A Serious Downside to Social Networks

This is the screenshot of my search of "hate" on Facebook.

If you go on Facebook and search the word "hate," you will instantly find 500 groups that hate certain things. Of course, 500 is just the minimum and there are certainly more than 500 different groups. The hate ranges anything from "I hate school" to "I hate it when people ask for extra paper in exams. WTF are you writing?!"

But then you look at the very extreme, and quite disturbing range of that spectrum. There are groups on Facebook and other social networking sites that promote hate, racism, terrorism, etc. for certain people, countries, businesses, practices, religion, you name it! The list is never-ending and it has become a serious concern for many people.

According to the article, "Hate speech infiltrates social networking sites, report says," (by Jesse Soloman) cyber-hate has become increasingly vast and wide-spreading. The Simon Wiesenthal Center for Tolerance released a report titled "Digital Terrorism and Hate 2010" saying that there are about "11, 500 hate-affiliated Web pages, a 20 percent jump from last year's study."

Some of these web pages include directions to computer hacking, bombmaking, etc. The problem is, is that it is difficult to know whether or not these web pages are legit, are if they are just talk. This is known as the "lone wolf effect." This effect alone is what makes social networks and other affiliated sites disturbing sometimes: You sincerely hope these groups are just simply expressing their opinion, but deep down inside, there is a small fear that perhaps the cyber-hate might potentially turn into reality.

What does your Facebook/Twitter say about YOU?

*Source: flickr.com

Lets take a quick quiz...

1. Do you have a Facebook?

If yes, please continue to the next question.

2. Do you identify your religion on your profile?

If yes, please continue.

3. Are you single?

If your answer was yes, then the study done by researchers from Stanford University's Psychology Department would be considered accurate.

Researchers Young, Dutta, and Dommetry did an experiment to study the relationship between the information Facebook users revealed on their profiles to their intentions in doing so (more specifically, whether or not they searching for a romantic partner).

The results?

Young, Dutta, and Dommetry found a statistical significance between these two variables. One of the significant patterns they discovered was that individuals who listed their religion, also tended to identify themselves as "single" as part of their relationship status. The researchers concluded that it is very likely that Facebook users (or users of other social networking sites) "paint a picture of themselves to potential partners," thus revealing more personal information about themselves on their profiles.

*Source: flickr.com

Still not convinced? Well, another study shows that narcissistic individuals are more likely to reveal more about themselves on their public profiles. Shocker right? Not really, but at least the researchers (Buffardi and Campbell of University of Georgia) found evidence.

Last, but not least, a research study was done by Orr, Sisic, Ross, Simmering, Arseneault, and Orr of the University of Windsor to examine shy individuals and their tendency to reveal themselves. The results were interesting to say the least, and certainly unexpected.

The researchers found that the more shy the individuals were, the more time they spent on Facebook. However, despite the fact that they spent more time on Facebook, these individuals had a significantly lower number of Facebook friends.

Of course, more research is being done considering that social networking, despite it supposedly being started hundreds of years ago, is still fairly new (computer and web-site wise). The lesson here is not to say that finding a potential partner or potential friends through social networks such as Facebook is a bad thing. Let's face it, we all seek potential relationships/friendships. But it is to simply be careful in revealing such intimiate details about yourself to the world.

If you would like more information on these studies, please click here for the article "The Psychology of Twitter, Facebook, and other Social Networking Devices."

Now if you will excuse me, I shall delete some of my "friends" on Facebook...

What does Evolution tell us about Social Networking?

I'm sure that before opening and reading my blog, you checked your current social network preference, whether it be Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or some other dominating social force. If I am wrong, then congratulations! You are one of the very few to do so!

*Source: flickr.com

But moving on to my point. I'll admit that one of the first things I do when I turn on my computer, is to check my Facebook, in hopes that I have a friend request, a message, a comment, or some other notification to remind me that I am still part of the social world we live in.

Why do I resort to such behavior? In fact, why is it that most of us resort to virtual reality rather than reality itself? According to "How social can we get?" social networking actually began during the early years of our evolution (when we were more like monkeys rather than humans). Social networking back then didn't involve computers, of course, but rather grooming as a way of communicating relationships.

*Source: flickr.com

According to anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, hierarchy was important among primates. The knowledge of relationships during this era was what Dunbar suggests was the "birth of gossip." This is why some people suggested that grooming was the "first social networking application." Once groupes or tribes began to increase in size, grooming eventually evolved to language, or spoken word. This evolutionary change has impacted our society immensely, and as Dunbar puts it, "We haven't stopped gossiping since."