My Student ID: H00037500

Title: Much has been written about the benefits and risks of participating in
social networking services such as Facebook and MySpace. What are some of
the controversies associated with these forums? Use an example from current
story concerning one of these controversies and tell us about it.

Week – 1 – DQ-1

Introduction

Web 2.0 (Technology beyond static web pages of earlier days) is the system that
enables sharing information and relationship on the Internet. Those named as
social networking media/sites websites like Facebook and MySpace. These Social
Networking Sites (SNS) have started getting popular in late 2000s.

Controversies Associated Social Network Services

Mostly SNS are used to do the social profiling of the users. As most of the
personal information, recent interactions and relationships are shared on these
social media websites.

Background checks are the last and the important part of hiring process. As per
the research “Trends in Employment Background Screening” performed in 2011
80% of the employers check social networking sites of the prospective employee’s
social profile before final decision.

“One applicant found himself out of the running for the job he applied for
because after he joined the group, “I shouldn't have to press one for English,” on
Facebook, his would-be employer branded him as a racist.” (Dolce, 2013)

“13 Virgin Airline crew members were fired after publicly discussing aspects of
their job on Facebook - they shared the number of times that certain airplanes
had been replaced that the cabins were infested with cockroaches. They also took
the time to insult the passengers who ultimately pay their salaries” (Dolce, 2013)

As SNS become very popular place for people to share their personal information,
there are information security and privacy issues. This will be a good opportunity
to malicious people who is looking for personal information to exploit. Let’s take a
very simple example; in some websites if you need to reset the password, we
have to answer security questions. These questions could be;

1. What was the make and model of your first car?

2. In what county where you born?
3. What is your favorite sport?
4. In what city or town does your nearest sibling live?

So the malicious user easily gets this information using SNS and reset the
password. However, there are websites that offer sending the One Time Password
(OTP) to the users mobile to reset the password bur still most of the websites use
security questions.

Further, as the SNS like Facebook and Myspace other social web sites are getting
popular in the society and interaction between people is getting increase with
their busy schedule. However, it has also increased the sense of the concerns
people who don’t feel secure communicating with their friends online. Concerns
are as follows:

1. Social Hyperreality
2. Anonymity versus Commitment
3. Phenomenological Critique of Social Networks
4. Ethical Concerns about Social Networking Services

Above all concerns are remotely linked to each other, and have a very impact on
Social media websites, and they indirectly impact people who are trying to
communicate on such websites.
Conclusion

The growing use of social network services present significant risk for people’s
privacy. Users are trying to safeguard their own privacy, however, users are not
aware of the risk and do not have the skill and ability to protect their privacy.

Providing good security and ethics mechanism is the main concern for social
media websites now a day, and if they increase awareness among users on how
to increase it, it would be having a good impact on the online Social media.

Bibliography

Shannon Vallor (2012) Social Networking and Ethics [Online]. Stanford

Encyclopedia of Philosophy Available from
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-social-networking/ (Accessed: 9th August
2014).

EmployeeScreenIQ (2011) Trends in Employment Background Screening

[Online]. Available from http://www.employeescreen.com/ESIQ_Trends_2011.pdf
(Accessed: 10th August 2014).

Stephanie Dolce (2012) Victim No More [Online]. Available

http://books.google.com.qa/books?
id=OST1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT17&lpg=PT17&dq=One+applicant+found+himself+out
+of+the+running+for+the+job+he+applied+for+because+after+he+joined+the+gro
up,+%E2%80%9CI+shouldn%27t+have+to+press+one+for+English,
%E2%80%9D+on+Facebook,+his+would-
be+employer+branded+him+as+a+racist.&source=bl&ots=NVDBtx3-
kh&sig=5QGofd0maw6VFMYRCbr7cIgexKs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Y5fmU4KiOYGS0QX3
94DgDg&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=One%20applicant%20found
%20himself%20out%20of%20the%20running%20for%20the%20job%20he
%20applied%20for%20because%20after%20he%20joined%20the%20group%2C
%20%E2%80%9CI%20shouldn't%20have%20to%20press%20one%20for
%20English%2C%E2%80%9D%20on%20Facebook%2C%20his%20would-be
%20employer%20branded%20him%20as%20a%20racist.&f=false (Accessed: 10 th
August 2014).

Stephanie Dolce (2012) The Social Media Controversy: is it for good or evil?
Society [Online]. Available http://www.artfist.org/2012/04/social-media-
controversy-is-it-for-good.html (Accessed: 10th August 2014).

Wikipedia (2014) Privacy issues of social networking sites [Online]. Available

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_issues_of_social_networking_sites
(Accessed: 10th August 2014).

June Ahn (2011) the effect of social network sites on adolescents' social and
academic development: Current theories and controversies [Online]. Wiley
Online Library Available
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1002/asi.21540/ (Accessed: 10 th
August 2014).