What is Facebook?

One of the most popular social networking sites, Facebook allows anyone to share details about their lives with friends and other people with similar interests. It was once only open to high school and university students, but now anyone can use it. Unfortunately, this means that Facebook can also be used to find out a lot of information about its users—including information that probably shouldn't be widely known.

This graphic, based on a survey of Carnegie Mellon University students, shows the percentage of Facebook users who make various types of personal information public.

                                  (Source: Gross and Acquisti, 2005)

One thing we can tell from this chart is that almost half the students (40%) make their phone numbers public, and more than half (51%) give out their home addresses. Evidently they’re not too concerned about security issues.

How concerned should they be? One way to answer that question is to ask another: “Who might be looking at this data?” In New York State, the amount of personal information available on Facebook alarmed Attorney General Andrew Cuomo enough that he demanded that the site post stronger warnings to users, fearing that sexual predators could use the site to find victims.

Facebook profiles also have an embarrassment potential that can linger for many years. Photos posted during high-school can come back to haunt users: college admission boards today routinely scan Facebook for evidence of misbehaviours such as drinking or rowdiness, and major employers also use the site to screen job seekers. (A 2007 article in the Ottawa Citizen indicated that up to a third of the employers surveyed had rejected applicants based on what they found out about them online.)

Options and strategies

What can teachers and parents do to make Facebook a safe experience for young people?

• Educate youth about risks
  
  Young people need to understand that giving out personal information can be risky, because people they don't know might be viewing it. Even with the security measures offered by Facebook, all personal data can still be seen by anyone a user accepts as a “friend.” Just as earlier generations of children were taught not to talk to strangers, kids today need to know that only people they already know should be their online friends. And because things they post online today may affect them later in life, they should also learn to “think before they click.”
  
  
• Educate kids about security features
  
  Facebook does have some safety and privacy features that can make it a safer environment, but studies have shown that few users know about them, and fewer still use them. Profile settings allow users to control how much of their information is visible to friends and other Facebook members. A good rule of thumb for young people is to have their privacy settings set to “Only my friends”—meaning that only members of a pre-selected group can view that user’s profile.
  
  
• Educate parents

The best way for mom and dad to find out how much of their children's personal data is available on Facebook is to judge for themselves. Anyone with an e-mail account can join Facebook for free, and once they join they can check out how much information is there. They can also ask their kids how many of the people on their friends list they actually know in the real world.

Sources cited

"Experts: Young People Need To Be Aware of Consequences." NBC4. June 20 2006.

"Facebook Agrees to More Safeguards." Anne Barnard. New York Times. Oct 17 2007.

"The Perils of Facebook." Ann Cavoukian. Ottawa Citizen. Nov 3 2007

"Student Awareness of the Privacy Implications When Using Facebook." Tabreez Govani and Harriet Pashley. http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/fa05/tubzhlp.pdf (PDF)

"The Facebook and Privacy on Social Networking Sites." Ralph Gross and
Alessandro Acquisti.