1. Social networking sites allow people to create new relationships and reconnect with friends and family. Increased communication, even online, strengthens relationships.
   
   
2. Social networking sites allow for creative expression in a new medium. They provide free messaging, blogging, photo storage, games, event invitations, and many other services to anyone with access to a computer and the Internet.
   
   
3. Social networking sites bring people with common interests together, offer exposure to new ideas from around the world, and lower inhibitions to overcome social anxiety. People who have a difficulty communicating in person are more comfortable interacting via the Internet.
   
   
4. 60 million Americans received help with major life issues (975 KB) (changing jobs, finding a new place to live, buying a car, and caring for someone with an illness) from people in their social networks in 2006. These people said social networking sites helped them connect with friends and experts who assisted in their decisions.
   
   
5. 59% of students with access to the Internet (950 KB) report that they use social networking sites to discuss educational topics including career and college planning, and 50% use the sites to talk about school assignments. Some parents and teachers say that using these sites helps students improve their reading, writing, and conflict resolution skills, learn to express themselves more clearly, and meet new and different kinds of students from around the world. [2]
   
   
6. Social media helps low-income kids become more familiar with computers and related technology. One study showed that nearly three quarters of children from poor households have profiles on MySpace or Facebook. By using these websites, they have learned how to edit and upload photos and videos, and have become experienced in using html code to personalize their profile pages. [3]
   
   
7. Studies have shown that being part of a social network has a positive impact, including increased quality of life and a reduction in the risk of health problems. They help improve stroke recovery, memory retention, and overall well-being. [4]
   
   
8. Internet users have larger social networks than non-users, and using social networking sites to maintain those relationships facilitates more face-to-face interaction. Internet users are augmenting their offline social networks, not replacing them. [5]
   
   
9. Social media can be a powerful tool for social change and an alternative to more traditional methods of communication. During the protests of the Iranian election in June 2009, protestors used Twitter to circumvent government control over phones and the media. Twitter was so important that the US State Department asked Twitter to delay a network upgrade that would have taken the website offline at a busy time of day in Iran. Twitter complied and rescheduled the downtime to 1:30 am Tehran time. The ability to remain anonymous helped protect people who were spreading information in real time.
   
   
10. To make social networking sites safer for children, the sites have minimum age requirements and default settings based on the user's age to protect children. MySpace, for example, requires users to be at least 14 years old, and the profiles of all users under the age of 16 are automatically set to "private" so they cannot be found during a general search.
    
    
11. Social media sites are expanding from general interest to more specific uses that benefit society. For example, sites have been created for medical purposes such as dealing with life altering diseases, alcoholism, drug addiction, weight loss, and autism. Social networking sites with a specific focus help introduce people to others who are dealing with similar issues and provide information, contacts, peer support, and encouragement.
    

1. Social networking sites entice people to spend more time online and less time interacting face-to-face. The sites offer many time wasting activities that supplant more productive activities. Teens spend an average of nine hours per week on social networking sites (950 KB) .
   
   
2. Teens growing up with these sites may not be aware that the information they post is public and that photos and text can be retrieved even after deletion. Consequences from over-sharing personal information include vulnerability to sexual or financial predators and lost job opportunities from employers finding embarrassing photos or comments.
   
   
3. Social networking sites have no way to verify that people are who they claim to be, leaving people vulnerable to solicitations from online predators who are able to mask their true identities. In Feb. 2009, MySpace identified 90,000 registered sex offenders with profiles on the site, while Facebook declined to reveal how many were present on its site. Even if the sites agree to remove sex offenders, they cannot identify all of them or stop them from creating new accounts. [6]
   
   
4. Social networking sites make cyberbullying, a type of bullying that occurs online, easier and more public than bullying through other online activities such as email and instant messaging. A 2009 study found that 17.3% of middle school students have been victims of cyberbullying. [7] Victims often experience a drop in grades, decreased self-esteem, and other symptoms of depression. [8]
   
   
5. The US Marine Corps banned the use of all social media sites on its networks because the sites are "a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries." [9] The entire Department of Defense is considering a ban on social networking sites because of concerns over security threats and potential computer viruses.
   
   
6. The use of social networking sites can cause personality and brain disorders in children, such as the inability to have real conversations, limited attention spans, a need for instant gratification, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and self-centered personalities. The fast pace of the sites may rewire the brain with repeated exposure because parts of the brain used for traditional, offline activities become underused. [10]
   
   
7. The hours per day of face-to-face socializing have declined as the use of social media has increased. People who use these sites frequently are prone to social isolation. Parents spend less time with their children and couples spend less time together even when they live in the same house, because they are using the Internet instead of interacting with each other. [11]
   
   
8. A 2007 study found that workers using Facebook in the office were costing Australian businesses up to $4.5 billion (US) per year. [12] A Feb. 2009 report stated that social networking sites were costing UK businesses an estimated $12.5 billion (US) annually. [13] Numbers for lost revenue from lower worker productivity when employees use social networking sites in the US are not available, but one study found that two-thirds of US workers with Facebook accounts access that site during work hours. [14]
   
   
9. A false sense of security may leave social networking site users vulnerable to security attacks such as hacking, leaking sensitive information, and sending viruses. People trust messages sent through social networking sites and consider them more legitimate than emails. However, social networks do not scan messages for viruses or phishing scams, while most email accounts do scan the messages for spam and viruses through antivirus software.
   
   
10. The public nature of online profiles creates security risks about which most users are unaware. Cybercriminals can gather information to be used for identity theft from social networking profiles, such as birthdays, pet names, mothers' maiden names, names of children, and other details often used in passwords and security questions. Offline crime may result from posting personal information, like home robberies committed after a person announces vacation plans and alerts criminals when the home will be left unattended.
    
    
11. Social networking sites were created to make money, not to improve peoples' lives. These websites use networks of online friends to accumulate data about people for the purpose of selling advertising. The sites place cookies on the users' computers, gather information, and track interests to show personalized ads. These advertising practices may constitute an invasion of privacy.

1. 43% of online sexual solicitors were identified as being adolescents (under 18), 30% were adults between the ages of 18 and 21, and 9% were adults over the age of 21 (as of Dec. 31, 2008).
   
   
2. Social networking and blogging sites accounted for 17% (about one in every six minutes) of all time spent on the Internet (180 KB) in Aug. 2009, nearly three times as much as in 2008.
   
   
3. Twitter was so important to the Iranian protests after the Iranian presidential election in June 2009 that the US State Department asked Twitter to delay a scheduled network upgrade that would have taken the website offline at a busy time of day in Iran. Twitter complied and rescheduled the downtime to 1:30 am Tehran time.
   
   
4. On Nov. 3, 2008, the day before the US presidential election, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had 2,379,102 Facebook supporters while Republican candidate John McCain had 620,359. Obama had 833,161 MySpace friends and McCain had 217,811. Obama had 384% more Facebook supporters and 383% more MySpace friends than McCain.
   
   
5. Russians spend more time on social networking sites than people in any other country, an average of 6.6 hours per month compared to the worldwide average of 3.7 hours per month.

Social networking sites, also called social media sites, are online communities that allow people to develop profiles of their backgrounds and interests, communicate with friends and strangers, and share thoughts, photos, Internet links, music, and more.

SixDegrees.com, which existed from 1997 to 2001, is considered to be the first social networking site because it was the first website that allowed users to create personal profiles and link to friends. Friendster, created in 2002, popularized social networking in the US before MySpace (2003), Facebook (2004), and Twitter (2006) took over as the most widely used social networking sites.

The popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn more than quadrupled from 2005 to 2009. 35% of adults and 65% of teens in America who use the Internet have profiles on social networking sites (245 KB) .

Facebook reports approximately 90 million users in the US and 300 million active users worldwide (as of Sep. 15, 2009), MySpace reports more than 32 million US users and 130 million worldwide (as of Aug. 4, 2009), and Twitter has an estimated 54 million users worldwide (as of Oct. 13, 2009). Users in the US spend an average of five hours and 46 minutes per month on Facebook. [15] Russians spend more time on social networking sites than people in any other country, an average of 6.6 hours per month compared to the worldwide average of 3.7 hours per month. [16]

As the sites become more popular, the user base is expanding from teenagers and young adults to include more people over the age of 50. Although Facebook began in 2004 as a site for college students, by Mar. 2009 one-third of its users worldwide were in the 35-49 age group, and one-quarter were older than 50 (2.7 MB) .

Social networking sites play a role in shaping the political landscape in an era called "Web 2.0," defined as a second generation of the Internet characterized by the more dynamic way in which people interact online compared to when the Internet first gained popularity. Presidential candidates in the 2008 election engaged potential voters with YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other social media. More than a quarter of US voters younger than age 30 (including 37% of those aged 18-24) said they obtained information about the political campaigns from social networking sites. [17] On Nov. 3, 2008, the day before the US presidential election, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had 2,379,102 Facebook supporters while Republican candidate John McCain had 620,359. Obama had 833,161 MySpace friends and McCain had 217,811. Obama had 384% more Facebook supporters and 383% more MySpace friends than McCain. [18]

In May 2009, the White House announced that it was joining Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace to meet President Barack Obama's call one week earlier "to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative." The Office of New Media was established with the goal of promoting communication, transparency, and participation online. When it was discovered in Sep. 2009 that the White House had begun collecting and storing information about people who post videos and comments on social networking sites, some people were worried about the invasion of privacy. The White House, however, stated that it was merely complying with the Presidential Records Act, which requires the preservation of all presidential records.

The growth of social networking sites is outpacing the development of rules, laws, and unofficial etiquette regarding their use. For example, Congressman Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) sent messages via Twitter announcing his whereabouts as he traveled through war zones during a Feb. 2009 trip to Iraq, giving rise to security concerns about the use of social media to post real-time locations. [19]  Businesses worldwide struggle with the decision of whether to allow access to social networking sites in the office for fear of lost revenue from decreased worker productivity and security breaches.

Illinois passed a law (550 KB) in Aug. 2009 banning registered sex offenders from using social networking sites with the goal of protecting children from online predators. However, a report from the Internet Safety Technical Task Force (2.7 MB) presented to the US State Attorneys General found that children are less vulnerable to online sexual predators than commonly thought and adults lying about their ages to initiate relationships with minors is a rare occurrence. 43% of online sexual solicitors were identified as being adolescents (under 18), 30% were adults between the ages of 18 and 21, and 9% were adults over the age of 21. The majority of predatorial encounters solicited online occur via chat rooms and instant messaging, not on social networking sites.

As social networking sites become more integrated in our modern culture, some people think that the benefits outweigh any downsides, while others believe the dangers are more pressing than any upsides.

We post pro, con, and not clearly pro or con comments in the approximate ratio that we received them. We sometimes edit comments for brevity, clarity, and spelling. We may also remove comments posted when we find better comments covering the same issues or for other good reasons.

1. "I strongly feel, and have thought about this for a long period of time, I am 100% against social networking sites. My reason for this is that there is no longer a need for human emotion, everything is now typed and LOLed. I have done a fairly small amount of research about human emotion and the brain. I can't find one thing that supports either of those through social networking. It is also forcing people to keep their heads down at their phone or at home behind a screen. I feel that because of that this generation will not be as productive as previous ones, not to mention a lack of respect towards important issues that could potentionally save a life or the world, etc. I can understand the side of pro, but I cannot agree with it. In my honest opionion I feel that these sites should be shut down and people should interact through voice or in person. Thank you for the oppurtunity to express my opinion."
   Matthew W., Feb. 15, 2010
   
   
2. "I have noticed an alarming amount of time wasted on Social Networking sites by otherwise intelligent people I know. It has become a bona-fide addiction for many, negatively affecting their family relationships and even their work. While these sites are a good way to keep in touch with people you don't see often, the damage is done because these counterfeit networks provide a 'semblance' of social relationships without any real substance, therefore they are a very poor substitute for true friendships. Sadly, most users refuse to realize there can be any harm until the damage has been done to their relationships, and it may be too late to correct it."
   Suzanne, Oct. 19, 2009

[None received as of Feb. 22, 2010]

Please take our short survey and give your opinion on whether or not you think social networking sites are good for society. We'd also like to know what you think of this "micro" site. At the end of the survey, please leave us a comment for posting in our Readers' Comments section above.

Footnotes:

1. Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, "Facts and Statistics," www.cmocouncil.org (accessed Oct. 7, 2009)
   
   
2. National School Boards Association, "Creating and Connecting: Research and Guidelines on Online Social - and Educational - Networking," nsba.org, July 2007
   
   
3. Christopher Intagliata, "Even Poor Kids Are Social Network Savvy," podcast, Scientific American website, June 26, 2008
   
   
4. Sharon Jayson, "'Flocking' Behavior Lands on Social Networking Sites," USA TODAY, Sep. 27, 2009
   
   
5. Pew Research Center, "The Strength of Internet Ties," www.pewinternet.org, Jan. 25, 2006
   
   
6. Nathan Olivarez-Giles, "More Sex Offenders Joined MySpace Than Previously Acknowledged," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 4, 2009
   
   
7. Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin, Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying, 2009
   
   
8. National Crime Prevention Council, "What Is Cyberbullying?," www.ncpc.org (accessed Oct. 5, 2009)
   
   
9. Marine Corps, "Immediate Ban of Internet Social Networking Sites (SNS) on Marine Corps Enterprise Network (MCEN) NIPRNET," www.marines.mil, Aug. 3, 2009
   
   
10. David Derbyshire, "Social Websites Harm Children's Brains: Chilling Warning to Parents from Top Neuroscientist," Daily Mail, Feb. 24, 2009
    
    
11. Aric Sigman, "Well Connected?: The Biological Implications of 'Social Networking'," Biologist, Feb. 2009
    
    
12. Andrew West, "Facebook Labelled a $5b Waste of Time," Sydney Morning Herald, Aug. 20, 2007
    
    
13. David Kelleher, "Social Networking at Work: Fear Not Facebook, MySpace and Bebo?," CIO.com, Feb. 17, 2009
    
    
14. Nucleus Research, "Facebook: Measuring the Cost to Business of Social Networking," nucleusresearch.com, July 2009
    
    
15. Adam Ostrow, "People Spend 3x More Time on Facebook Than Google," www.mashable.com, Sep. 17, 2009
    
    
16. Robin Wauters, "comScore: Russians Spend More Time on Social Networks Than the Rest of World," uk.techcruch.com, July 2, 2009
    
    
17. Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, "Internet's Broader Role in Campaign 2008," people-press.org, Jan. 11, 2008
    
    
18. Jeremiah Owyang, "Snapshot of Presidential Candidate Social Networking Stats: Nov 3, 2008," www.web-strategist.com, Nov. 3, 2008
    
    
19. Michael Falcone, "In Iraq: To Twitter or Not to Twitter?," New York Times, Feb. 9, 2009
    

Sources:

Steve Almasy, "Social Media an Inviting Target for Cybercriminals," www.cnn.com, Sep. 30, 2009

Danah M. Boyd and Nicole B. Ellison, "Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship," Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Oct. 2007

CNN, "Facebook Nearly as Large as U.S. Population," www.cnn.com, Sep. 16, 2009

David Deal, "Think Social Influence Marketing and Innovation During the Recession," www.superhypeblog.com, Feb. 10, 2009

Benny Evangelista "Twitter moving to larger SoMa office space," San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 13, 2009

Facebook, "Statistics," www.facebook.com, (accessed Sep. 15, 2009)

Kelly Jackson Higgins, "Report: Social Networking Phishing Attacks Up More Than 240%," www.darkreading.com, June 29, 2009

Audrey Hudson, "EXCLUSIVE: W.H. Collects Web Users' Data without Notice," Washington Times, Sep. 16, 2009

International Business Times, "'WhiteHouse 2.0' Embraces Social Networking," www.ibtimes.com, May 1, 2009

Ronald J. Levine and Susan L. Swatski-Lebson, "Are Social Networking Sites Discoverable?," Law.com, Nov. 13, 2008

Mike McKee, "MySpace Musings Aren't Private, Appeals Court Rules," Law.com, Apr. 6, 2009

Lisa Mercer, "Who Uses Social Networking Sites," socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com, July 29, 2009

Macon Phillips, "Change Has Come to WhiteHouse.gov," White House blog, Jan. 20, 2009

Noah Shachtman, "Marines Ban Twitter, Facebook, Other Sites," Wired, cnn.com, Aug. 4, 2009

State of Connecticut Attorney General's Office, "CT, NC Attorneys General Say MySpace Response to Subpoena Reveals 90,000 Registered Sex Offenders with Profiles," www.ct.gov, Feb. 3, 2009

Zephoria, "Doing the Math on MySpace and Registered Sex Offenders," www.zephoria.org, Feb. 6, 2009

[Editor's Note: Chat rooms and instant messaging (IM) are excluded from this discussion because they lack key characteristics of social networking sites, such as the ability to create profiles about backgrounds and interests, and to share thoughts, photos, Internet links, music, and more.]