Social networking sites (SNS)

What are they? allow users to build personal profiles users link their profiles to those of friends many allow the creation of new groups with shared interests users share images, clips, music and other multimedia content ever-changing range of features

Where did they come from? began with Classmates.com (1995) hundreds now available main English-language services are MySpace (200 million users), Facebook (39 million users), and Bebo (34 million users) sites are part of the net generation lifestyle

Who are the users? most are teens or young adults undergraduates are an important component primarily members of the mainstream, not specific sub-cultures minimal overlap with bloggers and Web- page creators

Why are they so popular? they allow users to maintain contact with old friends and find new ones used as dating sites individuals can use them to build or shape their personal identities share casual interests and be entertained

What do they offer institutions? enrichment of student life a source of social capital better learning environment marketing tool a source of prestige a means of surveillance

What are the disadvantages? many users are naïve and post inappropriate comments or photographs these can cause damage to personal reputations or career prospects potential damage to institutional reputations cyberstalkers and identity thieves

Questions to consider should institutions promote links to existing sites such as Facebook or MySpace? should they seek to create their own social spaces? what are legal issues if institutions build social spaces? if you build it, will they come?

Legal issues: copyright Section 112E of Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) carrier is not assumed to have authorised individual acts of infringement carrier must take reasonable steps to prevent infringement ACMA take-down notice regime

Legal issues: defamation No civil or criminal liability likely if provider was unaware of the content common law defence of innocent dissemination available ACMA take-down notice is the usual method of managing defamation

Legal issues: objectional content pornography, depictions of excessive violence or sexual violence instruction in crime, violence or drug use ICHs and ISPs are not required to actively review, monitor or classify the content hosted on their service. ACMA take-down notices

Legal issues: hate speech Racial Discrimination Act (Cth) 1975 Anti-Discrimination Act (NSW) 1977 no ACMA take-down requirement complaints-based procedures no real likelihood that universities could face criminal or civil sanctions

Legal issues: privacy unauthorised photographs of individuals at inopportune moments ubiquity of mobile phone cameras Australian law is unclear No tort of privacy (as yet)

Haven’t we been here before? SNS are no different from usergroups, bulletin boards and Web pages most institutions have policies to deal with student misbehaviour universities have been successfully managing student contributions to Facebook/MySpace for some time

Future of social spaces development of social spaces is user- driven widgets attracting a critical mass soon become standard features growing role of third-party developers and APIs increasing importance of interoperability

Widgets?

Roll your own? create an account at MySpace, as did Brooklyn College Library create your own sites using Ning, WetPaint or Elgg, as did Brighton University

If you do want to build your own ask yourself why you want to do this will students really use your social space. Be honest! don’t build it on the mere assumption that “If we build it, they will come” if you do, they probably won’t…

Why not re-engineer? not for the faint hearted requires programming knowledge but can be done using APIs as a base these are likely to become increasingly popular large number of firms in the market-place offering their services

Summary social sites are here to stay although their dangers are over-rated, institutions should not ignore the risks institutions have options: encourage student participation in existing sites or build their own but they need to think carefully about goals

End Thanks for listening! Please feel free to me with comments!