CREEPY SOCIAL MEDIA

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OK, you'll need to be familiar with Facebook to get this one. The Girl and i play games at FB--Farmville and Cafe World. It helps to have "neighbors" in those games, so it is not uncommon to add people as friends who are complete strangers to you, but who have been recommended by friends who play the games, or who have many of the people you know listed as their friends. Facebook is always throwing up friends suggestions for you, based on your friends list--the people whose avatars show up on your home page always list at least one mutual friend.

Another aspect of this (call it an artifact) is that adults who want to play two or more farms or cafes will use their kids' accounts to set up the extra farms and/or cafes. So, you'll have an adult who is playing the game, and is using a child's account, and you'll add the child to your friends list so that everyone can benefit. (In terms of the games, there is a genuine benefit to having as many neighbors as possible.)

Well, we have just lately added one such account for a girl who looks to be about eight or ten years old. That's not a problem, the Girl has had her mom on her friends list forever. But something else is now happening that's bugging me.

Now, on my home page, i see pictues of children, real children, unmistakably children even with the little, tiny avatar pic. I often click on these avatars to see who the mutual friends listed are, in case i might want to "friend" them for sake of the games. But this one seriously creeps me out. I am not going to make a friend offer to a kid who is ten years old. Some of the pics look as though these kids are younger than that. Once, because the avatar pic was so small and indistinct, i clicked on a photo, and when i got to the profile page, it was obvious this was a girl about 13 or 14 years old. Before i closed that page, i saw a notice that she only "friends" people she already knows or who are recommended by friends, and approved by her parents. As i closed the page, i thought "good for you."

But it seriously creeps me out that they're sending friend recommendations of young children to a 60-year old man. I think this is grossly irresponsible of Facebook. Maybe i'm overthinking this, though. Do you think it is reasonable to expect Facebook to be a little more careful about something like this? I'm tellin' ya, it creeps me out every time i open my home page and there's a picture of a little girl in the upper right hand corner.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 17 • Views: 12,739 • Replies: 165

@Setanta,

That's creepy alright.

It's one reason I never use a picture of sozlet as my profile picture. (Even a pic of the two of us.) I know that I can't control who sees that picture. (It used to be that with the highest privacy settings only my friends could see my profile pic, everyone else would see the FB default avatar, if they could see anything at all. No longer.)

I think ultimately that has more to do with kids using Facebook than the "people you might know" feature, though. The feature has a lot to do with the core purposes of Facebook -- social networking/ finding people you'd like to reconnect with. The "people you might know" thing has definitely made me gasp and rush to friend the suggested person more than once.

Sozlet's 10 and is NOT allowed to use Facebook. Dunno when/ if I'll let her but not yet, that's for sure.

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@Setanta,

Yes, this is creepy.

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@Setanta,

I ignore the friend recommendations, don't even notice them anymore. I'd rather decide on my own whether I want to befriend a friend of a friend for one of the games you mentioned.

That said, many of the adults on FB use photos from their childhood for their avatars. I think FB would have quite a difficult time trying to determine which were genuine youngsters and which were puppet accounts of an adult or an adult using their childhood photos for the avatar.

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@Butrflynet,

Or conversely they would have a very easy time simply not recommending people under the age of 16 or 18 to anyone. Like you I ignore friend recommendations, and am perfectly capable to find old acquaintances from my friend's friend list.

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@Butrflynet,

I can see that, but you're asked for your birthdate for your profile page. You can refuse to publish it, but i believe you have to provide it. If that is true, i'd say that they have no business putting up friend recommendations to me for people who are 40 or more years younger than i am. It's not about the avatar pic, it's about the age.

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@Setanta,

I don t do much on Face Book.
I got on it at the request of the NRA.
I made a brief effort to promote civil rights on it (2nd Amendment freedom).

Mostly, I just forgot about it, tho technically, I 'm still on there,
but I believe in simply playing it straight and in speaking to anyone
who chooses to speak to me, wherever I happen to be,
regardless of age. Anything I have to say, I 'd freely say
in front of 10 police and 20 FBI + the person 's family.
I 'm no snob; old, young or middle aged r all OK,
unless I dislike the personality of the individual, again regardless of age. I don't discriminate based on age.

David

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@Setanta,

People routinely lie about that anyway though, especially kids. Officially they are supposed to be over 13, and I know puh-lenty of under-13-year-olds who have their "high school" listed.

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@Setanta,

I. If these accounts are authentic and the owner of the account is the child in the photograph and the child is less then 13 then clearly they are violating Facebook's age requirement.

Quote:

What is the minimum age required to sign up for Facebook? In order to be eligible to sign up for Facebook, users must be thirteen (13) years of age or older .

II. If the accounts are not authentic, meaning the person opened an account merely an adult using a faked child's account? By the prickling of our collective thumbs, something wicked these way comes.

So far, its a lose-lose for everyone. Facebook should clean their house of either set of accounts.

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@sozobe,

sozobe wrote:

People routinely lie about that anyway though, especially kids.
Officially they are supposed to be over 13, and I know puh-lenty
of under-13-year-olds who have their "high school" listed.

I remember, as a kid, I detested the stench of tobacco smoke,
but I was offended in seeing signs prohibiting sale of cigarettes
to people of my age. I resented it.

If I were 10 or 12, I might well resent being shut out of it
if I wanted to participate. I might very well do what was necessary
to defeat their rejection. I can understand anyone doing that.

David

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@Butrflynet,

I ignore all Facebook games and game request no matter if I know the person's genuine identity or not.

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There are supposed to be half a billion people signed up for Facebook. Based on even the slimmest averages, that means there's thousands and thousands of paedophiles on FB. That's another reason this creeps me out.

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@tsarstepan,

That's not terribly helpful--i'm only there to play the games, and there's nothing wrong with that.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

I can see that, but you're asked for your birthdate for your profile page. You can refuse to publish it, but i believe you have to provide it. If that is true, i'd say that they have no business putting up friend recommendations to me for people who are 40 or more years younger than i am. It's not about the avatar pic, it's about the age.

I rarely give my correct birth date or birth year to websites when they request it. All they need the date for is to cover their butts for the "no children under (age)" rule if they accept monies on their site.

Just because a site asks for information doesn't mean you have to give them the correct data.

I usually keep a few alternative data profiles for use on sites that require those data fields be completed.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

If that is true, i'd say that they have no business putting up friend recommendations to me for people who are 40 or more years younger than i am. It's not about the avatar pic, it's about the age.

Take into account, of course, that would eliminate a full 99% of the users on FB.

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@Questioner,

If they're teenies or younger, that's fine by me. (Smart ass)

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@Butrflynet,

You know, you always try to make it seem like you've got everything figured out, no big deal. So what if some people lie about their age? If their reported age is under 18, then FB has no business making a friend recommendation to someone my age--and i've not lied about my age.

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@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

I ignore all Facebook games and game request no matter if I know the person's genuine identity or not.

I feel that way too.
I have no interest in playing games.

David

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@Butrflynet,

Setanta wrote:

I can see that, but you're asked for your birthdate for your profile page. You can refuse to publish it, but i believe you have to provide it. If that is true, i'd say that they have no business putting up friend recommendations to me for people who are 40 or more years younger than i am. It's not about the avatar pic, it's about the age.

Butrflynet wrote:

I rarely give my correct birth date or birth year to websites when they request it. All they need the date for is to cover their butts for the "no children under (age)" rule if they accept monies on their site.

Just because a site asks for information doesn't mean you have to give them the correct data.

For security reasons, that is a good idea.
Your age is none of their business
(regardless of the burdens that the law has put on them).

David

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I have never used Facebook. Several months ago my 11 year old daughter asked if she could register with Facebook. She had to lie about her birthdate in order for the registration to be accepted. She said that is how some of her friends got their account. When I found out that she lied about her birthdate, I immediately asked Facebook to delete her account. Does Facebook have a kids only section?

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