Pew study finds teens limit social-networking data, access

SiliconValley.com

In a phone study conducted last October through November, 935 teens were surveyed on their use of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. The study reported that only 55% of teens ranging from twelve to seventeen-year-olds actually have online profiles, and of that percent only a third post their full names and email addresses. Moreover, younger teens seem to be staying away from the site, something the article attributes to the age requirements on the networking sites.

In response to this article, I was interested to learn how difficult it is to find someone who does not put their full name on their profile. Since Facebook is typically viewed as the safer of the two sites, I started there by creating a fake profile of an Amherst Regional High School student. Once you're in the network, you can search anyone in the HS, alum or current students. Of the results, only four of the first 150 did not put their full name; however, I was unable to find more information on those few people. On the other hand, people can be messaged directly on the site, and since it is very easy to join a network, it is up to the users not to respond to people they don't know.

It is my opinion that the results of this survey are a false attempt to make people believe that these sites are less concerning than they actually are, reporting that "teens, particularly girls and younger teens, have gotten the message about protecting themselves on social networks". Another article sent out in the BNA highlights email discussed how online predators are becoming increasingly vulgar, and the matter of increasing membership to these networks is thus an even more serious issue. The survey results were most likely skewed by the twelve-year-olds questioned, and it would be interesting to see the difference in statistics had the results been grouped by age or class year.