Social networks and integrity

The debate about integrity and social networks continues in Sweden, but surprisingly without much participation from Facebook. Maybe that’s why Facebook is looking to hire a Manager, Corporate Communications to:
– Protect and enhance the reputation of Facebook’s technologies and platform
– Educate users, analysts, journalists and bloggers about Facebook products and platform
– Drive positive coverage in the business and technology press

Helsingborgs Dagblad has digged deeper into the topic and reviewed the terms of use for a number of social networking sites, but without drawing any conclusions from the information. Read more in Swedish here.

Furthermore, ENISA, the European Network and Information Security Agency, recently presented a paper called Security Issues and Recommendations for Online Social Networks. In the paper the agency lists a number of potential threats that may arise for users of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) and suggests actions to address them:

• Recommendation 1.1 Encourage awareness-raising and educational campaigns
• Recommendation 1.2 Review and reinterpret the regulatory framework
• Recommendation 1.3 Increase transparency of data handling practices
• Recommendation 1.4 Discourage the banning of SNSs in schools
• Recommendation 1.5 Promote stronger authentication and access-control where
appropriate
• Recommendation 1.6 Implement countermeasures against corporate
espionage
• Recommendation 1.7 Maximise possibilities for abuse reporting and
detection
• Recommendation 1.8 Set appropriate defaults
• Recommendation 1.9 Providers should offer convenient means to delete data
completely
• Recommendation 1.10 Encourage the use of reputation techniques
• Recommendation 1.11 Build in automated filters
• Recommendation 1.12 Require consent from data subjects to include profile tags
in images
• Recommendation 1.13 Restrict spidering and bulk downloads
• Recommendation 1.14 Pay attention to search results
• Recommendation 1.15 for addressing SNS spam
• Recommendation 1.16 for addressing SNS Phishing
• Recommendation 1.17 Promote and research image-anonymisation techniques
and best practices
• Recommendation 1.18 Promote portable Social Networks
• Recommendation 1.19 on research into emerging trends in SNS
[Via Adam Erlandsson]

And while we are on the subject of Facebook, Anders Mildner, Sydsvenskan, earlier this week wrote an interesting piece about friends and “friends” on Facebook (in Swedish).

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7 rules for success in social media

Chris Willis has posted a presentation on the Hypergene media blog, that lists why some social media sites like Facebook are instant hits while others are not. He says that those who are successful have at least these 7 things in common:

They start with a compelling idea & simple solution.

They let people make their stuff better, more findable or entertaining.

They live by the Golden Rule – be nice to others.

They encourage lots of feedback.

They create “usable exhaust” – new things are created just by people doing stuff they want to do.

They let many groups form easily and quickly.

They recognize and encourage the good people in the network.

Further explanation can be found in this pdf, “We Media: How Audiences Are Changing The Future of News and Information”.

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MySpace is doing well despite Facebook

In spite of all the recent fuzz about Facebook, the indisputable No. 1 social networking site MySpace still has potential.

“The latest audience data show that it continues to expand faster than most top competitors except for Facebook, in a sign that there is more upside for the social networking heavyweight. News Corp. brass and Wall Street folks said MySpace has managed to boost its advertising rates and thereby profitability, making it less dependent on big future audience growth.”

MySpace’s unique audience in July was 61.3 million, (up 33 per cent year-over-year), three times larger than Facebook’s 19.5 million (up 129 per cent).

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Teens on social networks more often victims of cyberbullying

Pew Internet has a new study out about cyberbullying. Among other things it reveals that “32% of all teenagers who use the internet say they have been targets of a range of annoying and potentially menacing online activities – such as receiving threatening messages; having their private emails or text messages forwarded without consent; having an embarrassing picture posted without permission; or having rumors about them spread online.”

Girls are more often than boys being harassed online. And teens who are active on social networks have been bullied more often than those who are non-social network users (39% vs 23% have experience some form of cyberbullying).

However, worht noting is that Pew says that “most teens say that they are more likely to be bullied offline than online”. Full report here in pdf.

See also here – one in four Swedish bloggers have been harassed.

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Social networks a top news source for young people

WAN, the World Association of Newspapers, have published phase two of a research project about youth media behavior. The study, titled “Youth Media DNA” is a result of interviews with young people in 10 countries, among them Sweden.

Feedback from the respondents:

“…indicate that the importance of the social network as a disseminator of news and information is on the rise. Many participants in this phase listed “discussion with friends” as a top source for news and information, sometimes ranking higher than TV or newspapers. In particular, social networks appear to be key in spreading entertainment news for most young people.”

About user generated content, the study suggests:

“While most participants do not view video sharing sites like YouTube or blogs as credible first sources for news, many participants see them as channels for voicing opinion. In this sense, social networking and user-generated content sites can be seen as complements to their news and information experience.”

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Monkey business at Västerbottens-Kuriren

Yesterday Eniro bought Bubblare.se, today local Swedish daily Västerbottens-Kuriren announced that it had acquired 51 percent of Apberget.se (“Monkey Mountain”) for 10 MSEK. Apberget, which was launched in 2003, is a local community site with presence in four northern Swedish cities. It is aimed at the 12–25 age group and is currently one of the ten most visited sites in Sweden with 33 million page views per week.