Week 13 Web of Risks and Facebook: Where do you stand?

Here were the directions to the blog post on Facebook.

Blog Post 10 Directions

Find a credible article online regarding the dangers OR the benefits of having a Facebook account. You can also research a story of someone who was affected negatively by having a Facebook account (i.e., someone who was bullied on Facebook). Write two paragraphs.

1.      In Paragraph 1 include the author and title of the article and a brief summary of the contents. Make sure that your link to the article is live.

2.      In Paragraph 2 respond to the ideas presented in the article giving your opinion and support for your opinion.

3.      Be sure and have a catchy title for your post.

4.      Insert a graphic or embed a video into your post.

5.      Your post will be graded on the 5 Cs (clear, concise, complete, correct, and creative).

6.      This post will be worth 10 points.

     Here is a blog post by Anna Marie that I would like to showcase.

The dangers of having and using a Facebook account have become very dangerous to the privacy of its millions of users. In the article Five Hidden Dangers of Facebook the writers of CBSNews (http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-3480_162-6469373.html?pageNum=2&tag=contentMain;contentBody) explain the dangers of Facebook’s unexpecting users. The first danger is that the user's information is being shared with other third parties. The second danger of Facebook is that privacy settings are not as safe as they claim to be. The third point is that the ads displayed on Facebook can contain viruses. The fourth point is that your Facebook “friends” make the user vulnerable. This is because a person on Facebook that you are friends with can be hacked and send you damaging software. The fifth and final danger on the list is that people called scammers are creating fake profiles. A study showed that, “40 percent of all Facebook profiles are fake” if you have a Facebook that means that almost half of all your “friends” are fake. 

I believe that there are dangers in using Facebook, but any one who has an account has to have some knowledge of how risky Facebook is. It is also party the responsible of the Facebook user to make sure that they protect themselves on the social networking sites. One thing that people can do to protect themselves on Facebook is having a strong secure password. Also making sure that your profile is set to private so that only the people that you know can see the information that you post. Another tip is to not click on any ads that Facebook may be displaying. Most people know not to click on ads because they look like spam anyways. Also, educate your friends on how to be safe on Facebook so that they don’t make you more susceptible to viruses. Tell them to create a safe password and let them know that they need to keep their profiles private.  To protect yourself from people with fake profiles make sure that you watch whom you accept as friends. I personally have a Facebook account and I never add people who I don’t know.  If people are smart and safe about how they use Facebook, then they can avoid the five hidden dangers of Facebook.

    Here is the voting results for whether I should use FB in my virtual comp class or not in spring, 2012. 
     
    12 said YES. 5 said NO....4 didn't vote.