Follower, Faithful Or Functional?

British telecoms regulator Ofcom published a report on 2nd April 2008 suggesting that 49% of children from 8 to 17 years of age who have Internet access have their own personal profile on a social networking site. The minimum age permitted by major social networking sites is normally 13 or 14, but 27% of the 8-11 year olds who are aware of social networking sites claim to have a profile on one.

Ofcom's figures highlight some astonishing discrepancies between what parents think is happening and what is actually taking place. 66% of parents claim to set rules on their children's use of social networking sites, but only 53% of children agreed that their parents set such rules. Half of parents have installed some kind of content blocking, and 80% of them believe it works, but 67% children think that they can get round it and access any content they want. However, since 24% of teenagers have computer in their bedroom, parents can't see what they're doing anyway.

22% of adult internet users aged 16 and over have their own online profile. Adults often have a profile on more than one site and half of adult social network users claim to access their profile every other day. Facebook is the most popular site, followed by MySpace and then Bebo. Bebo is the social networking site most used by children aged between 8 and 17. Adults in lower socio-economic groupings are more likely to use MySpace.

Social networking sites are stretching the conventional meaning of the word 'friends' to include anyone a user has an online connection with, even people that they have never met or spoken to offline. Online friendships are often displayed publicly via friend lists, meaning that users often share personal details like political views, religion, sexuality and date of birth with people they barely know.

Ofcom's research, which involved 5,000 adults and 3,000 children, suggests that there are five distinct groups of people who use social networking sites:

* Alpha Socialisers - generally males aged under 25, who use sites in intense short bursts to flirt, find new friends and seek entertainment.

* Attention Seekers - generally females looking for attention and comments from others, often by posting photographs and customizing their profiles. Some younger women claimed to create fake profiles for fun.

* Followers - males and females of all ages who join sites to keep up with what their peers are doing.

* Faithfuls - these are generally older males and females, aged over 20, who usually use social networking sites to re-establish old friendships, often from school or university.

* Functionals - mostly older males who tend to be single-minded in using sites for a particular purpose.

The research also suggests that there are three discrete groups of people who do not use social networking sites:

* Concerned about safety - often older people and parents concerned about safety online, in particular making personal details available online.

* Technically inexperienced - often people over 30 years old who lack confidence in using the internet and computers.

* Intellectual rejecters - these are often older teens and young adults who have no interest in social networking sites and perceive them as a waste of time.

Privacy and safety are often quoted as major reasons for avoiding social networking sites, but they do not appear to be a major concern for those who do use such sites. The Ofcom research found that:

* 41% of children and 44% of adults leave their privacy settings as default 'open' which means that their profiles are visible to anyone

* 34% of 16-24 year olds are happy to give out sensitive personal information such as their email address or phone number

* 17% of adult users admitted that they talked to people they didn't know on social networking sites that and 35% chatted to people who were 'friends of friends'.

Some teenagers and young adults in their early twenties reported feeling 'addicted' to social networking sites and were aware that their use was reducing their study time. A minority of users reported being aware of bullying through social networking sites and some younger users admitted using social networking sites to 'get back' at people they had fallen out with.

Article Source: http://www.search4allinfo.com

Ted Hastings has 35+ years of experience of IT and education. He is author of a textbook on Internet Safety Skills and writes a popular blog called Surf Safely. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

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