Do you think social networking on the net is a bit creepy?

[DRS]

[Fairydust]

These social networking sites freak me out a bit. Only a couple of weeks ago, there were a couple of schoolgirls on This Morning telling of how they were duped by some 55 year old guy into thinking he was their age, and turned up on their school trip to a museum to make contact with them. God only knows what would have happened if they didn't realise who he was and told a teacher.

I think you have to be very careful about who you allow to view your profile, etc. and it is very difficult to tell who is genuine and who is not. Parents especially should be aware of any sites of this kind which their children go to.

[Snake]

i think cheese is nice

[rena w]

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[QueenBee]

Yeah, creepy and dangerous. I don't believe in all these facebook, bebo type stuff, as it can waste way too much time and is highly unproductive. If kids or indeed anyone wants friends there are actual people out there rather than just words on a screen! This is my limit to anything other than work or the odd email to friends/family, and I like this 'cos I can get on my soapbox for 10 mins LOL. In this day and age, I think there is too much risk being on-line if you're going to start supposed friendships.

[Warren Davenport]

No I consider it a natural flow on with what technology is available. Hell man, no forces you to social or business network if you don't want to.

[Ben .]

It depends on exactly what you mean by social networking. I use messenger software, and have been known to contact and meet people through chat. Generally it was pretty good for me, I never had any real problems, though I did find that many people there are appearing to be nice online, but when you meet them they just try to make you spend money - so it was a waste of their time.

For sites like 'hi5' and 'facebook' I have no interest. I think generally they're doing business, and you pay for your service one way or the other. They don't offer much of any interest to me, and I prefer not to post myself publicly like that. I think it's rather sad that people get wrapped up in a virtual world. If you know the people personally, then there's not much need.

There are, however, a lot of creepy people out there, and I'm glad to say that I have a very good nose for them. But I can say for a fact that many people who think they can judge are hopeless. I heard of a lot of nightmares, but that's more down to the stupidity of the people using networking. It's very easy for transvestites, for example, to pose as a woman, and lure a man. It's also easy for men to pose as younger and nicer people. Once a woman who looked rather like a 28 year old ex model went to meet me, and an unrecogniseable short fat greasy woman turned up! I was shocked, and laughed out loud. I met her in the front door of a Mall, so it was very easy to escape. The opposite happened many more times, people were more friendly in the flesh than they were online.

I think facebook is a huge waste of time, and highly unproductive. I prefer to go out and meet friends in real life, or go out to watch a movie (it's affordable where I live, not a luxury). It's bigger, I think, in the US than anywhere else in the world (around a third of the population - 125 million out of population 300 million) - so really it is inevitable. Many other users are asian women dreaming of getting money from some guy in the US. I know of many girls who get monthly incomes of maybe 3000 dollars or more from some guy who thinks they need it, who had sex with them for a 2 month holiday and think it's love... Sure, women love money ) funny.

I think they offer a better alternative to the 'dating' sites, and better alternatives for people who don't have social opportunities than any other outlet. I remember people used to place ads in newspapers - now that was a lot worse. At least online, you have the opportunity to connect with messenger and webcam and microphone and chat regularly for a while, which is by far a more effective way to get to know someone. (Non-verbal language is very important, 90% of communication... so webcam and voice tones are important).

I did experience with Yahoo chat the heyday, which lasted for a year or two, and it's downfall. I think that this is built into networking. Eventually, the good people give up on it, and the bad people get to be the vast majority.

That's why I don't worry about Facebook taking over the net. As more users flock to it, the chances that the people who make you think it's time to quit will find you increases. Once that happens, poof, away you go -- and Facebook will join SixDegrees, Friendster and their pals on the scrapheap.