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Saturday, August 8, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
MySpace is for Kids
So you have a MySpace account and your not a kid? Lots of adults have Myspace accounts including myself, Yes, I have Myspace but my only friend is Tom. My account is for one reason only and that is to have access to other Myspace sites and to spy.
Spying on kids is kind of a creepy idea but is the reason many parents join MySpace. I recommend parents join Myspace for a couple of reasons. One is to creep out their children so they will make their accounts private. The other is to see what is going on in the Myspace world by checking out some public sites.
By making a social network site "private" only people who have been invited as a friend are allowed to view content. The account now is a bit safer by not allowing in unknown strangers, at least not without consideration first.
Parents should get into MySpace and look around at some of the public sites. They will find a lot of legitimate looking sites and some questionable ones also. One thing I have noticed is how these sites appear. They are full of glitter, stars, and cool looking graphics. These sites say "look at me...see my tatoo!" OK maybe I went too far there...or did I? Look around and what do you see? Trash talk, teen talk, bad language, and idle chit-chat. To me these sites look like a popularity contest. MySpace in general reflects the present teen culture I see at high school.
How many friends have they collected? Do you think they are really friends? How many friends collected on social networks become long term friends? Take notice how many friends a MySpacer has, 16, 35, 110, 225, or more? Most people only have a hand-full of people they can call true friends so who are all these people called "friends"?
MySpace is territory claimed by teens. MySpace is a digital place for a digital generation to let their "Freak Flag Fly". Parents and authority figures are not really welcome. If you are an adult and want to creep-out a teen just invite yourself to be a their MySpace friend. The only adults really welcome are movie stars, rock stars, porn stars, and other stars considered cool by teens.
Some adults use MySpace for social reasons and may befriend other adults, but I think there are better sites for adults. Facebook is gaining ground and is popular for the college and adult crowd, but better yet might be to find a good blog where connections with intelligent like minded friends and strangers can be made.
Facebook is less kid oriented but is gaining ground with young people who have had enough of MySpace. I think what is happening with teens is they are and will maintain MySpace accounts for a while after they graduate from highschool so they don't lose contact with their friends, but they will gravitate towards Facebook and blogs as they mature and as their friends move on. Facebook was designed at Harvard for school use and is about content rather then pretty glitter and glamor. MySpace users who switch will want more design options so I have to wonder if Facebook will eventually allow it.
I admit to having an active "cough-cough" Facebook account myself. I have made some connections with family and friends of who I actually have met in real life. My use is limited though. I like to post pictures of family and interesting things in my life. I like to say howdy now and then and joke around some, but I hate idle chit-chat, I don't collect farm animals and banana trees, and I have no causes without a cause. This does not make me any better or worse then those who do like those things. Those things are fun for some and are designed to get people talking to one another. but it is just not my style.
Worse yet, I admit to having a "cough-cough" Twitter account but I just don't tweet much, That sounds so silly, I read somewhere that "Real Men Don't Tweet". I am confident in my masculinity though, "but you won't find me wearing pink!" Anyways I had to see what all the Twitter fuss is all about so I joined up. Twitter is too much work for me. Like I said before, I hate idol chit chat so why would I want to tell people "What I am Doing Now"? I do like the idea of keeping messages down to 140 characters or less, I only wish email was designed with that restriction. For all the hype Twitter has been given in the media I will continue to observe and try to find the value of tweeting. "Real Men Have an Open Mind", I made that up.
I have claimed that MySpace is for kids to make adults aware of the territorial boundary. Parents need to be involved with their childrens online activity but do so without getting into trouble. Some parents go too far by contacting their childs friends, and that creeps them out and creeps friends parents out also "who are also spying". Just remember it is not called "YourSpace" so give them space and give them help, this is new to all of us.
Spying on kids is kind of a creepy idea but is the reason many parents join MySpace. I recommend parents join Myspace for a couple of reasons. One is to creep out their children so they will make their accounts private. The other is to see what is going on in the Myspace world by checking out some public sites.
By making a social network site "private" only people who have been invited as a friend are allowed to view content. The account now is a bit safer by not allowing in unknown strangers, at least not without consideration first.
Parents should get into MySpace and look around at some of the public sites. They will find a lot of legitimate looking sites and some questionable ones also. One thing I have noticed is how these sites appear. They are full of glitter, stars, and cool looking graphics. These sites say "look at me...see my tatoo!" OK maybe I went too far there...or did I? Look around and what do you see? Trash talk, teen talk, bad language, and idle chit-chat. To me these sites look like a popularity contest. MySpace in general reflects the present teen culture I see at high school.
How many friends have they collected? Do you think they are really friends? How many friends collected on social networks become long term friends? Take notice how many friends a MySpacer has, 16, 35, 110, 225, or more? Most people only have a hand-full of people they can call true friends so who are all these people called "friends"?
MySpace is territory claimed by teens. MySpace is a digital place for a digital generation to let their "Freak Flag Fly". Parents and authority figures are not really welcome. If you are an adult and want to creep-out a teen just invite yourself to be a their MySpace friend. The only adults really welcome are movie stars, rock stars, porn stars, and other stars considered cool by teens.
Some adults use MySpace for social reasons and may befriend other adults, but I think there are better sites for adults. Facebook is gaining ground and is popular for the college and adult crowd, but better yet might be to find a good blog where connections with intelligent like minded friends and strangers can be made.
Facebook is less kid oriented but is gaining ground with young people who have had enough of MySpace. I think what is happening with teens is they are and will maintain MySpace accounts for a while after they graduate from highschool so they don't lose contact with their friends, but they will gravitate towards Facebook and blogs as they mature and as their friends move on. Facebook was designed at Harvard for school use and is about content rather then pretty glitter and glamor. MySpace users who switch will want more design options so I have to wonder if Facebook will eventually allow it.
I admit to having an active "cough-cough" Facebook account myself. I have made some connections with family and friends of who I actually have met in real life. My use is limited though. I like to post pictures of family and interesting things in my life. I like to say howdy now and then and joke around some, but I hate idle chit-chat, I don't collect farm animals and banana trees, and I have no causes without a cause. This does not make me any better or worse then those who do like those things. Those things are fun for some and are designed to get people talking to one another. but it is just not my style.
Worse yet, I admit to having a "cough-cough" Twitter account but I just don't tweet much, That sounds so silly, I read somewhere that "Real Men Don't Tweet". I am confident in my masculinity though, "but you won't find me wearing pink!" Anyways I had to see what all the Twitter fuss is all about so I joined up. Twitter is too much work for me. Like I said before, I hate idol chit chat so why would I want to tell people "What I am Doing Now"? I do like the idea of keeping messages down to 140 characters or less, I only wish email was designed with that restriction. For all the hype Twitter has been given in the media I will continue to observe and try to find the value of tweeting. "Real Men Have an Open Mind", I made that up.
I have claimed that MySpace is for kids to make adults aware of the territorial boundary. Parents need to be involved with their childrens online activity but do so without getting into trouble. Some parents go too far by contacting their childs friends, and that creeps them out and creeps friends parents out also "who are also spying". Just remember it is not called "YourSpace" so give them space and give them help, this is new to all of us.
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