“Twitter”. One of the fastest growing phenomena on the Internet according to the New York Times. So, what is it and do parents need to be concerned?
Twitter is a Social Networking site where people can follow one another and read their regular posted updates about their activities answering the question, “What are you doing?”. Of course, this can be a great thing, a way to keep family and friends updated on everyday things and a part of your life. Some people have had success using the site for business contacts and others have even found great jobs using Twitter. Twitter seems to be a site for the mass messaging, passing on “tweets” (short messages 140 words or less) to as many people as possible, according to your contact info. It is up to you to manage your contacts and be responsible with them, allowing only people you choose to see your tweets.
That being said, Twitter has a number of applications that can be added to Twitter profiles, some fun, some not. For example, TweetStalk. An app that allows anyone to view your profile without publicly being a follower…exactly what it implies, a stalker! So basically, if you keep your Twitter profile open to the public, anyone can “stalk” you. There is a way to protect your profile though, In the Settings Menu, under Accounts, you have to check the box “Protect my Updates”. That way, your tweets are only visible to people you have chosen.
Sometimes though, that safety precaution may not be enough. Twitter is becoming a popular venue for bullying by teens and tweens, done by most (but by no means all) within their social circle of ruthless enemies friends they have allowed. Twitter is a new level in nastiness since the harassing or bullying tweet can be sent to the masses, as many people as possible on the site. Usually Social sites make every effort to protect their users and put a stop to any bullying and harassment however, it seems that is not the case with Twitter. An unfortunate situation happened to a Twitter user in which she was being stalked and harassed. Complaints were made to Twitter personnel but with no satisfying results. Twitter did not uphold their Terms of Service which clearly state: “You must not abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other Twitter users.” I guess that’s why they have this a few statements later, “We reserve the right to alter these Terms of Use at any time. We may, but have no obligation to, remove Content and accounts containing Content that we determine in our sole discretion are unlawful, offensive, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable or violates any party’s intellectual property or these Terms of Use.” . Obviously, not using their discretion very wisely in this case of harassment! The whole story is definitely worth reading, please check it out here. Be warned that there is some objectionable language used when quoting the harassing “tweets”.
Twitter, as with most other Social Networking sites does not knowingly collect info or allow profiles for anyone 13 and under but, there are ways around that so, it’s a good idea for parents to know what sites the kids are on and what happens on them. Also, we’re not sure if Twitter would actually do anything about it in the end since it doesn’t seem that they take their TOS very seriously.
Think before you Tweet.
Do you have experiences with Twitter or any info that parents might find useful? Post a Comment!
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