once an Internet user signs up as a member of the Friendster community, they are able to create a personal page that includes pictues, a list of interests and a self-description for other members around the world to see. The best part about this service is that it is all free. But while this Web page allows for neighborhoods across the globe to be closer than ever, the massive popularity of Friendster might be its only drawback.

As soon as you sign up with the site, Friendster gives you a Web page to customize to your liking. A Web page on Friendster allows for a person to input their social status, interests, activities and contact information on the page. If you are not comfortable with making Web sites, Friendster it relatively easy for a user who is not comfortable with Internet source code to make their page unique. Along with the ease of creating Web pages, Friendster allows the more advanced users to play with their Web space, with certain limitations such as posting pornographic pictures or videos online. A Friendster Web page allows anyone to share pictures with others, share music, join groups, create discussions, and allow for instant messaging to occur between you and your friends straight from the Web page without need of an IM program such as AIM or ICQ. One of the greatest features about Friendster is that with over 19 million members, you are bound to find a Web page of a friend from your home community, or better yet, you could find new friends to interact with from across the globe.

Apart from all the features of the website, the only crutch behind Friendster might be that practically “everyone” you know is on it. Because of this, once you log on, it might be difficult to use all of the features of Friendster without becoming aggravated. It is certain that one could spend a considerable amount of time clicking the “refresh” button to get what you want. This occurs becaues the Friendster server you are on is flooded at the same time with other people that are trying to surf the site as well.

But once you have made peace with the fact that Web pages take forever to load, Friendster can be an addictive site that can quickly take a couple of hours from your day using all of its features. Along with that, your sense of responsibility becomes heightened once you come across members who use the site for malicious reasons. A piece of advice is to not put out personal information because ultimately, anyone who is a member can use that information to his or her own discretion.

Once you have explored the features and exploits of Friendster, the website’s features at the end of the day outweigh the negatives by a significant amount. Finding old friends, making new lovers, joining interesting groups, listening to music, sharing pictures, and exposing who you are to the world has never been any easier. Best part of all, is that the Friendster online community does not cost a penny. Anyone with a sense of community and a need for communication outside of face-to-face conversation should have Friendster on a bookmark for their Web browser.

 

Impact And Importance of Media on Children

 

 

Facebook in colleges

The facebook is something that all students entering into college will encounter. School authorities consider it an issue and directors of different oraganizations hold meetings to plan how to handle potential situations that could arise. At the University of Tennessee, the Association of Fraternity Advisors Student Development Committee held a meeting in August of 2005 to discuss potential problems such as fraternities or sororities who might advertise parties with alcohol and the effects this could have on their organization or even on the potential new members thinking about rushing. This meeting focused on the dangers involved with potential stalking or users sending out too much information with their profiles. It also looked at the positive applications of facebook. Fraternity and Sorority organizations can use Facebook as another way to reach their members and pass along the word about events, socials, and upcoming deadlines.

www.fraternityadvisors.org/pdf/student_dev/2005_08_SD.pdf

Tennessee is not alone in this sentiment. At the University of Florida, all incoming students must participate in preview. This informational session helps new students to become acclimated to the college environment. At this function, students are warned about the potential dangers they could encounter by giving out too much information on Facebook. Colleges around the nation are following suit and Facebook will most likely become a warning as common as being careful not to walk alone on campus at night.

The University of Memphis holds a brown bag session to discuss facebook with student mentors in the student affairs office, and answer any questions they may have. (Paulson, 2005)

One article written in the campus paper at Iowa State University discusses the idea that Facebook could be damaging to real life communication and interpersonal skills. It also discusses negative effects Facebook could have on how one is portrayed. An example is given by looking to the future. Could a future president's facebook profile hinder his ability to get elected? This proves that we must be very careful about what we post online. While it may seem like a personal site can be a place for one to post personal information, these sites are open to millions of people and what seems harmless could damage a reputation, get a person fired from a job, or just simply result in unexpected negative consequences.(Strickler, 2005)

Privacy, Terms and Conditions

All of these communities have sections where they illustrate their terms and conditions. They also have sections about safety for users and some ever have areas involving tips for parents. These sections are necessary establishments for sites of this nature in order to deal with conflicts that may arise, and to give some kidn of structure as to the limitations involved when one is a member of these communities.

 

Here are some links to a few sites about these functions:

Facebook terms and conditions: http://ufl.facebook.com/terms.php

How to deal with facebook abuse: http://ufl.facebook.com/help.php?tab=abuse

Myspace terms and conditions: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/misc/terms.html?z=1&Mytoken=20040917113647

Myspace safety tips for parents and users: http://www.myspace.com/misc/safetytips.html

Whatsupbuddy Terms and conditions: http://www.whatsupbuddy.com/terms.asp

Whatsupbuddy privacy: http://www.whatsupbuddy.com/policy.asp

 

Extreme Cases

At Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta, all students were told they had to dismantle their myspace profiles or any other online community profile they belonged to. This decision was based on an incident in which a student was found interacting with someone who was lying about their age and location. The principal said he was enforcing this to prevent any harm from coming to his students whether through potential abduction, online bullying through blog use, or some other kind of harmful effect. If any student was found violating this rule, the punishment would be suspension. This action is not illegal because this school is a private one. If the school was owned by the government it could be considered a violation of first amendment rights and there would be a great likelihood of a lawsit ensuing. Many parents at the school were very greatful for this action. Most parents don't even know what myspace is, and after the ban, upon discovering the site, most were glad to see their children taken off of it. The site often contains vulgar material and can be a neagtive influence on a young mind. They hold an age limit at 14, but it could be argued that this age is too low considering that people post pictures of themselves in very disturbing or revealing situations. (Bruno, 2005)

At the University of New Mexico, officials decided to place a ban on Facebook. They stated their initial concern as being that the spam it included was messing up their network. They then listed some security issues that were concerning them. It seems that when students are asked to use their university email on the site, many were also using the same password. The administration considers this a security risk. Many at this school are disappointed and this decision does not appear to be permanent. (Gendall, 2005)

 

Postive Impact

Not everything about these sites is negative. Myspace and Facbook as well as other sites like them are great ways to get in touch with people who have the same interests as oneself. Browsing these sites is a fun way to pass time and it's exciting to make new "friends" and join new "groups" as well. "Facebook spills over into 'real' life all the time," says Chris Hughes, spokesperson for the Facebook. "There are the obvious ways: parties and groups are organized more efficiently, people are able to discover interests they share in common with acquaintances or friends, and people are able to see more details about girls or guys they find cute." These sites are a great way to keep tabs on people who you might not see all the time and find out what might be going on in some of your more shallow or more distant friendships. "Relationships become official these days only when they are formally recognized on Facebook," Hughes says.We are a culture of hopeless Facebook junkies. If you still don't agree, let's examine the facts: the site's name has been transformed into a ubiquitous verb: "I Facebook-ed you yesterday," or "Do you Facebook?" The users of these sites can often become almost addicted to them in a sense. It is very easy to be drawn into these communities and feel the need to check your page multiple times a day. "According to Nielsen/NetRatings, users spend an average of an hour and 43 minutes on Myspace each month, compared with 34 minutes for facebook.com and 25 minutes for Friendster." Myspace even outshines google with the number of hits monthly. (Williams, 2005) All of these qualities make these online communities attractive to children. They will want to be a part of whatever their friends are doing, and as these communities grow, more and more younger children are drawn in. Myspace, Facebook, and these other popular online communities really help people to feel like a part of something, and that gives the creators the ability to reach out to people through a computer.

 

Works Cited and Consulted

 

Bruno, Laura. Blogging ban provokes a debate over cyberspace. dailyrecord.com;Oct, 2005.

 

Gendall, Michael. New Mexico bans Facebook. The Badger Herald. October 17, 2005. http://badgerherald.com/news/2005/10/17/new_mexico_bans_face.php

 

Estes, Adam. "A Facelift for Facebook." Current Magazine (MSNBC.com) 28 September 2005. 29 November 2005 <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9516347/site/newsweek/>

 

"Folsom Police Arrest Suspected Online Child Predator." News10.net 2 June 2005. 29 November 2005 <http://www.news10.net/storyfull1.asp?id=11266>

 

Danah Boyd, Jeff Potter. "Social Network Fragments: An Interactive Tool for Exploring Digital Social Connections." San Diego, California. ACM.

 

Danah Boyd and Jeffrey Heer. "Profiles as Conversation: Networked Identity Performance on Friendster." In Proceedings of the Hawai'i International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-39) , Persistent Conversation Track. Kauai, HI: IEEE Computer Society. January 4 - 7, 2006.

 

Danah Boyd. "Review of Material Virtualities." New Media and Society. February 2005.

 

O’Malley, Gavin. "The Facebook to Expand Social Network." Online Media Daily 26 May 2005. 29 November 2005 <http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&amp;art_aid=30592/>

 

Paulson, Kathy. How Does Facebook Impact Our Campus and Our Students? Flyer at University of Memphis. November, 2005.

 

"Pope John Blog Ban Debate Continues." NJHerald.com 6 November 2005. 28 November 2005 <http://www.njherald.com/4126690378272.php>

 

Strickler, Kate. Facebook could harm interpersonal skills, communication.The Daily Collegian. December 7, 2005. http://www.dailycollegian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/18/435452bc80c6d

 

Williams, Alex. Do You Myspace? August 28th 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/fashion/sundaystyles/28MYSPACE.html?ex=1282881600&en=0a3ebdb60e0ac4da&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss

 

Withall, Robin. Facing the Facts About Facebook. The Villanoven, November 11, 2005.

 

www.fraternityadvisors.org/pdf/student_dev/2005_08_SD.pdf Association of Fraternity Advisors Student Development Committee. The facebook: The new buzz on campus. August 2005