Social networks: Advantages and disadvantages Tugba Bastürk, Polina Urbanskaya, Kevin Makiadi, Deva Canatan HH610
Contents I. Introduction: What are social networks? II. Facebook as the most popular social network in Germany 1.) Short history, number of users 2.) Advantages 3.) Disadvantages and possible risks 4.) How to protect yourself from dangers III. Conclusion
What are social networks? - grouping of individuals into specific groups - like small rural communities or a neighborhood subdivision
Different social networks - Twitter - Wer-kennt-wen.de - MySpace - StudiVZ - Facebook - MeinVZ - Lokalisten.de - SchülerVZ
Facebook as the most popular social network in Germany - July 2011: more than 800 million active users
Facebook is the most used social network. About 50% of the users visit Facebook. Using of Facebook At least weekly At least monthly Seldomer Unknown No facebook using
User
Short history - Launched in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg - born on 14 May 1984 in White Plains, New York - studied psychology and computer science at Harvard University Cambridge
Advantages of social networks
- Fast communication - Direct communication Low costs Meet celebrities Be informed about your friends
- Share your experients (music, video etc.) - Keeping contact with family, friends and colleagues - Building new/ old friendships - Sharing interests and hobbies
Exchange with people around the world Employees are searched by companies (good profile) Can play games
Disadvantages of social networks
- Photos, comments etc. that we post will be forever on the Internet - Private is suddenly no longer private - Will be accessible to the general public - We spend a lot of time on PCs
- Cases of online mobbing (Cybermobbing) and stalking - Poorly regulated - Name, location, age etc. can be used to commit online crimes
Risks of a social networks
Cybercriminals can easily get private data Targeted attacks against the users For example: personalized spam and phishing attacks
Hacker infect the computers of users with viruses try to lure recipients with newsletters etc. to websites
- viruses and trojans are deposited on websites - potential employers might find information about you that is not appropiate (photos etc.)
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