Should Minors(-17) be banned from social networking sites(ie. Facebook, my space, tumblr, twitter,etc.)?

[Ai]

I am working on a social report and would like to get some opinions on this subject. If you could just answer yes or no give a little reason why and please if you could put your real age. Please be honest it is really important!

[Jason S]

No, but I do think filters should be in place. I am 29.

I have a few cousins that are around 15, so I am constantly getting suggestions on Facebook for kids, and I really wish I could adjust a filter to where I would not get suggestions from people unless they were at least 18 or older.

[Ender]

You should state statistics on descriptive findings, i.e. minors will never truly be banned from social networking sites due to the lack of verification other than "enter your birthday here", or an upset parent(s) as seen in this article: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/173018...-like-data

Your question asks for normative however, i.e. "what ought to be done?" and for that I can only answer no. Reasons:

1. If you ban younger audiences, they will figure out a way to sneak/break security measures or cause havoc e.g. DoS attacks
2. You'd be surprised what a little bit of freedom can do for keeping minors safe
3. Social networking sites combine a plethora of literacy-promoting tools. For example, you mentioned tumblr, a popular blogging site. Blogs promote writing which is an excellent expression of thought and emotion. Better to have kids writing down their frustrations rather than physically enacting them.
4. If you look at social networking sites (other than the history/start up), what is their purpose anyways? To you, what audience do these sites seem to target? Myspace is all about music promotion now, especially trendy music. Do you think it's right for a website to ban it's own customer it appeals to?

Literally what I said are some things I would write in a report. Oftentimes asking the reader questions is an effective persuasive technique. Unless your teacher is grading you on technical writing or essay (you said report, not essay), he or she shouldn't see the explicit questions as fallacies.