Youth Safety on the Social Web

Larry Magid & Anne CollierCo-directors

ConnectSafely.org

Revised 1/09© 2009 ConnectSafely.org

What is the social Web?

--Also known as ‘Web 2.0’--• User-produced, youth-driven• Multiple devices• Multimedia• Uploadable, downloadable• Difficult to control

Web 1.0 …

On Web 2.0...

-- Michael Kinsley, Slate.com, 11/27/06

“...everybody knows you’re a dog.”

Social networking is whatever…

…anyone wants it to be!

• Entertainment + socializing + homework help + media-sharing + creative outlet + friends’ latest news

• A place to learn digital-media skills

• A “hangout” on Web, phones, gaming

Today’s phones are full-blown mobile computers with...• Mobile social networking • Social mapping• Photo- & video-sharing• Web browsing• 24/7 texting• Even less adult supervision

Cellphones too

Majority of teens in social sites

• 65% of teens use social networks and create profiles (Pew/2009)

• 70% of 15-to-17-year-old girls• 48% of teens visit sites daily or more often; 26% visit

once a day22% visit several times a day

Source: Pew Internet & American Life survey

Not just MySpace & Facebook

YouTube, MyYearbook, Bebo, Hi5 & many niche social network sites

Ning: Allows users to create their own social networks, or mini-MySpaces. Allows porn (with splash page).

Twitter & Plurk: Micro-blogging - 140 characters or less. Kind of like blended chat & IM. Twitter mostly adults, Plurk a little younger.

Second Life & other virtual worlds: Users create avatars that interact in a virtual world.

Hulu: Fast-growing video-sharing site (153 million video streams, 9/08); popular for viewing whole shows online

And some are a bit more questionable….JuicyCampus Gossip site, total anonymity, no rules.…Stickam: Social video-streaming site with live webcam chat.

What are they doing in there?

Good or “normal”…

“Social producing” Learning social rules Decorating profiles (self-

expression) Exploring identity Writing blogs Writing software code

Risk assessment Discovering music Producing & editing

videos Discussing interests Social/political activism Keeping in touch with

friends long-term

What else are they doing in there?

Neutral or negative…

Seeking validationCompeting in a

popularity contestVenting Showing off

Embarrassing themselves

Pulling pranksGetting evenHarassing

The ‘Net effect’• Persistence & searchability: Net as permanent searchable

archive• Replicability: ability to copy and paste from anywhere, to

anywhere• Scalability: high potential visibility• Invisible audiences: you never know who’s watching• Collapsed contexts: different audiences hear & see different

things• Blurring of public and private: boundaries not clear

Source: danah boyd: Taken out of Context, 2008

Mostly for real-life friends

• 72% use sites to socialize with their real-life friends.

• Only a modest number (17%) of social-networking teens say they use the sites to flirt.

Source: Pew Internet & American Life surveyJanuary 2007

Teens do have a clue when it comes to safety & privacy

• 66% of teens who have created a profile say that their profile is not visible by all Internet users. They limit access to their profiles.

• 21% say their profile is not currently visible.• Just 1% of social-network users say they do

not know who can see their profile.

Source: Pew Internet & American Life surveyJanuary 2007

Are they careful about photos?

Yes and no (more on Web than on phones)• Cellphones: Reports of“sexting” (nude photo-

sharing) are growing• Web: 39% say they restrict access to their photos

“most of the time.” • 38% report restricting access “only sometimes.” • 21% of teens who post photos say they “never”

restrict access to the images they upload. (Online adults are more lax in restricting access.)

Source: Pew Internet & American Life surveyJanuary 2007

Teens are alive today, thanks to social-networking

sites…

Plan To 'Shoot Up' School FoiledJan 12, 2009: “Deputies in Transylvania County said they got a call from a sheriff's office in New York. A teenager there apparently came forward and said she met a 15-year-old on MySpace who said he had a dangerous plan.”

Question:What proportion of teens have been approached online by a

predator?

A. 1 in 20B. 1 in 10C. 1 in 7D. 1 in 5E. Almost half

It’s a trick question

What the surveys really said

The survey asked “Did you receive an unwanted sexual solicitation in the past year”

• The response went from 1 in 5 in 2000 to 1 in 7 in 2005. An improvement• 43% of all solicitations and 44% of aggressive solicitations came from youth• 39% of solicitors were adult but all but 9% of those were between 18 and 25• Two-thirds or more of the youth described solicitations as not particularly

distressing• The number of children actually molested went from none in 2000 to 2 (out of

1500) in 2005. It can happen, but it’s statistically very rare.

Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years LaterCrimes Against Children Research Center, 2006

Question

Do you agree that the growth in young people’s use of the Internet correlates

with a rise in sexual abuse against children?

10

15

20

25

1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004Rate

per

10,

000

Child

ren

(<18

)

Source: NCANDS / Finkelhor & Jones, 2006

51% Decline (during the period of the Web’s existence)

Answer: No

Confirmed cases of child sexual abuse

Deception rarely involved

• Victims are aware of the approximate age and sexual intentions of the adults who contact them.

• Only 5% of offenders pretend to be teens. • In some cases, the kids are being aggressive and

sexually suggestive and pose in ways to make themselves look older than they are.

--Janis Wolak, University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center (paraphrase, not exact quote)

What causes risk?

• Aggressive behavior in the form of making rude or nasty comments increased the odds of being victimized 2.3 times

• Frequently embarrassing others increased the risk almost 5 times

• Meeting people in multiple ways increased the odds 3.4 times• Talking about sex online with strangers doubled the risk• Engaging in multiple risky behaviors puts you at greatest risk• Posting personal information is not related to victimization

Source: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Feb 2007Ybarra, Mitchell, Finkelhor, Wolak

The kids most at risk online are those at risk

offline• Online risks are not radically different in nature or scope

than the risks minors have long faced offline.• Minors most at risk in the offline world continue to be most

at risk online.• The psychosocial makeup and family dynamics surrounding

a child are better predictors of risk than the technology used.

• Messages need to be tailored to the child. One-size-fits-all doesn’t work.

•

Source: Internet Safety Technical Task Force Report, January 2009

More likely risks

• Damaged reputation• Emotional hurt• Self-created child

porn• Negative validation• Defamation

• Impersonation• Permanent archive• Inappropriate content• PC security• Cyberbullying…

Cyberbullying• The risk that affects the most children• 2 separate studies: About 33% of US teens have

been harassed or bullied*• Online harassment (more common) vs. bullying• Cyberbullying: repeated aggression; associated

with real life; power imbalance• It’s more a developmental than a technology

problem

Sources: Patchin and Hinduja, 2006; Pew/Internet, 2007; Crimes Against Children Research Center, 2007

Signs of cyberbullying

• Loss of friends• Depression• Anxiety• Loss of sleep• Doesn’t want to go to school• Covers screen or turns off device when others

come into room*

*can also be a sign of an inappropriate online relationship

What to tell kids facing cyberbullying

• Don’t react (often the bully’s goal)

• Don’t retaliate• Block the bully• Save the evidence• Talk to a trusted adult

Keys to finding solutions• Understanding that the teenage brain is “a work in

progress” (brain takes up to 25 years to develop)

• What’s happening online is more about adolescent behavior/development than tech

• Net = amplifier, searchable archive, pretty permanent; User/producers have multiple invisible audiences

• Collaborative solution-making needed

To summarize

The social Web… • is good and bad for teens• is a fact of life - not going away• is user-driven (little control)

Social Web safety requires…• Growing understanding of benefits, risks• Multiple forms of expertise• Collaborative, long-term response• Targeting real risks not high-frequency, low-risk

behaviors

Thank you & please visit our forum at

www.ConnectSafely.org

Larry MagidCo-director, ConnectSafely.org

larry@connectsafely.org

Anne Collier,Co-director

anne@connectsafely.org