Media Research

Research On Social Networking Sites Boon Or Bane For Adolescences

Project submitted to Mumbai University for the partial fulfillment of the studies for
the award of Bachelor’s degree of Arts in Mass Media

Submitted by:

Bhuvaneshwari S. Aiyyer

Under the guidance of:

Mrs.Bincy koshy

Department of Mass Media

Birla Institute of Technology and Management Studies

 DECLARATION

I, undersigned, declare that the project title “Effects of social

networking sites on adolescences” in partial fulfillment of subject:
Media Research is a record of work carried out by me under the
guidance of Mrs. Bincy koshy.

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 APPROVAL SHEET

This is to certify that the Research project is a genuine record of

studies carried, under the guidance of Mrs. Bincy koshy in partial fulfillment
of the requirement for Bachelors of Mass Media.

Signature:

Date of submission:

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my Research guide Mrs. Bincy. Koshy without
whose invaluable support and continuous guidance this project would have remained a pipe
dream. As per her initiation on me into this project and for her constant source of inspiration and
encouragement.
I would also like to thank my parents and my friends, who have stood by me whenever needed,
and without whose support this task would not have been accomplished.

I would like to thank all the people for co-operating with me and to provide their precious time
and necessary information regarding the project.

Above all, I would like to thank God for giving me the courage and strength to completed the
assigned task in the stipulated period of time.

Without the help and support of these people, this report would have been very difficult to
accomplish.

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TABLE OF CONTENT
o Title page I

o Declaration II

o Approval sheet III

o Acknowledgement IV

o Research methodology 06

o Brief on research 07

o Introduction to social networking site 13

o Emerging Trends in Social Networking: The Integration of Social Networks 17

o The growth of social networking sites 22

o Its advantages and dis-advantages 26

o Social networking and younger generation/adolescences 29

o How social networking sites act on adolescences/teenagers 32

o Case study analysis 36

o Social impact 39

o Conclusion 45

o Bibliography V

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According to research method:

Selection of a problem: Effects of social networking sites on adolescences /youngsters.

Formulation of problem: Is social networking site is a boon or bane for the

adolescences/youngsters.

Today, social networking (or online social networking) refers to a category of Internet
applications which help connect friends, business partners or other individuals over the
Internet. These web-based software applications are loosely referred to as online social
networks. This has led the younger generation to take active part towards it, where as it
has influenced a lot by the various techniques and features around it on the mind of
youngsters we can see that more of the internet is used by the young people i.e.
adolescences which has a adverse effects among them good even the bad.

Hypothesis: as social networking sites may be helpful in different aspects on the life of
adolescences but it has adverse effects if it is ill used where in most of the children
reveal a lot of personal details on their profiles which can easily be misused and their
personal details can harm them even much later in life, which even can lead to some
disaster in one’s life. There should be privacy protections placed and insist that the teen
uses them. For children under 16, that often means a private profile that can only be seen
by approved friends.

This report is based by using extensive primary and secondary research where a brief study on
adnan patarwala’s murder case and other relevant issues that are related to social networking site
are taken up to prove the hypothesis.

Data has been collected by the both the methods i.e. primary as well as secondary in primary:
interview and questionnaire methods have been taken to analysis the research topic. in secondary
method various websites and books have been referred to obtain the conclusion.

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Brief on research
Online social network sites like orkut and Facebook became common destinations for
young people throughout the country; young people were logging in, creating elaborate
profiles, publicly articulating their relationships with other participants, and writing
extensive comments back and forth. By many considered participation on the key social
network site, orkut, and essential to being seen as cool at school. While not all teens are
members of social network sites, these sites developed significant cultural resonance
amongst teens in a short period of time. Although the luster has since faded and teens are
not nearly as infatuated with these sites as they once were, they continue to be an
important part of teen social life. The rapid adoption of social network sites by teenagers
in India and in many other countries around the world raises some important questions.
Why do teenagers flock to these sites? What are they expressing on them? How do these
sites fit into their lives? What are they learning from their participation? Are these online
activities like face-to-face friendships – or are they different, or complementary? The
goal of this report is to address these questions, and explore their implications for youth
identities. While particular systems may come and go, how youth engage through social
network sites today provides long-lasting insights into identity formation, status
negotiation, and peer-to-peer sociality. To address the aforementioned questions, I begin
by documenting key features of social network sites and the business decisions that lead
to mass adoption, and then seek to situate social network sites in a broader discussion of
what I call “networked publics.” I then examine how teens are modeling identity through
social network profiles so that they can write themselves and their community into being.
Building on this, I investigate how this process of articulated expression supports critical
peer-based sociality because, by allowing youth to hang out amongst their friends and
classmates, social network sites are providing teens with a space to work out identity and
status, make sense of cultural cues, and negotiate public life. I argue that social network
sites are a type of networked public with four properties that are not typically present in
face-to-face public life: persistence, search ability, exact copy ability, and invisible
audiences. These properties fundamentally alter social dynamics, complicating the ways
in which people interact. I conclude by reflecting on the social developments that have
prompted youth to seek out networked publics, and considering the changing role that
publics have in young people’s lives.

Methodology and Demographics

The arguments made in this chapter are based on ethnographic data collected during the
study of media research on social networking site the term ethnography, I am primarily
referencing the practices of “participant observation” and “qualitative interviews. I have
moved between online and offline spaces, systematically observing, documenting, and

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talking to young people about their practices and attitudes. While the subjects of my
interviews and direct observations are primarily urban youth (ranging in age, sex, race,
sexuality, religion, ethnicity, and socio-economic class), I have also spent countless hours
analyzing the profiles, blogs, and commentary of teenagers throughout the. Although I
have interviewed older people, the vast majority of people that I have interviewed and
observed are of high school age, living with a parent or guardian. There is no good term
to reference this group. Not all are actually students (and that role signals identity
material that is not accurate). Vague terms like “youth,” “young people,” and “children”
imply a much broader age range. For these reasons, and in reference to the history of the
term “teenager” in relation to compulsory high school education, I have consciously
decided to label the relevant population “teenagers” even though the majority of
individuals that I have spoken with are 14-18. While strictly speaking, there are non-high
school age individuals in this category, the vast majority of them are; I will focus
primarily on that group. In examining the practices of teenagers on social network sites, I
focus primarily on Facebook, orkut and some other social networking the main
destination site for teenagers, I use this site because its mass popularity offers critical
insight into participation patterns that do and will exist on other sites. Although news
media give the impression that all online teens in the India are on Facebook or orkut, this
is not the case. For this reason, I want to take a moment to discuss who is not
participating. Qualitatively, I have found that there are two types of non-participants:
disenfranchised teens and conscientious objectors. The former consists of those without
Internet access, those whose parents succeed in banning them from participation, and
online teens that primarily access the Internet through school and other public venues
where social network sites are banned. Obedient teens who have respected or agree with
their parents’ moral or safety concerns, marginalized teens who feel that social network
sites are for the cool kids, and other teens who feel as though they are too cool for these
sites. The latter two explanations can be boiled down to one explanation that I heard
frequently: “because it’s stupid.” While the various conscientious objectors may deny
participating, I have found that many of them actually do have profiles to which they log
in occasionally. I have also found numerous cases where the friends of non-participants
create profiles for them. Furthermore, amongst those conscientious objectors who are
genuinely non-participants, I have yet to find one who does not have something to say
about the sites, albeit typically something negative. In essence, facebook is the civil
society of teenage culture: whether one is for it or against it, everyone knows the site and
has an opinion about it. Interestingly, I have found that race and social class play little
role in terms of access beyond the aforementioned disenfranchised population. Poor
urban black teens appear to be just as likely to join the site as white teens from wealthier
backgrounds – although what they do on there has much to do with their level of Internet
access. Those who only access their accounts in schools use it primarily as an
asynchronous communication tool, while those with continuous nighttime access at home
spend more time surfing the network, modifying their profile, collecting friends, and
talking to strangers. When it comes to social network sites, there appears to be a far
greater participatory divide than an access divide. Gender appears to influence

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participation on social network sites. Younger boys are more likely to participate than
younger girls (46% vs. 44%) but older girls are far more likely to participate than older
boys (70% vs. 57%). Older boys are twice as likely to use the sites to flirt and slightly
more likely to use the sites to meet new people than girls of their age. Older girls are far
more likely to use these sites to communicate with friends they see in person than
younger people or boys of their age.10 while gender differences do exist and should not
be ignored, most of what I discuss in this article concerns practices that are common to
both boys and girls. Fundamentally, this chapter is a case study based on ethnographic
data. My primary goal is simply to unveil some of the common ways in which teenagers
now experience social life online The Making of Social Network Sites Although a
handful of sites predated it, Friendster popularized the features that define contemporary
social network sites – profiles, public testimonials or comments, and publicly articulated,
traversable lists of friends. Launched in 2002 as a newfangled dating site, Friendster
quickly became popular amongst mid 20/30- Although some used the site for its
intended purpose of meeting potential partners, others engaged in a wide array of
activities, ranging from meeting till dating. A symbiotic relationship between bands and
fans quickly emerged on the system as bands wanted to gather fans and fans wanted to be
connected to their favorite bands. Given the degree to which youth are active participants
in music subcultures, it is not surprising that facebook attracted young fans. While the
first wave of young participants learned of the site through their interest in music and
musicians, they also invited their less musically engaged peers to join the site. Many
began participating because of the available socially and the opportunity to craft a
personal representation in an increasingly popular online community. Just like their older
counterparts, teenagers loved the ability to visualize their social world through the
networked collection of profiles. At the same time, younger participants adopted different
participation strategies from those of earlier, older participants. While many adults find
value in socializing with strangers, teenagers are more focused on socializing with people
they knew personally and celebrities that they adore. By mid-2005, orkut was a popular
destination for high school students throughout the Country but still teenagers from other
countries were on a variety of other social network sites. Friendster had lost its grip on
20/30-something urbanites but it had become popular amongst teenagers in Singapore,
Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Social network sites like Orkut and Hi5, which
were initially popular among adults in Brazil and India, began attracting the attention of
younger audiences in those countries. Facebook, a United States site for college students,
opened its door to high school students in September 2005. In other regions, new social
network sites were launched explicitly to attract the attention of teens. Sites like
Tagworld, Bebo, Piczo, Faceparty, and Mixi all launched with youth in mind and took off
in places like the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan. Pre-existing
community sites like Black Planet, Asian Avenue, and MiGente implemented social
network site features, although this did not help them regain the teens that they had lost to
MySpace. In China, an instant messaging service called QQ added social network site
features, as did the popular Korean community site Cyworld; both are popular across all
age groups in China and South Korea. Most of the social network sites were brewed by

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venture-backed startups but there are a few exceptions to this. Cyworld is a property of
SK Telecom, the largest mobile phone operator in South Korea. Orkut began as a side
project by a Google employee but, shortly before launch, Google decided to attach their
name to the site so that it launched as a Google project. Microsoft, Yahoo!, AOL, and
Wal-Mart have all created social network sites but none have been particularly
successful. In 2005, Fox Interactive Media (a division of Murdoch’s News Corporation)
purchased MySpace for US $580M. Unfortunately, not much is currently known about
the long-term effects of corporate participation in social network sites. Of course, broader
concerns about consumerism’s relationship to agency14 in online participation are
completely applicable to social network sites. While there are dozens of social network
sites, participation tends to follow cultural and linguistic lines. Few sites successfully
support groups from different nation-states, although Orkut is popular in both India and
Brazil, Cyworld has large audiences in China and South Korea, and MySpace is trying to
grow globally. Cyworld has completely separate domains that segregate the Koreans
from the Chinese. On Orkut, they share the site but the Indians and Brazilians barely
interact with one another. Furthermore, the Indian participants have segmented
themselves within the system along caste lines.15 Even on MySpace where there is a
strong American culture, there is an intense division along race and age lines. While
cultural forces clearly segment participation, there are many structural similarities across
the sites. Fundamentally, social networks sites are a category of community sites that
have profiles, friends, and comments.

Profiles, Friends, and Comments

Social network sites are based around Profiles, a form of individual (or, less frequently,
group) home page, which offers a description of each member. In addition to text,
images, and video created by the member, the social network site profile also contains
comments from other members, and a public list of the people that one identifies as
Friends within the network. Because the popularized style of these sites emerged out of
dating services, the profile often contains material typical of those sites: demographic
details (age, sex, location, etc.), tastes (interests, favorite bands, etc.), a photograph, and
an open-ended description of who the person would like to meet. Profiles are constructed
by filling out forms on the site. While the forms were designed to control the layout of
the content, MySpace accidentally left open a technological loophole and their forms
accepted (and then rendered) HTML and CSS code. Capitalizing on this
loophole,participants can modify the look and feel of their profiles. By copying and
pasting code from other websites, teens change their backgrounds, add video and images,
change the color of their text, and otherwise turn their profiles into an explosion of
animated chaos that resembles a stereotypical teenagers’ bedroom. The default profile is
publicly accessible to anyone, but most social network sites have privacy features that
allow participants to restrict who can see what. For example, MySpace allows
participants to make their profiles Friends-only (and sets this as the default for those who
indicate they are 14 or 15 years old) while Facebook gives profile-access only to people

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from the same school by default. After creating a profile, participants are asked to invite
their friends to the site by supplying their email addresses. Alternatively, they can look at
others’ profiles and add those people to their list of Friends. Most social network sites
require approval for two people to be linked as Friends. When someone indicates another
as a Friend, the recipient receives a message asking for confirmation. If Friendship is
confirmed, the two become Friends in the system and their relationship is included in the
public display of connections on all profiles. This display typically involves photos and
nicknames that link to their profile. By clicking on these links, visitors can traverse the
network by surfing from Friend to Friend to Friend. In addition to the content that
members provide to create their own profiles, social network sites typically have a
section dedicated to comments by Friends. (On Friendster, this section is called
Testimonials; on Facebook, it is called The Wall.) Because Friendster implemented this
feature to encourage people to write testimonials about their friends for strangers to read,
early adopters used this feature to write single messages about the person represented in
the profile. Over time, reciprocity motivated people to write creative testimonials back
and forth, creating a form of conversation; 19 this was particularly popular amongst
people using Friendster for playful activities. For example, a profile representing table
salt wrote long love odes about pepper on the profile representing pepper reciprocated
and this went back and forth for weeks. As teenagers began joining Friendster, they also
used this section to write to the profile owner, even though the testimonials were public.
When MySpace implemented the same feature and called it Comments instead of
Testimonials, writing to the person became status quo, particularly amongst younger
participants. By doing this, teens are taking social interactions between friends into the
public sphere for others to witness. Although many sites include other common
features20, the practices that take place through the use of the most prevalent three –
profiles, friends and comments - differentiate social network sites from other types of
computer-mediated communication. Furthermore, what makes these three practices
significant for consideration is that they take place in public: Friends are publicly
articulated, profiles are publicly viewed, and comments are publicly visible. This can be
harmful to the teenagers using it without knowing its ill-effects where in one can easily
depict the information of other through the profile.
The aim of this study was to investigate the consequences of friend networking sites (e.g.,
Orkut, Friendster) for adolescents’ self-esteem and well-being. We conducted a survey
among 50 adolescents (10- to 19-year-olds) that had an online profile (i.e., a homepage
including self-descriptions and photos) on a Dutch friend networking site. Using
structural equation modeling, we found that the frequency with which adolescents used
the site had an indirect effect on their self-esteem and well-being. The use of the friend
networking site stimulated (a) the number of relationships formed on the site, (b) the
frequency with which adolescents received feedback on their profiles, and (c) the tone
(i.e., positive vs. negative) of this feedback. Positive feedback on the profiles enhanced
adolescents’ self-esteem and well-being, whereas negative feedback decreased their self-
esteem and well-being.

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 Friend Networking Websites and their Relationship to Adolescents’ Well-being and
Self-Esteem The opportunities for adolescents to form and maintain relationships on the
Internet have multiplied in the past few years. Not only has the use of Instant Messaging
increased tremendously, but also Internet-based social networking sites are rapidly
gaining prominence as a venue to establish relationships. Social networking sites differ in
the types of relationships they focus on. There are dating sites, like Match.com, whose
primary aim is to help people find a partner. There are common interest networking sites,
like Bookcrossing.com, whose aim is to bring people with similar interests together. And
there are friend networking sites, like Orkut and Friendster, whose primary aim is to
encourage members to establish and maintain a network of friends. This study
specifically focuses on friend networking sites. Given the recent worldwide proliferation
of such sites and the ever-expanding numbers of adolescents joining up, these sites
presumably play an integral role in adolescent life. Friend networking sites are usually
open or semi-open systems. Everyone is welcome to join, but new members have to
register and sometimes the sites only allow members if they are invited by existing
members. Members of the sites present themselves to others through an online profile,
which contains self-descriptions (e.g., demographics, interests) and one or more pictures.
Members organize their contacts by giving and receiving feedback on one another’s
profiles (e.g., on their physical appearance and self-descriptions). This feedback is often
publicly accessible and published along with the profiles. The aim of this study is to
investigate the consequences of friend networking sites for adolescents’ self-esteem and
well-being. Although friend networking sites have become tremendously popular among
adolescents, there is as yet no research that specifically focuses on the uses and
consequences of such sites. This is remarkable because friend networking mainly
emphasis on the adolescences and youth

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Introduction

Chapter-1

What Is Social Networking?

Social Networking - perhaps you've heard of it before, but are not quite sure what it
means. The 21st Century is said to be the Reign of
Computers and Internet. Internet is like “Aladdin Ka
Chirag” from which we can ask for anything and our
demand will be fulfilled, but there is no barrier of only
“Three Wishes”. Today, with the ever modernizing world,
the Internet is proving to be a very useful tool for those who
don’t have time from their work, for those who want to keep
pace with the world.

Social networking web-sites are the latest phenomenon on the Internet. As far as
popularity is concerned, social networking web-sites may be compared to Reality
TV. (Everybody has experienced Reality TV programming, which has become an
essential ingredient of mainline TV. Today we can even find Reality TV channels
which are dedicated to reporting crime on a real-time basis.)

The similarities continue. Like Reality TV, content for social network sites costs
less to produce. And like Reality TV, the viewer / user has a significant role to
play in content generation.

Social Networks: The Classical Definition

The term "social network" was first used in 1954 by J.A.Barnes (Class &
Committees in a Norwegian Island Parish). Here's a classic definition of social
network (taken from Wikipedia & other sources) :

A social network is structure made of nodes which are generally individuals

or organizations - the network indicates the ways in which the nodes are connected
through various social familiarities ranging from the casual to the close, including
familial bonds.

Social network analysis (a.k.a. network theory) is a key technique in sociology,

anthropology & organizational studies. Social networks operate on many levels,
starting from extended families and going up to the level of nations.

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 Social networks play an important role in solving problems,
running organizations and achieving goals in general.

Social Networks Redefined

Today, social networking (or online social networking) refers to a category of
Internet applications which help connect friends, business partners or other
individuals over the Internet. These web-based software applications are loosely
referred to as online social networks.

Social networking is gaining popularity everyday! Apart from dedicated social

networking sites, most portals are expected to host social networking features.

That social networking web-sites are popular would be an understatement!

Here's a list of the no. of visitors to a few leading social networking sites
The undisputed No. 1 social networking site MySpace (recently acquired by News
Corp), is the obvious favourite among today's youth. MySpace topped the growth
list with a year-on-year growth rate of 367%, translating to 38 million unique
users.
Blogger (owned by Google Inc.) grew by 80% to touch 18 million visitors. While
Classmates Online which grew by 10 % to 13 million visitors.

And although You Tube & Microsoft's MSN Groups saw a 14 % fall in visitors,
they still attracted more than 12 million & 10 million visitors.

Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups, like small rural
communities or a neighborhood subdivision, if you will. Although social networking is
possible in person, especially in the workplace, universities, and high schools, it is most
popular online. This is because unlike most high schools, colleges, or workplaces, the
internet is filled with millions of individuals who are looking to meet other people, to
gather and share first-hand information and experiences about any number of topics . . .
from golfing, gardening, developing friendships and professional alliances. In each
profiles users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles
to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by
city, workplace, and school or college. The website's name stems from the colloquial
name of books given at the start of the academic year by university administrations with
the intention of helping students to get to know each other better.

When it comes to online social networking, websites are commonly used. These websites
are known as social sites. Social networking websites function like an online community
of internet users. Depending on the website in question, many of these online community
members share common interests in hobbies, religion, or politics. Once you are granted

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access to a social networking website you can begin to socialize. This socialization may
include reading the profile pages of other members and possibly even contacting
them. The friends that you can make are just one of the many benefits to social
networking online. Another one of those benefits includes diversity because the internet
gives individuals from all around the world access to social networking sites. This means
that although you are in the India, you could develop an online friendship with someone
in U.S. Not only will you make new friends, but you just might learn a thing or two about
new cultures or new languages and learning is always a good thing.

social network is a social structure made of individuals (or organizations) called "nodes,"
which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as
friendship, kinship, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of
beliefs, knowledge or prestige.

Social network analysis views social relationships in terms of network theory consisting
of nodes and ties. Nodes are the individual actors within the networks, and ties are the
relationships between the actors. The resulting graph-based structures are often very
complex. There can be many kinds of ties between the nodes. Research in a number of
academic fields has shown that social networks operate on many levels, from families up
to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are
solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals succeed in achieving
their goals.

In its simplest form, a social network is a map of all of the relevant nodes between all the
nodes being studied. The network can also be used to measure social capital -- the value
that an individual gets from the social network. These concepts are often displayed in a
social network diagram, where nodes are the points and ties are the lines.

A social network service focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social
relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities. A social network
service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social
links, and a variety of additional services. A Most social network services are web based
and provides means for users to interact over the internet, such as e-mail and instant
messaging. Although online community services are sometimes considered as a social
network service in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-
centered service whereas online community services are group-centered.

The main types of social networking services are those which contain category places
(such as former school-year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with
self-description pages) and a recommendation system linked to trust. Popular methods
now combine many of these, with Facebook, Bebo and Twitter, Orkut widely used
worldwide. There have been some attempts to standardize these services to avoid the

15
need to duplicate entries of friends and interests but this has led to some concerns about
privacy. A social network service focuses on building and reflecting of social networks
or social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities. A social
network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile),
his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. A Most social network services
are web based and provides means for users to interact over the internet, such as e-mail
and instant messaging. Although online community services are sometimes considered as
a social network service in a broader sense, social network service usually means an
individual-centered service whereas online community services are group-centered.

There have been some attempts to standardize these services to avoid the need to
duplicate entries of friends and interests.

Although some of the largest social networks were founded on the notion of digitizing
real world connections, many other networks as seen in the List of social networking
websites focus on categories from books and music to non-profit business to motherhood
as ways to provide both services and community to individuals with shared interests
among the young minds.

As mentioned, social networking often involves grouping specific individuals or

organizations together. While there are a number of social networking websites that focus
on particular interests, there are others that do not. The websites without a main focus are
often referred to as "traditional" social networking websites and usually have open
memberships. This means that anyone can become a member, no matter what their
hobbies, beliefs, or views are. However, once you are inside this online community, you
can begin to create your own network of friends and eliminate members that do not share
common interests or goals.

As there are dangers associated with social networking including data theft and viruses,
which are on the rise. The most prevalent danger though often involves online predators
or individuals who claim to be someone that they are not. Although danger does exist
with networking online, it also exists with networking out in the real world,
too. Just like you're advised when meeting strangers at clubs and bars, school,
or work -- you are also advised to proceed with caution online. By being aware
of your cyber-surroundings and who you are talking to, you should be able to
safely enjoy social networking online. It will take many phone conversations to
get to know someone, but you really won't be able to make a clear judgment until you can
meet each other in person. Just use common sense and listen to your inner voice; it will
tell you when something doesn't feel right about the online conversations taking place.

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Chapter-2

Emerging Trends in Social Networking:

The Integration of Social
Networks

Social networking sites are a growing phenomenon partly

due to the way in which they increase the efficiency of
users’ communication. Posted for the masses are members’
personal profiles that may take the form of text, images,
and music for other members to enjoy, comment on, and
share. Users can be social at the time of their choosing,
independent of the initiating communicator. The one-on-one communication of email,
text messaging, and phone is outpaced considerably by social networking platforms.

Friend Connect hopes to become the product that anchors all major social networking
websites together.

Internet conglomerate Google has staked its claim to a prime piece of social networking
real estate with the creation of Google Friend Connect. Google Friend Connect intends to
do exactly what their name states– connect. Friend Connect aims to bring the built-in
functionality of interactive social websites to any website owner. Friend Connect
promises to be more than simply another flat social networking site; Google designed
Friend Connect as a forum that allows for any single website to become a hub for social
networking or, at the least, to utilize features and applications that were previously
exclusive only to typical social networking sites already in existence. Additionally,
Friend Connect hopes to become the product that anchors all major social networking
websites together.

Sites like MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn are distinct entities in and of themselves.
Users can interact with other users on each specific website– creating the need for
separate names, passwords, and accounts. Social networking sites have varying degrees
of diversity among their demographic. Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of
comScore Media Metrix, a company that measures internet audiences for advertisers, has
stated that “MySpace has the broadest appeal across age ranges, Facebook has created a
niche among the college crowd, Friendster attracts a higher percentage of adults, and

17
Xanga is most popular among younger teens.” LinkedIn is geared towards professionals,
seeking to forge personal and professional connections. With Friend Connect, Google
hopes to interconnect the preexistent social networking websites while introducing social
networking aspects to other less traditional “social” sites.

Users of existing social networking sites may find it refreshing to sneak outside of the
walled garden created by the early oligopoly of the social networking industry. With
Google Friend Connect, they will be able to check out photos on Facebook, comment on
a friend’s LinkedIn updates, check out a YouTube video, and read their pal’s latest
MySpace blog– with the use of only one username and password, under one account.

Web site owners, as well, may find Friend Connect useful. By simply adding a snippet of
HTML code into their website, they can gain features such as bulletins, blogs, message
posting, video sharing, and more. Musicians can share music through applications such as
iLike, and freelancers can blog to their friends on multiple sites at one time.

According to Google, the Google Friend Connect will allow website owners to “insert
social features to make any app, any site, any friends, and a reality.” A May 12th, 2008
press release announcing the preview of Google Friend Connect states that visitors of
“any site using Google Friend Connect will be able to see, invite, and interact with new
friends.”

So how does an application such as Google Friend Connect

break down barriers and engage users? It encourages users
to interact across the internet, and not just on one specific
website or another. It can drive up traffic across the
internet, and increase actual interaction with website coders
doing little work on their part. Google Friend Connect
strives to shy away from the static version of the existing
social networking sites.

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.com thinks that

regardless of the Google Friend product, users will eventually gravitate toward the one
site that they like the best. So how will Google Friend be effective in their long-term
goals?

One way is to bring on partners. MySpace, for example, partners with Twitter, eBay,
Yahoo, and PhotoBucket. Facebook is partnered with Digg, among others. Google has
partnered with smaller social networks like Plaxo and orkut, and have incorporated
Google Talk, as well– but they have yet to announce any impressive partners for the
Google Friend Connect product. Google has launched not only Google Friend Connect

18
but also Data Availability and Facebook Connect– all products aimed to securely send
personal data to third party applications.

Google formally introduced Friend Connect to the world on May 12th with a preview.
The official website (www.google.com/friendconnect) is still in “preview” mode but lists
five example sites that employ Google Friend Connect gadgets. An educational Bible
quiz site, indeed rock band My First Earthquake’s site, musician Ingrid Michelson’s site,
a guacamole cooking site, and a filmmaker’s site are functioning examples of the Google
Friend Connect tools that can integrate users across the web.

Integration of sites over the World Wide Web is one of the main goals– and Google
promises a lot more to websites. Whether Google will succeed with its objectives remains
to be seen. Typically, users are wary of websites that store personal data or give their
information to third-party companies. While Google promises that Friend Connect users
are in charge of what is shared, and that Google does not permanently store any user data,
the layman may still be suspicious. Although Friend Connect only reads a very small
amount of data from one social networking site to the next– it may still enough to make
some new users nervous.

However, veterans of sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and the like, are already
accustomed to the concept. Facebook has a history of using applications to appeal to
users while simultaneously incorporating third-party websites. MySpace just recently
started doing the same. Social networking sites rely on traffic and advertising for their
revenue– so integration of them might be key. MySpace users– the core demographic
being the high school through twentysomething crowd– are used to subtle advertising
along the interface. With the addition of applications and the future possibility of
incorporating Google Friend Connect, MySpace users may be exposed to worlds beyond
the realm of their space.

While Google has virtually monopolized the world of online searching, Facebook and
MySpace are giants in the world of social networking. Facebook’s value is estimated on a
high end at 15 Billion, based on Microsoft’s investment $240 million for a 1.6 percent
stake in it. MySpace was sold to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for $580 million in
2006 but is now estimated to have a value of about $6 billion, depending on who you ask
and various valuation methods. LinkedIn, with its 20 million users is valued at close to $1
billion, having recently raised 53 million in funding.

Google does own social networking sites– the aforementioned Plaxo and orkut– and the
idea of developing a unique approach is not a new concept to Google. In August of 2008,
Google signed a deal with MySpace for advertising and to be MySpace’s official search
engine. With the upcoming introduction of products like Facebook Connect and Google
Connect, the World Wide Web’s social networks will become increasingly integrated. As

19
the increase in popularity of social networking is on a constant rise,new uses for the
technology are constantly being observed.

At the forefront of emerging trends in social networking sites is the concept of "real time"
and "location based." Real time allows users to contribute content, which is then
broadcasted as it is being uploaded - the concept is similar to live television broadcasts.
Twitter set the trend for "real time" services, where users can broadcast to the world what
they are doing, or what is on their minds within a 140 character limit. Facebook followed
suit with their "Live Feed" where users' activities are streamed as soon as it happens.
While Twitter focuses on words, Clixtr, another real time service, focuses on group photo
sharing where users can update their photo streams with photos while at an event. Friends
and nearby users can contribute their own photos and comments to that event stream, thus
contributing to the "real time" aspect of broadcasting photos and comments as it is being
uploaded. In the location based social networking space, foursquare gained popularity as
it allowed for users to "check-in" to places that they are frequenting at that moment.
Gowalla is another such service which functions in much the same way that Foursquare
does, leveraging the GPS in phones to create a location based user experience. Clixtr,
though in the real time space, is also a location based social networking site since events
created by users are automatically geo-tagged, and users can view events occurring
nearby through the Clixtr iPhone app. Recently, Yelp announced its entrance into the
location based social networking space through check-ins with their mobile app; whether
or not this becomes detrimental to Foursquare or Gowalla is yet to be seen as it is still
considered a new space in the internet technology industry. One popular use for this new
technology is social networking between businesses. Companies have found that social
networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are great ways to build their brand image.
According to Jody Nimetz, author of Marketing Jive, there are five major uses for
businesses and social media: to create brand awareness, as an online reputation
management tool, for recruiting, to learn about new technologies and competitors, and as
a lead gen tool to intercept potential prospects., These companies are able to drive traffic
to their own online sites while encouraging their consumers and clients to have
discussions on how to improve or change products or services.

One other use that is being discussed is the use of Social Networks in the Science
communities. (Julia Porter Liebeskind et) . have published a study on how New
Biotechnology Firms are using social networking sites to share exchanges in scientific
knowledge. They state in their study that by sharing information and knowledge with one
another, they are able "increase both their learning and their flexibility in ways that would
not be possible within a self-contained hierarchical organization." Social networking is
allowing scientific groups to expand their knowledge base and share ideas, and without
these new means of communicating their theories might become "isolated and irrelevant".

20
Social networks are also being used by teachers and students as a communication tool.
Because many students are already using a wide-range of social networking sites,
teachers have begun to familiarize themselves with this trend and are now using it to their
advantage. Teachers and professors are doing everything from creating chat-room forums
and groups to extend classroom discussion to posting assignments, tests and quizzes, to
assisting with homework outside of the classroom setting. Social networks are also being
used to foster teacher-parent communication. These sites make it possible and more
convenient for parents to ask questions and voice concerns without having to meet face-
to-face.

21
Chapter-3

Growth of social networking sites (Facebook,

orkut, twitter….)

SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES GROW 47 PERCENT, YEAR OVER YEAR,

REACHING 45 PERCENT OF WEB USERS

Facebook has been growing slowly in India but for the past 3 months since its growth
began accelerating rapidly. Its popularity started increasing somewhere near the start of
the year and since then the growth has been very productive for Facebook. The result
being, the number of users especially adolescences joining Facebook almost doubled in
the month of November and December. While Facebook has been growing slowly and
steadily in India for the last couple of years, Facebook exploded in May and June,
doubling from 1.6 million to 3.2 million monthly active users in the country in the last 60
days.

Orkut has been trying to capitalize on its already large audience base in India, but
Facebook is trying its best to woo audiences over. So, Facebook is definitely gaining
momentum in the social networking race, with frequent improvements and increased
customization.

22
 Growth
based on the number of face book users (source by secondary research)

Orkut still rules but Facebook registering fastest growth in India

Facebook overtook Orkut to secure its position at Number 4 leaving behind Orkut at
Number 5. This article looks at the fight from an Indian perspective and finds out the
sustainable growth of Facebook in India. Orkut is fighting the battle hard to leave no
stone unturned, but are still not able to come with the right kind of innovation needed.

Before we begin the analysis; its time to get some facts straight. It’s a common myth that
Facebook was launched much later than Orkut. However, the launch date of Orkut was
Jan 2004 while that of Facebook was Feb 2004 (hardly one month difference). So the
concept of Facebook gaining popularity in a matter of just one year is not so correct. Yes,
the presence was felt much later in India and it gained popularity in a short time but the
global launch dates were close. This article, for a change uses Google Insights (for those
who are new to it…Try it out folks…You would love it
http://www.google.com/insights/search ) for analysis of Facebook and Orkut

I am not going to take any stance on Orkut and Facebook, but would like to present the
true picture. This article is basically meant to shake up the underlying myths of many
social networking users, be it the Orkut lovers or FaceBook freaks. I decided two split the
article into two parts, the first one for the Orkut Lovers (disheartening for FB users) and
the second one to cheer up the FaceBook freaks (some serious eye-openers for Orkut).

23
Google’s social networking site Orkut seems to be growing briskly in India. In the Past
one year, the number of Orkut users has swelled to 17.1 million -- up by about 80 per
cent. India now has 18 per cent share of the total number of Orkut users worldwide,
bettered only by Brazil and the US.

The next phase of growth for us will come from tier-II and III cities in India. This
growth in Orkut numbers is higher than internet growth in India, the company says. The
Google Internet Bus is one such initiative that spreads awareness about the internet and
social networking in rural areas.

“We have evolved our applications as well. It’s not only communities that are getting
formed, but NGOs too are being put together on Orkut,” says Kulkarni, explaining the
reasons behind Orkut’s growth in India. Kulkarni, however, stopped short of predicting
how the growth rate will be for the next year. In spite of the conditions and rule of such
websites you can find many young peoples are into such websites which also adds up in
the growth.
Orkut is the largest social network in India. Here are a few interesting facts about the
social network’s presence in India.

Page views per month: 5 billion

Active users per month: 13 million (40% of Indian internet users)
Average visit frequency : 10 times per month
Average visit length : 13 minutes

(Survey conducted by orkut source team/secondary research)

The next trend in social networking, according to Google, will be interoperability of sites.
This could mean Facebook and Twitter users will be able to operate Orkut seamlessly.

Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to
send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to
140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's
subscribers who are known as followers. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their
circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users can send and receive tweets via
the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. While the
service itself costs nothing to use, accessing it through SMS may incur phone service
provider fees.

Since its creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained notability and popularity
worldwide. It is sometimes described as "SMS of the Internet"[3] The use of Twitter's

24
application programming interface for sending and receiving text messages by other
applications often eclipses direct use of Twitter.

What we have to do is delivering to people the best and freshest most relevant
information possible. We think of Twitter as it's not a social network, but it's an
information network. It tells people what they care about as it is happening in the world.

With social networking sites increasingly being converged on the mobile medium, it is of
high interest to track the social networking segment in India. ViziSense, a new analytical
tool from Komli Media addresses this need and highlights that Facebook is rapidly
becoming popular within the Indian audience.

Facebook is seen growing at 19% and matching it is Flickr which again is growing at
21% on a monthly basis. In terms of unique visitors, Orkut still rules the turf with 15.5
million unique visitors to the site as on October 2009.

Thus social networking sites in India is growing rapidly with the enhancement of new
features attracting many young minds i.e. teenagers, adolescences

25
Chapter-4

Its advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

• Refined Search: only social networking sites offer internet users with a search
directory that you can use to locate particular individuals or groups. You can
search by categories like location, industry, interests and other unique preferences.
This way, you do not waste your time and resources establishing connection with
people you and your business have nothing in common with.

• Affordable visibility: since most of these social networking sites are free, you
should maximize them. Make sure that the profile you created will be interesting
for the readers. Also, you should make it more personalized by adding interesting
articles, images, videos and even reviews of your products.

• Receptive Members: the concept of social networking sites lies on the premise
that members have at least one thing in common. Because of this, it is not
surprising that you will receive messages from people you do not really know or
likewise, you could be interested in establishing contact with some of the members
who might interest you.

• Built-in Group: starting a discussion is not difficult with social networking sites
compared to growing one on your site. With the millions of visitors and members,
you will have no problem with attracting participants. Discussion groups are also
the best place to do some soft selling. You can accomplish this by lending your
expertise on particular subjects.

• Expand Network Easily: the key to establishing a successful online business is

being visible to other people outside your network. The fact that you are connected
to these people because of an existing connection with one of your contacts, make
you more trustworthy. Compared to approaching someone on the street, social
networking sites would provide you with considerable marketing advantage.

• Social networking is a recent invention that has the Internet still at the edge of its
seat due to its popularity with people. This is mostly because it really is for the
people. Bringing every kind of social group together in one place and letting them
interact is really a big thing indeed. Everything about it lies on the advantages and
disadvantages of social networking, and what it can do for you.

26
 Here are the advantages that can be more than enough for you to want to join in.

• Low Costs

Definitely, it's cheaper to use online social networking for both personal and
business use because most of it is usually free. While personal use is rather simple
for anyone, the business functions are underestimated by many. In a social
networking site, you can scout out potential customers and target markets with just
a few clicks and keystrokes, adding a boost to your usual advertisements and
promotional strategies. It lets you learn about their likes and dislikes, which is
tremendous. If you want to fine tune your business, then this is the way to go,
whether on a budget or not.

• Builds Credibility

You definitely can gain the customers' confidence if you can connect to them on
both a personal and professional level. Despite having to do a bit of work, it
definitely pays off as you can be tapped for an offer if someone catches wind of
your products or services. As long as you don't pursue them too aggressively, you
will do well here.

• Connections

You are friends with people who have other friends, and so on. There is potential
in such a common situation. By using a social networking site, you can do what you
can and get connected with these people to form a web of connections that can give
you leverage if you play your cards right. As long as you give as well as you
receive, then they will most likely stick with you. These connections are definitely
valuable in the long run.

That definitely sounds enticing. However, what about the disadvantages though?

27
 Disadvantages

• Lack of Anonymity

You are putting out information about your name, location, age, gender, and many
other types of information that you may not want to let others know. Most people
would say be careful, but no one can be certain at any given time. As long as
people can know who you exactly are, then some can find ways to do you in.

• Scams and Harassment

There is a potential for failure of security in both personal and business context.
While many sites apply certain measures to keep any of these cases of harassment,
cyber-stalking, online scams, and identity theft to an absolute minimum, you still
may never know.

• Time Consuming

If this is not your kind of thing that it would just be a waste of time for you. The
key to social networking is that it is supposed to be fun, whether you are just doing
it for kicks or clicking around for business purposes. That should be reasonable
enough for anyone, but there are those people who don't see the point. For them, it
can be a disadvantage.

• Now there is something to really think about. Nothing is without a blemish, but
those of this type of networking shouldn't really be that much of a concern
regarding your safety. As long as you go along without making big mistakes, then
it is all good. You can take advantage of the Internet phenomenon that continues
up to this day.

28
Chapter-5

Social networking and younger

generation/adolescences
There is an element of addictiveness in these sites and the youth are indeed getting
endeared more and more into this addiction. The most appealing thing among these sites
is that they provide a platform for the individuals to express their views, gives them the
freedom of choice and expression... from anti-war campaigns to global warming issues,
from Harry potter fan clubs to Osama bin laden hate clubs. there is everything for
everyone to share and speak about.

What else could be more appealing than the thought of being heard not just by your group
of friends but to the whole wide world? And that is where I feel these sites are here to
stay. It just emphasizes the fact that man is a social being and shall always remain so.

29
One of the most commonly asked questions today is “are you on Facebook?” or “did you
check out the latest pics on my profile?” It is amazing how social networks have
completely changed people’s habits, becoming a must-visit Web destination for all. In
fact, if you find a friend not using any of the popular social networking services, it seems
strange. Thoughts like “is he/she living in today’s world” and “how can he/she afford to
miss such a great thing when the entire world is buzzing around it” start coming to your
mind the moment you realize your friend’s absence on the site.

Such is the power of social networking today. And it only seems to grow stronger and
stronger in the future. Just recently, Facebook achieved another milestone by completing
five successful years over the Web. Started in 2004, Facebook had only a handful of
users in its network initially, mostly comprising of Harvard students. However, with time
it grew rapidly to become the leading social network throughout the world. So, what led
to its success? One of the biggest reasons is word-of-mouth or rather word-of-mouse
publicity.

People today can’t imagine living without social networking. It has become a daily
routine no matter where you are. Also, it is interesting to know how mobile phones are
shaping the use of social networks today. Those who do not get enough time to access
their desktops often use a mobile device to stay connected with their friends. What’s even
more interesting is that adults are using social networks more than the younger
demographic today, something which has never happened before the last year or so.

But there are also people who do not support this growing trend mainly because of its
negative impact on the society. The argument is that social networking is slowly taking
over face-to-face communication, as people prefer expressing themselves online.
Communication has become rapid, but at the cost of personal interaction.

If you observe carefully, the extent of outdoor physical activity has also declined in case
of school going children. As social networking becomes a topic of discussion for
youngsters, most of them want to be alive and kicking on the network and share their
likes and dislikes with people. This has given software developers another reason to come
up with innovative applications in tune with the contemporary lifestyle, which is indeed
worth appreciating. However, problem arises when youngsters overuse these applications
and compromise their social life by constantly updating their profile to let people know
how ‘cool’ they are. This is also one of the main reasons why personal interaction has
been affected to a great extent.

The whole discussion here is not to demean social networking. It is doing what it has to
do – connect people with their loved ones. But whether to overuse it and affect our social

30
life or not is in our hands. Let technology not master you. Talk to people personally or
over phone, get engaged in face-to-face communication and use social networking within
limits to balance your life. Social networks are definitely a boon to the society, but too
much of it can affect our social progress.

Keeping in touch with the knowns, whether relatives or friends or someone else, seems to
be a difficult task to every working person, whether a student, a businessman or some
officer, these days! So what’s the solution to the problem? Social networking Sites!

Yes, the Social Networking Sites like Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, LinkedIn, and
Twitter…….. Etc are a powerful medium to stay in touch with your friends, far away
relatives, old teachers and even find your long-lost chaddi-buddies. Isn’t that great!!!

Might be a “Yes” for some and a topic of discussion (and worry) for the others!!?? But
what’s the matter of worry? The answer is that such social networking sites are a
platform for making friends, joining groups and networks, sharing pictures and videos,
posting scraps and messages etc, which might not be a good deal for the kids, pre-teens
and teens even. There might be anti-social elements active on such sites and privacy &
security are also topics of concern on these sites.

It is upon the user himself/herself that how carefully and judiciously he/she uses this
“resource”. Parents and teachers may also play a vital role in guiding under-18s about
such sites.

It is not like that no one should use such sites, but the betterment is in the careful use of
these networks!

31
Chapter-6

How is social networking sites act on adolescences?

As the technology of the world advances so does the internet and social networking
websites is one of the creations of this advancement. Social networking websites are now
getting popular day by day because more and more people are on the move and they go
away from their countries or houses. They need people with whom they can socialize and
also they need to stay in touch with all those whom they have left behind. The best
solution for stating in contact with those who are not near to someone is using social
networking websites.

Social networking websites are useful to us because at first we are able to talk with those
people who are very distant from us. We can chat or even see their videos using those

32
social networking websites. The best thing is that the usage of most social networking
websites is free so we don’t need to pay a penny while sharing our photographs and video
with our family and friends.

Most people who have lost contact with their childhood and school friends make a very
good use of such social networking websites because most of their old friends can be
found on those social networking websites and then all of them can get back together.

Now one of the most popular social networking website is facebook which has taken the
world by storm. Many such social networking websites are now also available to people
on their portable hand devices also like their mobile phones. Advancement in technology
has been very helpful to all and especially those who use social networking websites.

A social networking site is an online place where a user can create a profile and build a
personal network that connects him or her to other users. In the past five years, such sites
have rocketed from a role activity into a phenomenon that engages tens of millions of
internet users. More than half (55%) of all online youths ages 12-17 use online social
networking sites, according to a new national survey of teenagers conducted by the Pew
Internet Life Project.

The survey also finds that older teens, particularly girls, are more likely to use these sites.
For girls, social networking sites are primarily places to reinforce pre-existing
friendships; for boys, the networks also provide opportunities for flirting and making new
friends.

With the evolution of the internet, the life of the youths in the towns changed from just a
mere worker from a social person, an artificial social youth, sometimes and a natural
social person. Internet changed many things, I am sure I need not speak much about it.
But a special innovation which it brought about was the social networking.

Basically social networking means a way in which one can keep himself connected to his
near and dear ones in some way or the other. In the language of internet, it is the same
thing, but it is a similar thing conducted in a different way. Here, it is entirely a different
thing. The natural social networking involves media like letter, mails, telegrams, phone
calls, but today it includes media like SMSs, e-mails, scraps and what not, there are so
many terms. I wanted to take this topic into consideration and after a long time, finally I
got into a mood to discuss my thoughts with you all. So, I would discuss about the social
networking related to internet in the upcoming words.

The Windward Side of It

33
Social Networking, today, has made the life of the Richie riches easier. Those who have
nice smartphones in their hands, can easily surf themselves right away.

However, the medium classes can also enjoy this. People can today keep themselves
connected to their near and dear ones all the times. They can easily correspond with them
anytime they want to do. With offline messages like scraps and offline chat messages
they can easily leave a message to their near and dear ones, asking about their welfare or
having an informal chat of any type, anytime.

Social networking has enabled us today to climb the mountains of connectivity so easily
and you know the best part of it? Most of the online services like chatting, emailing etc
are totally free, so even the middle and the low classes can enjoy the services. It is
therefore a big merit of this feature that cutting on the expenditure of ISD call rates, we
can easily connect to the people of our beats easily, in case they are living in some other
country. With the internet social networking, one can easily present him/her before
everyone. What does one need to do? Simply take a stand, spend some 3000-4000 bucks,
create your own website, design it, put contents and finally you are done.

In short, it therefore means that one can stay connected even while sleeping, and today to
my surprise, marriages are being conducted with the help of the so called matrimony
websites which help us find the guys of our taste and finally we can select the bridegroom
or the bride, chat to him/her, have a meet with him/her and finally, the "Just Married"
signboard will be on the back of the car. Thus, today, to my surprise, internet social
networking is helping people get married even. What not we can do? We can show our
videos and songs.

These were all the merits of social networking, these were simply the pros, not let's have
a look towards the cones.

The Leeward Side of It

Today so many people, especially the old aged people say that the new generation has
become so lazy because of social networking feature. Many even say that these so called
social networking media are simply making the people of the present generation unsocial
by doing all these.

It is notable that due to this feature of the internet, we are making friends with so many
people whom we never see in our lives but we spend hours chatting with them without
knowing who they actually are. Children of teenage who need to go to the fields and play
with their real friends are busy with unidentified people on the net chatting with them,
emailing with them, talking about their welfare and having a behavior in such a way that
they are even more to them than their real friends. Yeah of course, some may come to a

34
realistic end, but most of them really never meet. Children are becoming lazy talking to
these people, maintaining their so called social status and just filling their life with
dramatized follow ups. What are they doing? Students go to cyber cafes, spend hundreds
of rupees and what they do? They simply keep on writing scraps to their so called distant
friends. It really deviates the young minds from their actual courses, hitting at their
health, hitting at their actual socialism.

There are many leeward aspects, but what I want to question is that is this social
networking grasping feature of the internet so social at all. Does it have more merits or
more demerits? Anyways, my suggestion to the teenagers especially would be have a
consideration on the so called social networked nature of theirs'.

From behind their bedroom doors, more than 1 out of every 10 teenagers has posted a
nude or seminude picture of themselves or others online - a "digital tattoo" that could
haunt them for the rest of their lives, according to a poll being released today.

Aside from the nudity, the survey also found that at least a quarter of the young people
polled had posted something they later regretted, made fun of others or created a false
identity online.

While teens are spending more and more time on social networking sites like Facebook
and MySpace - with 22 percent saying they check their sites more than 10 times a day -
they don't seem to be aware of the long-term personal havoc they could create with a
click of a button. And their parents generally have little idea about what their children are
up to, "There are enormous consequences from inappropriate behavior online." parents to
gauge how much time young people are spending on social-networking sites, what they
do when they're on them - and whether their parents know.

Teenagers don't always self-censor online; they may bully classmates, for example, or
post risqué photos of themselves or their peers.

"If you're not in the same place as the person, it just feels less personal; it's easier to do
mean things.

Yet there can be enormous consequences.

35
Chapter-7

An analysis on the case of Adnan Partrawala

• ORKUT A COMMUNITY-BASED portal has become very popular amongst the
people across the world. Millions of people mostly youth visit the site everyday in
search of their old friends or to make new friends as well. A new and unique
innovation by Google, Orkut was started just couple of years back and now it has
become a leading social networking site. Although Orkut has benefited the masses
and brought departed friends together, but on the other hand it has also taken the
lives of so many users who were trapped by the wrong people with fake identities.

• A Mumbai teenager Adnan Patrawala, son of a businessman was trapped on Orkut

and later he was murdered. Adnan’s Orkut profile says, I love mobiles, friends, my

36
 mother, fast driving, humorous, good looking, want become a pilot etc. Two or
three weeks back he came in contact with Angel, a profile created by someone by
utilizing the name of a girl. Scrapbooks of Adnan and Angel revealed that they
were continuously talking to each other. According to scrapbooks, Angel was
continuously insisting Adnan to meet her, but Adnan wanted Angel’s photograph
first, which was never sent by her. In reply Angel said “Don’t worry? m quite &
gud looking, u wanna meet me??? Lez mette up na! wot say?" Finally on Saturday
Adnan replied that he wanted to meet her, which became the cause of his death.

• Sixteen-year-old was kidnapped last Saturday and then he was allegedly

strangulated by his friends. On Monday evening Adnan was found dead in Navi
Mumbai. Death of Adnan Patrawala has greatly shocked his family members and
shockwaves have spread across the city.

• Adnan was allegedly trapped and subsequently murdered by his own friends.
Adnan Patrawala left his home on Saturday night to have a good time with his
friends. By 12.30 am he called up her mother that he was in pool club with his
friends so he would come back home in the morning. On Sunday noon, Adnan’s
parents got a call from his mobile itself and the person on the other side told them
that they had abducted Adnan, he was fine and they wanted two crores as ransom.
Even Adnan talked with his parents and told them that he was fine.

• Earlier Adnan’s parents thought that it was a prank but after few hours next call
came, this time the abductors said strongly that they were not joking and
demanded Rs two crores. After getting the call, Adnan’s parents registered a case
of abduction in the nearby police station; eventually the police started the
investigation. On Monday the police arrested three of Adnan’s friends Sujith Nair
(28 yrs), Ayush Bhat (19 yrs) and Himmesh Ambavat (18 yrs) who confessed that
they murdered Adnan Patrawala.

• Sujith Nair is an ex-employee of a BPO while Ayush Bhat and Himmesh Ambavat
are college-going students and they came in contact with Adnan through Orkut.
Eventually the confession of three boys led the police to his Skoda car and his
body in Navi Mumbai. By 7 pm the Mumbai police disclosed that Adnan Patrawal
has been murdered and TV News channels flashed the news of his death.

• Police investigations revealed that Adnan was trapped on Orkut by making a false
profile, Angel. When police accessed Orkut, they found that someone had
tampered with Adnan’s profile and his picture album, videos and all scraps before
20th August have been deleted. What is more startling is that even after the news
of Adnan’s murder, someone was operating his Orkut profile. As the news of his

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 death was flashed by the channels, hundreds of complimentary messages started
coming on Orkut like ‘God bless your soul’, ‘May Peace be upon you’ and so on.

• However, now the family members of Adnan are saying that they have made a big
mistake by informing the police about his abduction. According to them the police
had disclosed the matter, which became the cause of Adnan’s death. Now the big
question is who is Angel, what is his/ her identity? Messages on Adnan’s
scrapbook clearly depicts that Angel’s profile could be a fake one. In fact,
Adnan’s case is not a new issue, earlier also many youngsters have been trapped
through Orkut in the name of friendship. Now again the question arises, who is
responsible for Adnan’s death? I think Orkut is somehow responsible for it. We all
know that cyber crime is rising all over the world nowadays and governments of
the respective countries are trying hard to control it. So it is the responsibly of
Google that before letting anyone become a member of it, Google should ask for
some genuine documents and identity proof to avoid such unfortunate
circumstances.

Mumbai teenager Adnan Patrawala’s tragic death at the hands of his online buddies from
Orkut has raised the usual blame game issues. A share of the blame so far goes to-

1. Orkut.com -
Orkut’s online social networking community is the second-most visited site in India, and
has seen a spat of controversies lately, including political hate sites. There are a lot of
questions about the nature of community-building that goes on inside Orkut-like virtual
spaces, and the way that has affected the norms of personal and social relationships in the
real world.

In Adnan’s case, Orkut was the place he apparently met with his killers. Unaware that
some members within his own personal community on Orkut, had been lured by their
notions of Adnan’s family wealth, Adnan continued to meet and rendezvous with them,
not just on Orkut, but outside in the pool parlors and malls, the fact that eventually led to
his death.

But there are millions of other members on Orkut. The virtual nature of such communities may
be a fertile ground for hidden agendas and activities, but those rules are known to everyone. That
Orkut identities may be fake is an open secret, and most youngsters are well aware of that. Plus
most scrap or offline conversations on Orkut are out there in the open and can leave enough
forensic trails behind. Anyone who thinks their identities are unknown to Orkut backend
databases is kidding themselves. Google knows exactly where people log from, the nature of
their machines, the browsers they use, their browsing habits, their browsing habits outside of
Orkut (thanks to Goggle toolbar and search engine), pretty much everything.

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A few years ago, Orkut came into fashion. It included features to keep people around the
world connected, more specifically, friends connected. These features acted like magnets
for young teenagers. Every person had his or her own profile which could be viewed by
any other person around the globe. Its other fantastic features were to upload pictures of
yourself, or videos which a person wanted to show to his/her friends. Friends were also
given the option to rate the person on his/her personality, write testimonials, and write in
his “personal” scrapbook which also was accessible to any person having an Orkut
account. It was fun at first, teenagers spent hours and hours just ‘Orkutting’.

It is at this stage when social networking started showing its negative effect on everyone
or rather people started getting influenced by the negative aspect of social networking.
Young attention seeking teenagers would put their “Photoshoped” picture for sheer
vanity or to grab attention. It seemed more important to have a hundred plus friends or
some thousand plus scraps or 100% coolness in the personality rather than to be actually
close to those friends who live far away. Teenagers, who used to think they were inferior
to others, used Orkut or for that matter any social networking site to satisfy the need to be
popular. Then there was the entry of bad-elements of the society- the most “in thing” was
to be the most negative. A good user could not even make out which profile was truly
genuine. To take revenge fake profiles were created, humiliating that person openly in
front of the whole world. There were many suicide cases linked with social networking.
The orthodox society of India had put a ban on these sites for their children. The social
impact of these sites seemed to be never ending…

Chapter-8

Social impact

An increasing number of academic commentators are becoming interested in studying

Facebook and other social networking tools.

It has not taken long for social networking sites to become prevalent amongst the youth.
The reason for this has been brought up by Danah Boyd. Contemporary youth has
consistently been presented restrictions that prohibit what they can and cannot do. There
has been a rapid increase in curfew legislation along with loitering laws intended to

39
prevent teen violence and drug use. In addition to government rules and regulations
teenagers face another authority, parental figures. Parents and/or guardians tend to place
rules on where they can be and when they can be there. This combination of laws and
household restrictions hinders and limits the area of social interaction to school and
maybe with nearby neighbors. As a result the youth turns to online networks that allow
them to communicate with not only their friend circle but others with similar interests.
Social networks have ultimately become the best frontier for teenagers to interact and
socialize.

Several websites are beginning to tap into the power of the social networking model for
social good. Such models may be highly successful for connecting otherwise fragmented
industries and small organizations without the resources to reach a broader audience with
interested and passionate users. Users benefit by interacting with a likeminded
community and finding a channel for their energy and giving.

Looking at this chaos, Orkut, Facebook and many others finally included serious privacy
settings. Now the user could choose, how much to be social and yet be safe. Still, it is the
user who has to be cautious all the time. This certainly is work on the part of the user. To
be frank, in this case, emailing was much better- there was more privacy, more security
time was taken out by the person to keep in touch with the friend and also there was
nothing to worry about.

After many ups and downs of the new features of web 2.0, social networking has
practically become a Big Yawn and a time pass. This is primarily because, the prospect
of making new friends doesn’t excite anymore, and trying out new application isn’t fun
because its too predictable and more importantly, internet is virtual and not real. As a
matter of fact, Google even has links to sites, which gives the world's most popular
acronyms. It is amusing but that is the way it is.

There are many potential problems with social networking sites and the teenagers that use
them. Social networking online involves using Web sites to share information with others
and connect with them by creating a profile that may include a personal Web page and a
blog. Social networking sites allow users to add friends, send messages and comment on
others' profile pages.

It is also one of the most popular Internet activities among teenagers. Recent research
from the Pew Internet Project suggests that 93% of Americans from ages 12 to 17 use the
Internet, and 55% of those teens use social networks. While most of this online
interaction is just for fun, there are dangers that parents and teens

Popular Social Networking Sites

According to the Pew Internet Project, MySpace is the most dominant social network

40
among teens, used by 85% of teenagers who use social networks. MySpace allows users
almost unlimited flexibility to create and customize their profile pages, and to share their
own content or that of others, including music, videos and writing. Many MySpace users
register with aliases.

The next most popular social networking site among teenagers is Facebook, which is
used by 7% of teens who use social networks. Facebook, once a closed system limited to
school and college communities, has recently become more open. Facebook puts a
greater emphasis on actually knowing the people that you connect with. Other social
networks used by teenagers include Yahoo and orkut.

How Teens Use Social Networking Sites

Most teens create at least a basic profile, with their name, age, status, photo and interests,
but many go much further. Many teens make regular visits to update their profiles and to
visit others' profiles.

Communicating with others is a key aspect of using social networks. Teens may post
public messages or may use bulletins or private messages to communicate with those on
their friends list. Most teens use sites such as MySpace and Facebook to stay in touch
with their current friends. However, PEW reports that about 50% of teenagers also use
the sites to make new friends. Teenagers use the sites to make social plans with their
friends, and sometimes to flirt.

Positives and Negatives

Apart from the social benefits, social networking sites can be used to document school
research, promote artistic talents and experiment with other forms of content creation.
They provide a way to interact with others who share the same interests and to get
constructive feedback on ongoing projects.

Along with these benefits come some risks. Most social networking sites are open to all,
especially MySpace, which means that your teen could be exposed to harassment,
bullying or sexual advances.

Cyber-bullying and harassment are most often perpetrated by other teens and tend to
happen most to older girls and to teens of either gender who have a strong online
presence. It may take several forms:

• publicizing private instant messages, text messages or e-mails

• posting threatening messages

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 • posting photos that will cause embarrassment

• spreading rumors

It’s rare for harassment to spill over into real-world conflicts, but it can still be a cause of
emotional distress for teens. A greater danger is that teens may become targets of
pedophiles. The anonymity of some social networking sites makes it easy for
unscrupulous people to target young teens and engage them in harmful conversations. It’s
easy for predators to pose as teens and lure children into harmful real-world contact as
well. Most social networking sites have privacy controls in place, but teens seldom use
them. Active monitoring of profiles and behaviors catches some predators, but not all of
them.

Another risk is identity theft, which can occur when teens share too much information
about their name, date of birth and location.

Overall effects

Privacy

On large social networking services, there have been growing concerns about users
giving out too much personal information and the threat of sexual predators. Users of
these services need to be aware of data theft or viruses. However, large services, such as
MySpace and Netlog, often work with law enforcement to try to prevent such incidents.

In addition, there is a perceived privacy threat in relation to placing too much personal
information in the hands of large corporations or governmental bodies, allowing a profile
to be produced on an individual's behavior on which decisions, detrimental to an
individual, may be taken.

Furthermore, there is an issue over the control of data—information that was altered or
removed by the user may in fact be retained and/or passed to 3rd parties. This danger was
highlighted when the controversial social networking site Quechup harvested e-mail
addresses from users' e-mail accounts for use in a spamming operation.

Notifications on websites

There has been a trend for social networking sites to send out only 'positive' notifications
to users. For example sites such as orkut, Facebook, and Myspace will not send
notifications to users when they are removed from a person's friends list. Similarly orkut
will send out a notification if a user is moved to the top of another user's friends list but
no notification is sent if they are moved down the list.

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This allows users to purge undesirables from their list extremely easily and often without
confrontation since a user will rarely notice if one person disappears from their friends
list. It also enforces the general positive atmosphere of the website without drawing
attention to unpleasant happenings such as friends falling out, rejection and failed
relationships.

Access to information

Many social networking services, such as Facebook, provide the user with a choice of
who can view their profile. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from accessing their
information. Parents have become a big problem to teens who want to avoid their parents
to access their MySpace or Facebook accounts. By choosing to make their profile private,
teens are able to select who can see their page and this prevents unwanted parents from
lurking. This will also mean that only people who are added as "friends" will be able to
view the profile. Teens are constantly trying to create a structural barrier between their
private life and their parents.

To edit information on a certain social networking service account, the social networking
sites require you to login or provide an access code. This prevents unauthorized user(s)
from adding, changing, or removing personal information, pictures, and/or other data.

Potential for misuse

The relative freedom afforded by social networking services has caused concern
regarding the potential of its misuse by individual patrons..

Any person can create a false account on others name and pass on wrong information
about the person to others, this might create a problems in their social life.

Risk for child safety

Citizens and governments have been concerned by a misuse by child and teenagers of
social network services, particularly in relation to online sexual predators. A certain
number of actions have been engaged by governments to better understand the problem
and find some solutions. A 2008 panel concluded that technological fixes such as age
verification and scans are relatively ineffective means of apprehending online predators.

Trolling
Main article: Troll (Internet)

A common misuse of social networking sites such as Facebook is that it is occasionally

used to emotionally abuse individuals. Such actions are often referred to as trolling. It is
not rare for confrontations in the real world to be translated online. Online bullying is a

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relatively common occurrence and it can often result in emotional trauma for the victim.
The teenager expresses frustration towards networking sites like MySpace because it
causes drama and too much emotional stress. There are not many limitations as to what
individuals can post when online. Inherently individuals are given the power to post
offensive remarks or pictures that could potentially cause a great amount of emotional
pain for another individual.

Interpersonal communication

Interpersonal communication has been a growing issue as more and more people have
turned to social networking as a means of communication. It describes how mass media
has gradually replaced interpersonal communication as a socializing force. Further, social
networking sites have become popular sites for youth culture to explore them,
relationships, and share cultural artifacts “A Many teens and social networking users may
be harming their interpersonal communication by using sites such as Facebook and orkut.

Social Networking Safety

it’s up to parents to make sure their kids are safe when they use social networking. Many
of the same rules that apply to online chat apply to these sites:

• Use an alias.

• Don’t give out personal information to people you don’t know. A last name and
a town are enough for a predator to locate your child.

• Don’t assume that people are who they claim to be.

• Immediately end any communication that makes you uncomfortable and report it
to a parent. For younger teens, you should investigate any sites they’d like to use.
Find out what privacy protections are in place and insist that your teen uses them.
For children under 16, that often means a private profile that can only be seen by
approved friends.

Older teens may want a public profile to promote a band or other creative work. In this
case, have your child create a second, public profile for the project while still restricting
the personal profile to family and close friends. It’s best to set up these profiles with a
free e-mail from Yahoo or Google using an alias that can’t be traced back to find personal
information.

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 • Encourage your kids to tell you if they’re victims of cyber bullying or
harassment. Many teens will try to deal with this on their own, which can have
disastrous consequences. If your child knows who’s behind the harassment, involve
the other child’s parents or school officials. If it’s anonymous, remind your child that
it’s not personal; some people just think it’s fun to say mean things about others. (As
per my primary research)

Chapter-9

Conclusion
Publics play a crucial role in the development of individuals for, as Nancy Fraser
explainsin one of his book as, “they are arenas for the formation and enactment of social
identities.” By interacting with unfamiliar others, teenagers are socialized into society.
Without publics, there is no coherent society. Publics are where norms are set and
reinforced, where common ground is formed. Learning society’s rules requires trial and
error, validation and admonishment; it is knowledge that teenagers learn through action,

45
not theory. Society’s norms and rules only provide the collectively imagined boundaries.
Teenagers are also tasked with deciding how they want to fit into the structures that
society provides. Their social identity is partially defined by themselves, partially defined
by others. Learning through impression management is key to developing a social
identity. Teenagers must determine where they want to be situated within the social world
they see and then attempt to garner the reactions to their performances that match their
vision. This is a lifelong process, but one that must be supported at every step.
In today’s society, there is a push towards privacy. It is assumed that people are public
individuals who deserve the right to privacy rather than the other way around. With an
elevated and idealized view of privacy, we often forget the reasons that enslaved peoples
desperately wished for access to public life. By allowing us to have a collective
experience with people who are both like and unlike us, public life validates the reality
that we are experiencing. We are doing our youth a disservice if we believe that we can
protect them from the world by limiting their access to public life. They must enter that
arena, make mistakes, and learn from them. Our role as adults is not to be their
policemen, but to be their guide. Of course, as Hannah Arendt wrote long before the
Internet, “everything that appears in public can be seen and heard by everybody and has
the widest possible publicity.” What has changed with the emergence of new tools for
mediating sociality is the scale and persistence of possible publicity. For most people in
history, public life was not documented and distributed for the judgment of non-present
others. Only aristocrats and celebrities faced that type of public because structural and
social forces strongly limited the “widest possible publicity.” Not everything could be
documented and spreading information was challenging. Only the lives of the rich and
famous were deemed important enough to share. The Internet has changed this. Teens
today face a public life with unimaginably wide possibly publicity. The fundamental
properties of networked publics – persistence, search ability, reliability, and invisible
audiences – are unfamiliar to the adults that are guiding them through social life. Portray
a magnified (and idealized) version of the networked publics that teens are experiencing,
complete with surveillance and misinterpretation. The experiences that teens are facing in
the publics that they encounter appear more similar to the celebrity idea of public life
than to the ones their parents face.
It is not as though celebrities or teenagers wish for every conversation to be publicly
available to everyone across all time and space, but mediated publics take the simplest
public expressions and make them hyper public. Few adults could imagine every
conversation they have sitting in the park or drinking tea in a café being available for
such hyper public consumption, yet this is what technology enables. Unfortunately, there
is an ethos that if it is possible to access a public expression, one should have the right to
do so. Perhaps this is flawed thinking. While we can talk about changes that are taking
place, the long-term implications of being socialized into a culture rooted in networked
publics are unknown. Perhaps today’s youth will be far better equipped to handle gossip
as adults. Perhaps not. What we do know is that today’s teens live in a society whose
public life is changing rapidly. Teens need access to these publics – both mediated and

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unmediated – to mature, but their access is regularly restricted. Yet, this technology and
networked publics are not going away.
As a society, we need to figure out how to educate teens to navigate social structures that
are quite unfamiliar to us because they will be faced with these publics as adults, even if
we try to limit their access now. Social network sites have complicated our lives because
they have made this rapid shift in public life very visible. Perhaps instead of trying to
stop them or regulate usage, we should learn from what teens are experiencing? They are
learning to navigate networked publics; it is in our better interest to figure out how to
help them.
However, these sites fulfill a very basic criterion of humans. It is that of communication.
People living in extreme corners of the world are seen to be getting married, friends from
far-off places are able to keep in touch with each other and lovers from two parts of the
world stay connected with each other's emotional needs. These help us make new friends,
stay in touch with the old ones and let us know more about the persons we care... their
likes, dislikes, interests and emotions. With the growth of social networking sites,
blogging, chat rooms, or instant messaging, children today are more in danger. Over 50
percent of teenagers in India visit social networking sites and most of them do so on a
daily basis! Indian children are catching the social networking bug too....

Some children visit these sites to increase their friend’s circle, some to keep in touch with
friends they cannot meet, and to make plans, socialize, or share information.

Unfortunately, most children reveal a lot of personal details on their profiles which can
easily be misused and their personal details can harm them even much later in life, like
when they are searching for jobs etc. thus with the proper guidance of elders
adolescences must be allowed to operate such sites so this may be their glorious way to
have a happy and fun loving life.

Bibliography
SOME OF THE WEBSITES WHICH MADE MY RESEARCH POSSIBLE THROUGH

www.socialmedia.globalthoughtz.com

www.ibscdc.org › ... › Corporate Social Responsibility Case Studies

www.shaarique.com/adnan-patrawala-murder-who-is-to-blame

www.facebook.com/group.

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www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network

www.scribd.com/doc/.../The-Effect-of-Social-Networking

www.actforyouth.net/documents/Oct061.pdf

REFFERED BOOKS FOR THE RESEARCH

CHILDRENS, ADOLSCENCES AND THE MEDIA BY VICTOR C. STARSBUGER

THE INTERNET IN EVERYDAY LIFE BY ROBERT E. WOOD

TEENAGERS AND MEDIA BY HANNAH ARENDTH

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