What is social networking?

Social networking should be fun.  It allows people to stay in touch online, share fun moments, talk to their beloved and generally exchange personal content online.  There are a number of popular social networking websites including Facebook, MySpace and Bebo. They all let you communicate with friends and other online users in one way or another.

Risks

Social networking sites are rapidly becoming a huge target from preying cyber-criminals.  They are able to abuse the nature of these sites and gather personal information about its users - information that users themselves are making publicly available.  This is known as social engineering.  Social engineering is one of the first stages of many cyber-attacks related to identity theft.

These sites are very popular with young people and adults alike. For young people in particular social networking sites can bring together many of the risks associated with being online; online bullying, disclosure of private information, cyber-stalking, access to age-inappropriate content and, at the most extreme, online grooming and child abuse.

For adults there are serious risks too such as loss of privacy and identity theft. Adults too can be victims of cyber-bullying and stalking.

Protect your privacy

You can avoid these risks and enjoy social networking sites by following a few sensible guidelines:

• Don’t let peer pressure or what other people are doing on these sites push you into doing something you’re not comfortable with. Just because other people post their mobile phone number or birthday, doesn’t mean you have to.
• Be wary of publishing any identifying information about yourself. In particular things like: phone numbers, pictures of your home, workplace or school, your address, birthday or full name.
• Pick a user name that doesn’t include any personal information. For example, “joe_glasgow” or “jane_liverpool” would be bad choices.
• Set up a separate email account that doesn’t use your real name and use that to register and receive mail from the site. That way if you want to shut down your connection, you can simply stop using that mail account. This is very simple and quick to do using such providers as Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail. (Other services exist. See the DMOZ directory of free web-based mail services).
• Use a strong password.
• Keep your profile closed and only allow your friends to view your profile.
• What goes online stays online. Don’t say anything or publish pictures that might cause you embarrassment later. As a general rule, if you wouldn’t say it to your boss or your grandmother, don’t say it online.
• Learn how to use the site. Use the privacy features on the site you use to restrict strangers’ access to your profile. Be guarded about who you let join your network.
• Be on your guard against phishing scams.

For more information

• The Safe Social Networking site offers good advice on how to be safe while using social networking websites and portals.
• Bebo’s Safety centre.
• Myspace’s safety tips.
• Facebook’s privacy and security advice.
• For more advice on using social networking sites safely visit the ThinkuKnow site.