Social networking is one of the most successful and popular tools to emerge from the Web 2.0 era. However, the increased interconnectivity and access to peoples- personal lives and information has created a plethora of opportunities for the nefarious side of human nature to manifest. This paper categorizes and describes the major types of anti-social behavior and criminal activity that can arise through undisciplined use and/or misuse of social media. We specifically address identity theft, misrepresentation of information posted, cyber bullying, children and social networking, and social networking in the work place. Recommendations are provided for how to reduce the risk of being the victim of a crime or engaging in embarrassing behavior that could irrevocably harm one-s reputation either professionally or personally. We also discuss what responsibilities social networking companies have to protect their users and also what law enforcement and policy makers can do to help alleviate the problems.
[1] ABC News (2010), "Immigrant Teen Taunted by Cyberbullies Hangs
Herself", (Online). Available: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cyberbullying-
factor-suicidemassachusetts-teen-irishimmigrant/
story?id=9660938
[2] A. Acquisti and R. Gross, "Predicting Social Security Numbers from
Public Data", in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 2009,
pp 10975-10980.
[3] Business Insider (2009), "Montana Town Demands Job Applicants'
Facebook Passwords", (Online). Available:
http://www.businessinsider.com/montana-town-demands-job-applicantsfacebook-
passwords-2009-6
[4] Cyber Bully Alert (2008), "Cyber Bullying Statistics that may Shock
You!",(Online). Available:
http://www.cyberbullyalert.com/blog/2008/08/cyberbullying-statisticsthat-
may-shock-you.
[5] J. DiMicco, D.R. Millen, W. Geyer, C. Dugan, B. Brownholtz and M.
Muller, "Motivations for social networking at work", in Proceedings of
the ACM 2008 conference on computer supported cooperative work, San
Diego, CA, USA, 2008, pp 711-720.
[6] R. Dhamija, J.D. Tygar and M. Hearst, "Why Phishing Works", in
Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing
systems, Canada, 2006, pp. 581-590.
[7] C.E. Drake, J.J. Oliver and E.J. Koontz, "Anatomy of a Phishing Email",
in First Conference on Email and Anti-Spam (CEAS), Mountain View,
CA, USA, 2004.
[8] C. Dwyer, S.R. Hiltz and K. Passerini, "Trust and Privacy Concerns
Within Social Networking Sites: A Comparison of Facebook and
MySpace", In Proceedings of AMCIS, 2007.
[9] R. Gross and A. Acquisti, "Information Revelation and Privacy in
Online Social Networks", in Proceedings of the ACM workshop on
privacy in electronic society, 2005, pp 71 - 80.
[10] Huffington Post (2009), "Alarming? One In Four Teens Admit Sexting
Nude Photos, Survey Finds" (Online). Available:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/03/sexting-teens-stilltexti_
n_378285.html
[11] B. Krishnamurthy and C.E. Wills, "Characterizing privacy in online
social networks", in Proceedings of the first workshop on online social
networks, Seattle, WA, USA, 2008, pp 37-42.
[12] Megan Meier Foundation (2012), (Online). Available:
http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/
[13] NextAdvisor (2008), "Facebook Identity Theft Protection Guide: 6 tips
to protect your identity on Facebook" (Online). Available:
http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/03/04/6-tips-to-protect-youridentity-
on-facebook/.
[14] NineMSN (2009), "Cyber bullying" (Online). Available:
http://today.ninemsn.com.au/entertainnent/840251/cyberbullying
[15] Reuters (2009), "Facebook surfing while sick costs Swiss woman job"
(Online). Available: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2009/04/24/us-swissfacebook-
job-idUKTRE53N4JF20090424.
[16] Reuters (2011), "Woman sentenced in Boston wedding show scam"
(Online). Available: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/18/usbridal-
fraud-idUSTRE72H8E820110318.
[17] Sophos Facebook ID Probe (2007) "Sophos Facebook ID probe shows
41% of users happy to reveal all to potential identity thieves" (Online).
Available: http://www.sophos.com/en-us/press-office/pressreleases/
2007/08/facebook.aspx, 2007.
[18] Today MSNBC (2009), "Her teen committed suicide over ÔÇÿsexting-"
(Online). Available:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29546030/ns/todayparenting/t/her-teencommitted-
suicide-over-sexting/
[19] Townsville Bulletin (2010), "Facebook fight a battle of words" (Online).
Available:
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2010/08/03/159881_news.
html.
[20] J. Wolak, "Online "predators" and their victims: Myths, realities, and
implications for prevention and treatment", The American Psychologist,
vol. 63, no. 2, pp. 111-128, 2008.
[21] H. Xu, N. Irani, S. Zhu and W. Xu, "Alleviating Parental Concerns for
Children-s Online Privacy: A Value Sensitive Design Investigation", in
Proceedings of the Twenty Ninth International Conference on
Information Systems, 2008.
[22] M. Ybarra and K. Mitchell, "How risky are social networking sites? A
comparison of places Online where Youth Sexual Solicitation and
Harassment Occurs", Pediatrics, vol. 121, no. 2, 2008, pp. e350 -e357.
[23] M. Ybarra, K. Mitchell, J. Wolak, D. Finkelhor, "Examining
characteristics and associated distress related to Internet harassment:
findings from the Second Youth Internet Safety Survey", Pediatrics, vol.
118, no. 4, 2006, pp. e1169 -e1177.
[1] ABC News (2010), "Immigrant Teen Taunted by Cyberbullies Hangs
Herself", (Online). Available: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cyberbullying-
factor-suicidemassachusetts-teen-irishimmigrant/
story?id=9660938
[2] A. Acquisti and R. Gross, "Predicting Social Security Numbers from
Public Data", in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 2009,
pp 10975-10980.
[3] Business Insider (2009), "Montana Town Demands Job Applicants'
Facebook Passwords", (Online). Available:
http://www.businessinsider.com/montana-town-demands-job-applicantsfacebook-
passwords-2009-6
[4] Cyber Bully Alert (2008), "Cyber Bullying Statistics that may Shock
You!",(Online). Available:
http://www.cyberbullyalert.com/blog/2008/08/cyberbullying-statisticsthat-
may-shock-you.
[5] J. DiMicco, D.R. Millen, W. Geyer, C. Dugan, B. Brownholtz and M.
Muller, "Motivations for social networking at work", in Proceedings of
the ACM 2008 conference on computer supported cooperative work, San
Diego, CA, USA, 2008, pp 711-720.
[6] R. Dhamija, J.D. Tygar and M. Hearst, "Why Phishing Works", in
Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing
systems, Canada, 2006, pp. 581-590.
[7] C.E. Drake, J.J. Oliver and E.J. Koontz, "Anatomy of a Phishing Email",
in First Conference on Email and Anti-Spam (CEAS), Mountain View,
CA, USA, 2004.
[8] C. Dwyer, S.R. Hiltz and K. Passerini, "Trust and Privacy Concerns
Within Social Networking Sites: A Comparison of Facebook and
MySpace", In Proceedings of AMCIS, 2007.
[9] R. Gross and A. Acquisti, "Information Revelation and Privacy in
Online Social Networks", in Proceedings of the ACM workshop on
privacy in electronic society, 2005, pp 71 - 80.
[10] Huffington Post (2009), "Alarming? One In Four Teens Admit Sexting
Nude Photos, Survey Finds" (Online). Available:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/03/sexting-teens-stilltexti_
n_378285.html
[11] B. Krishnamurthy and C.E. Wills, "Characterizing privacy in online
social networks", in Proceedings of the first workshop on online social
networks, Seattle, WA, USA, 2008, pp 37-42.
[12] Megan Meier Foundation (2012), (Online). Available:
http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/
[13] NextAdvisor (2008), "Facebook Identity Theft Protection Guide: 6 tips
to protect your identity on Facebook" (Online). Available:
http://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2008/03/04/6-tips-to-protect-youridentity-
on-facebook/.
[14] NineMSN (2009), "Cyber bullying" (Online). Available:
http://today.ninemsn.com.au/entertainnent/840251/cyberbullying
[15] Reuters (2009), "Facebook surfing while sick costs Swiss woman job"
(Online). Available: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2009/04/24/us-swissfacebook-
job-idUKTRE53N4JF20090424.
[16] Reuters (2011), "Woman sentenced in Boston wedding show scam"
(Online). Available: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/18/usbridal-
fraud-idUSTRE72H8E820110318.
[17] Sophos Facebook ID Probe (2007) "Sophos Facebook ID probe shows
41% of users happy to reveal all to potential identity thieves" (Online).
Available: http://www.sophos.com/en-us/press-office/pressreleases/
2007/08/facebook.aspx, 2007.
[18] Today MSNBC (2009), "Her teen committed suicide over ÔÇÿsexting-"
(Online). Available:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29546030/ns/todayparenting/t/her-teencommitted-
suicide-over-sexting/
[19] Townsville Bulletin (2010), "Facebook fight a battle of words" (Online).
Available:
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2010/08/03/159881_news.
html.
[20] J. Wolak, "Online "predators" and their victims: Myths, realities, and
implications for prevention and treatment", The American Psychologist,
vol. 63, no. 2, pp. 111-128, 2008.
[21] H. Xu, N. Irani, S. Zhu and W. Xu, "Alleviating Parental Concerns for
Children-s Online Privacy: A Value Sensitive Design Investigation", in
Proceedings of the Twenty Ninth International Conference on
Information Systems, 2008.
[22] M. Ybarra and K. Mitchell, "How risky are social networking sites? A
comparison of places Online where Youth Sexual Solicitation and
Harassment Occurs", Pediatrics, vol. 121, no. 2, 2008, pp. e350 -e357.
[23] M. Ybarra, K. Mitchell, J. Wolak, D. Finkelhor, "Examining
characteristics and associated distress related to Internet harassment:
findings from the Second Youth Internet Safety Survey", Pediatrics, vol.
118, no. 4, 2006, pp. e1169 -e1177.
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:51340", author = "Jarrod Trevathan and Trina Myers", title = "Anti-Social Networking?", abstract = "Social networking is one of the most successful and popular tools to emerge from the Web 2.0 era. However, the increased interconnectivity and access to peoples- personal lives and information has created a plethora of opportunities for the nefarious side of human nature to manifest. This paper categorizes and describes the major types of anti-social behavior and criminal activity that can arise through undisciplined use and/or misuse of social media. We specifically address identity theft, misrepresentation of information posted, cyber bullying, children and social networking, and social networking in the work place. Recommendations are provided for how to reduce the risk of being the victim of a crime or engaging in embarrassing behavior that could irrevocably harm one-s reputation either professionally or personally. We also discuss what responsibilities social networking companies have to protect their users and also what law enforcement and policy makers can do to help alleviate the problems.
", keywords = "Identity theft, misrepresentation, cyber bullying,
online scams.", volume = "6", number = "12", pages = "3431-9", }
