MySpace seems to be aiming hard at a bullseye, but consistently missing the target entirely. This social media platform has failed to capture the affinity of the world’s mainstream audience so it has now focused its attention on a “fanatic” target market. While MySpace claims to offer more profile customization to their users than Facebook, I have been impressed only by the lack of technical functionality by this product. If MySpace were to tackle its obvious technical difficulties, it could possibly become a useful online gathering place for those who are more individualistic than the drones that bow to their God - Facebook.
Social networks, when fully functional, have obvious value to most of us as we use it to “meet” new people and connect with those we already know. We freely share information about our daily activities and whereabouts. Law enforcement officers value this type of self-posted data as it presents a fertile field of information where perpetrators unwittingly divulge their guilt. Fifty years ago, criminals' mouths got them into trouble. Now, criminals brag on MySpace or Twitter, which likewise gets them into trouble (Marsico, Jr. 972). Police officers routinely use social networking sites to investigate crimes and those suspected of committing crimes (Marsico, Jr. 968). Facebook owners realized that criminals would use their site and in fact, Facebook has a law enforcement guide that was prepared exclusively for police officers (Marsico, Jr. 971).
Not only are there officers patrolling the internet but criminals also have found a way to turn the tables on their enemies. “Photographs of undercover officers are being posted” (Marsico, Jr. 971) so that cohorts may be on the look out for imposters in their midst. I would think that the probability of an undercover officer being recognized has increased greatly due to this particular use of social networking.
The previous two issues are caused by the user’s true identity being revealed. There is a whole other world of devious behavior going on when a user chooses to create a false identity. Most of us are familiar with the mother in Missouri that taunted an adversary of her daughter using a fake MySpace account. Tragically this interaction ended with the thirteen year old victim committing suicide.
The internet is full of links where people admit creating a false account on Facebook or MySpace to spy on or take revenge on a targeted person. Posts like this one from “missbeezie, All I did was call her fat from a fake myspace guy cause I knew that would piss her off. Am I really breaking a bunch of laws here?????.” When I attended the Hot Topic discussion a couple of weeks ago in the Ferguson Center, several students freely admitted that they had created false accounts in the past for a variety of reasons.
Where does it end? Online social media knowingly and unknowingly hosts users who are representing themselves accurately, as they wish they were but with some hint of truth, as someone entirely imaginary with no link to reality and as the person they believe you might trust just enough to put yourself in danger. USER BEWARE!
Works Cited
Marsico, Jr., Edward M. "Social Networking Websites: Are MySpace and Facebook the Fingerprints of the Twenty-First Century?." Widener Law Journal. 19. (2010): 972. Print.
--- "Social Networking Websites: Are MySpace and Facebook the Fingerprints of the Twenty-First Century?." Widener Law Journal. 19. (2010): 968. Print.
--- "Social Networking Websites: Are MySpace and Facebook the Fingerprints of the Twenty-First Century?." Widener Law Journal. 19. (2010): 971. Print.
--- "Social Networking Websites: Are MySpace and Facebook the Fingerprints of the Twenty-First Century?." Widener Law Journal. 19. (2010): 971. Print.
Missbeezie, . "Fake MySpace Account." 04/19/2008. Online Posting to Defamation, Slander and Libel. Web. 20 Feb 2011.
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