WHAT IS
SOCIAL MEDIA?
·
Social media refers to the means of interactions
among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas
in virtual communities and networks.
·
For example Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterest,
Myspace, ask.fm, google plus etc
·
All these social networking webpages can be
accessed from any part of the globe.
·
Age limitations on social media sites are
inadequate.
o Currently,
Facebook requires users to be at least 13 years old. However, a study by
Boyd
found that 31 percent of 10-year-olds, 44 percent of 11-year-olds, and 55
percent of 12-year-olds reported using a social network site (Boyd, 2011).
o Social
media sites cannot verify a user’s age.
o If the
user has a valid email address and indicates that he or she is at least 13 years
old, access is available.
o Other
sites, such as Twitter, have no age limit.
·
Parental controls on access to social media are
lacking.
o Monitoring
youth online is becoming more difficult.
o Sites
such as Facebook and Myspace currently do not have any direct parental
controls. Parents can “friend” their children to watch what they are posting;
however, new privacy settings allow a young user to block people, including
parents, from seeing what is posted.
POSITIVE
EFFECTS/ADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
·
The main advantage of social networking site is
that it helps in establishing connection with people, friends and relatives.
·
It helps in sharing one’s view, share pictures and
lots of other stuffs.
·
It helps students in interacting with one another
and share ideas; this helps in improving student’s creativity.
·
Social networking has increased the rate
and quality of collaboration for people.
o They
are better able to communicate meeting times or share information quickly, which
can increase productivity and help them learn how to work well in groups.
·
Because the social networking websites can be
accessed from any part of the globe, it helps students to
establish communication with their teachers and friends through which
they can improve their knowledge.
·
It increases General Knowledge and Awareness of
Students.
·
Through these sites the students can establish
contact with entrepreneurs, corporate people and can gain valuable information
from them.
·
Social networking teaches people skills
they’ll need to survive in the business world.
o Being
able to create and maintain connections to many people in many industries is an
integral part of developing a career or building a business.
·
It facilitates open communication, leading to
enhanced information discovery and delivery.
·
By spending so much time working with new
technologies, students develop more familiarity with computers and other
electronic devices.
o With
the increased focus on technology in education and business, this will help
students build skills that will aid them throughout their lives.
·
It Saves Time and Cost by facilitating faster
communication.
NEGATIVE
EFFECTS/DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
·
One of the major disadvantages of using social
networking websites is that the students get addicted to it.
o They
spend hours in those social networking sites which can obviously degrade their academic
performance.
·
Many students rely on the accessibility of
information on social media specifically and the web in general to provide
answers.
o That
means a reduced focus on learning and retaining information.
·
Some students who attempt to multi-task,
checking social media sites while studying, show reduced academic performance.
·
The more time students spend on social
sites, the less time they spend socializing in person. Because of the lack of
body signals and other nonverbal cues, like tone and inflection, social
networking sites are not an adequate replacement for face-to-face communication.
o Students
who spend a great deal of time on social networking are less able to
effectively communicate in person.
·
Some people spend more time on the social media and
so they lack to spend time with their family members.
·
Time spent on social media sites is increasing.
o
Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter,
Whatsapp, Instagram, BBM, etc, are becoming more popular with youth.
o
In 2009, 15.8 percent of time spent on the Internet
was on social networking sites. By 2010, the percentage had risen to 22.7
percent (Nielson, 2011).
o
The ability to access to social media sites through
cell phones, iPads and other mobile Internet devices has increased the amount
of time youth spend on these sites.
o
For example, nearly 40 percent of social media users
access their accounts from a mobile phone; and social networking apps are the
third most-used among U.S. smartphone owners (Nielson).
·
Decreased Productivity at work places.
o While
many businesses use social networking sites to find and communicate with clients,
the sites can also prove a great distraction to employees who may show more
interest in what their friends are posting than in their work tasks.
·
It opens up the possibility for hackers to commit
Fraud and launch Spam and virus attacks.
·
There are threats from Social Networking Worms and
Trojans. Social networking worms include Koobface.
o The
principle way Koobface spreads is by posting messages that contain malicious
links from a social networking account (such as a Facebook account) to all the
contacts associated with that account (for example, the Facebook contact list).
o The links
direct social networking users to external websites that will download Koobface
onto their computers as well.
o Once
installed, Koobface looks for evidence of social networking accounts on those
computers, and once found, will start posting messages from those accounts and
the process begins again, and the Koobface malware begins to spread virally.
o Koobface
malware is designed to post links intended to bait/lure Facebook users into
clicking them.
o This is
the basic template, ‘Check out this
YouTube video of you….LINK’.
o Once
clicked on, the victim is commonly asked to download some sort of add-on to view the page/image/video
correctly.
o One of
the most common examples is requesting victims download an extension to Adobe Flash Player in order to play
a video.
o Once the
user download this add-on, their computer is infected with Koobface and they
will most likely notice unauthorised messages posting from their social
networking accounts.
o The
messages vary greatly, but remember they are purely designed to get people to
click on them.
·
Some people may tend to use to these social
networking sites till mid night or even more which can obviously lead to Health
related problems.
·
Some people may provide detailed information, like
phone numbers, address, and many more, which are very dangerous.
o This is
because they can easily be tracked down by strangers.
·
Phishing in common on the social media.
o It is an
act of creating fake webpages to steal user’s information for illegal financial
purposes.
o Always
check the Url before submitting your information. It also promotes
·
Data leaks.
o Social
networks are all about sharing. Unfortunately, many users share a bit too much
about the organization -- projects, products, financials, organizational
changes, scandals, or other sensitive information.
o Shortened
links: - People use URL shortening services (e.g., bit.ly and tinyurl ) to fit
long URLs into tight spaces.
o They also
do a nice job of obfuscating the link so it isn't immediately apparent to
victims that they're clicking on a malware install.
·
Cyber-bullying. This is the
use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending
messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. The
devastation of these online attacks can leave deep mental scars. Many
people are
vulnerable to cyber-bullying.
PREVENTING
SOCIAL MEDIA THREATS:
·
Install theft protection software on all of the
computers you use to access social media accounts.
·
Make sure never to click the box to save your
password when you are on a public, work or laptop computer.
·
Use your real name or identity whenever you sign up
for social media accounts.
·
Avoid giving out personal information on social
media sites, such as address, phone number or your birth date.
·
Change your privacy settings on all your social
media accounts, so that you have control of all the information that is posted.
·
Type in the name of the social media site, or use a
bookmark, instead of clicking on email links.
·
Create complicated passwords when you sign up for
social media accounts.
·
Avoid using online applications on social media
sites, or the Internet in general, that require access to your personal or
profile information.
·
Use extreme caution when opening links on social
media sites.
WHAT’S
NEXT?
·
Youth need to be aware of the dangers of putting
their personal information online.
·
Information that is posted online can never be
permanently erased.
·
Parents and their children should establish privacy
settings, and the children should learn to check to be sure that their privacy
settings have not changed.
·
Parents should also discuss with their children the
impact of cyberbullying and the importance of not engaging in this behaviour.
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