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Monday, November 5, 2007

Ethics of Social Networking

Mike Gunderloy of Web Worker Daily recently published "3 Problems with Social Networks," an article detailing issues that detract from the social networking experience. While Gunderloy admits that every social networking site has its own glitches and flaws, he points out that a little self-control can go a long way when you're publicizing yourself online. Here, I'll mesh WWDs tips with my own to help social networkers achieve the best online community experience possible.

There is such a thing as too many friends.
Scrutinize who you allow on your friends list. Limit spammers before they have a chance to get into your social networking world. When you receive a friend request, check out the user's profile before even considering approval. MySpace in particular has become a hub for the porn, music and other industries to spam people into their networks. MySpace offers the option of blocking all invites from bands and groups, but you can choose to personally screen these invites. And remember, social networking is not a popularity contest. The more friends you have does not add to your online reputation; as a matter of fact, it detracts from your appeal, IMHO.

Honesty is the best policy.
While it is important to create truthful profiles, it's not necessary to tell every last detail about yourself. A rule of thumb for online privacy is not publishing your full name and address, and don't provide contact information to people you don't want to contact you. Remember, anything you post online can be viewed by every person you add to your friends list or networks. Up-and-coming social network aggregators will provide a method of profile comparison. Google's OpenSocial is just the beginning. Soon, sites will utilize widgets to pool all of your social networking profiles. This is where it will be important for your MySpace profile to match your Facebook profile, and so on. This is just one other way Web2.0 is promoting more honest, intelligent, reputable community members.

Use applications.

I recommend using Mozilla Firefox, regardless of your web browsing needs. This comes along with the capability of adding personalized applications to further improve browsing. Firefox offers many applications that go hand-in-hand with today's social networking sites, such as Boost for Facebook and Delicious bookmarking, two applications that I personally use. And I can't possibly recommend any application without mentioning AdBlock and Flashblock, two add-ons that eliminate annoying advertisements that detract from any browsing experience. With all of the flash littering MySpace today, I'm overjoyed to have access to such add-ons.

Remain devoted to just a few sites.

I've attempted to hold down the fort on more than a few social networking sites, and unless you spend an ungodly amount of time online, it's quite difficult. Attempting to manage too many online profiles detracts from your presence on any one. I've managed to limit my social networking to a few sites with different purposes. I keep up with both MySpace and Facebook because I can keep in contact with different friends who use each program, but to be honest, I'd rather limit my social networking to just one of these. Tack on Last.fm, Delicious, and a few other utility-type services, and I'm socially maxed out. Limiting your online presence will also increase your enjoyment of these services. Social networking is a blast. It puts us in touch with old and new friends and helps us get a visual picture of ourselves. With the growth of Web2.0 and social networking, it is necessary that individuals learn the ethical rules of the online world.

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