Social networking sites originated in the mid-1990s with sites like TheGlobe allowing users to interact through chat rooms and share information. Sites grew rapidly in the early 2000s with the introduction of Friendster, LinkedIn, and MySpace which allowed users to connect with friends and find others with similar interests. While social media connects people and helps users stay in touch, it also poses dangers like unknown strangers friending youth, cyberbullying, and companies facing financial risks if users abandon sites. Statistics can help track safety issues and determine what age groups need more guidance online.

1. Social Networking Sites
Where did Social Networking Sites come from?
Social Networking sites began with sites such as; Theglobe.com, 1995,
Geocities, 1994 and Tripod.com, 1995. Many of these early communities
focused on bringing people together to interact with each other through
chat rooms and sharing information about one another. It was in the late
1990s, people were able to allow users express lists of "friends" and search for
other users with similar interests. By 2005, the increase of social networking
sites were high, with; SixDegrees.com, 1997, Makeoutclub, 2000, Hub Culture
and Friendster in 2002, MySpace and LinkedIn, 2003, and eventually Bebo. By
2005 MySpace was the most popular Networking Service. This was until early
2009 when Facebook was the most used website in the world. They were
created mainly for dating sites, getting people to meet new people, with its
technologies improvements over the years; it has become a daily use by
everyone. Because of the improvements made to Networking sites every
day, this is what has made the websites so unsafe.
How do Social Networking sites help?
Social Networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are used by the public
all over the world. It is a way of staying connected to family who have
moved away, sharing photos and interacting with friends. These are good
reasons why people should be using these sites, and usually gets lost in the
use. People tend to use Facebook and Twitter to their advantage. But this
hasn’t stopped the makers of these interacting sites, they have abled people
to block and report other people who they don’t know. This keeps Facebook,
MySpace and Twitter safe. The settings on the site can be adjusted so that
you can reveal your photos, information and status’ to only friends. The
responsibility for using these websites is up to each individual person who uses
it. They know and understand the settings, how to do it and the
consequences that will happen when not careful. People tend to put the
blame all on the Networking services, whereas, they chose to sign up for it
and not being careful. Parents should give their children, mainly teens,
privacy, to an extent. Make sure that they have their settings on private and
that they’re using it for the right reasons, this will keep teens safe and
entertained. You can’t keep young adults from these sites because they are

2. everywhere, on phones and iPods. When used correctly, Social Networking
services are helpful, connecting and interacting.
What are the dangers of Social Networking Sites?
With networking services the obvious problem that scares parents, is the
unknown “friend” that their children would add, talk to and meet. This is very
dangers for young adults because of the easy access to strangers. It is easy
for people to create a fake profile. There are pictures to access on Google
and to pretend to be a teen. On Facebook there is a new way of finding a
connection, “friends of friends”, if a teenager sees that someone adds them,
who has “mutual friends” they will think they know them. This is a danger in
the Social Network site. Even though people can unfriend, block and report
people, this doesn’t occur to most young adults.
Other than this issue, there is the worry of cyber bullying. However, this isn’t
just from Social Networking services, this can happen on mobile phones or in
person. On the other hand, Facebook, Twitter, don’t have a better effect on
the situation. It increases it. For example, Amanda Todd, made one mistake
and was then bullied over Facebook, groups were made about her, which
she couldn’t stop, even if she left the website, it would still be there, that is the
problem with these sites, if it is someone else that posts something, it isn’t in
your hands to stop. This can be dangerous, harming and scary.
Is there danger for the companies?
With the problems from the websites, will people carry on using them? If
people stopped, how much money will be lost? This is a worry for the
company who run Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. From how many people
use the sites everyday, how many advertisements are used and games, the
business would lose a lot of money. With all this interaction, there is no reason
why people wouldn’t come off the sites. However, it can get boring, adults
wouldn’t tend to go on games, join groups or read advertisements. Even
teenagers would get bored at one point because a lot of trouble is started
mostly from Facebook and Twitter. Even celebrities get into trouble with the
things that are posted. When will people stop? If the public did decide to
abandon Social Networking sites, what will come next? Something is being
added to the internet every year. There is nothing stopping people from
coming off Social websites, so this could be a threat to companies. Also,
nothing is stopping it from being banned; this could be because of the
danger to, too many people.

3. Statistics
78% say that using social networks s is just as important as networking in
person.
42% of businesses reported that a quarter of their new customers came
through social-media sites.
In India, 32% of online adults have been victims of social or mobile
cybercrime in the past year.
75% of young people -- without a roof over their heads -- remain
connected through social networks.
26% of the population, will access social networks from their phones this
year.
Facebook is #1 in 126 out of the 137 countries that were analysed.
Statistics are a good way of checking if any progress is being made within the
cyber world. Making sure children are being safe on the internet. Giving out a
survey every so often will be a good way to keep track of children’s activities
when they surf the web. This can be done by grouping the children into age
groups so that when calculating results, you know which age group needs
the most attention.