UK EMEA Lab Notes - January 2011 - Ian Hyndman

The pitfalls of social networking

Social networking sites are big at the moment. Almost everyone I know has at least one account - whether it’s Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or any of the multitude of other options. Social Networking sites are a fantastic idea and offer something to all types of users.

This new craze has allowed old friends who live on different sides of the world to get back in touch. Friends who live next door are, of course, even using them to chat instead of using the phone (or getting off the settee to visit).

While these sites have been provided by reputable companies who are doing all they can to ensure online safety, there are still dangers that everyone should be aware of when using social networking sites.

A vast number of social site users are more than happy to enter all their information into the ‘about you’ information fields on these sites. “I had to log in - it’s safe isn’t it?” Well, the new friend you made using that chat application last night can now see everything about you - name, address, date of birth, next of kin, etc. Incidentally, this is all the information needed to open a bank account; do other people really need to know all this about you?

A big problem that appeared a couple of years ago was that people were putting all this personal information on their profiles, then broadcasting upcoming family holidays through their status updates and were returning home to find they’d been burgled.
Identity theft is not the only pitfall. Malware has been specifically designed to exploit social networking sites. How many times have you had an email from your friends’ social network account asking if it really is you in the office party video?

Or perhaps a video link tells you that you require a Flash upgrade, but instead of installing any upgrade it installs the Koobface worm. The fun part about the Koobface worm is that it sends messages to all your contacts (making you very popular) as it tries to infect their systems as well.

It is not only individuals that can fall prey to the pitfalls of social networking, businesses have seen the problems too.

As people become more obsessed with social networking sites, gaming with their friends on Mafia Wars or Zombie applications, businesses have started to feel the strain. Employee productivity plummeted and the increased usage often strangled corporate bandwidth. Most companies have now banned these sites.

Social networking sites are not bad for companies per-se, they can be used as a great promotion and engagement tool.

Social networks have also caused their share of curly management issues; such as employees ringing in sick, and then update their Facebook status claiming to have the mother of all hangovers. Awkward if you’ve forgotten you added your boss as a friend.

All in all, social networking is a good thing – a great thing. It has opened up the internet and communication in a whole new way. The thing to remember is to always be mindful of what information you put out there for the world to see. While most people are mostly nice, there are others that will have ulterior motives and the internet offers enormous reach for those that are hunting.