MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., has recently announced new steps it will be taking to protect the identities of its users. The move comes in response to widespread abuse of the site for such things as online child sex solicitation. This is a very positive first-step toward making the Internet safer for children and teens.

MySpace and attorneys general from New Jersey, North Carolina, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York recognized that an ongoing industry effort is required to keep up with the latest technological developments and to find additional ways to protect teens, so they developed what they are calling “A Joint Statement on Key Principles of Social Networking Sites Safety” that will initially be followed by MySpace but is designed for industry-wide adoption. Cooperation from other social-networking sites is sought, namely from Facebook, which in October reached its own agreement with the New York attorney general’s office over sex offender data on their site.

Specifically, The Principles of Social Networking fall into four categories: Site Design and Functionality; Education and Tools for Parents, Educators and Children; Law Enforcement Cooperation; and an Online Safety Task Force. Each category carries with it several requirements, all geared towards giving legal authorities greater controls for networking sites to prevent predators from using them to contact children. The attorneys general acknowledged that existing standards of law enforcement simply don’t suffice in the rapidly changing climate of the Internet.

“The Internet can be a dangerous place for children and young adults, with sexual predators surfing social networking sites in search of potential victims and cyber bullies sending threatening and anonymous messages,” said New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram.

This is certainly a laudable development in the realm of Internet safety for minors. However, we view this move as what should the first of many steps to make the Internet more safe for children and teens. In the near-term, parents should know that this effort is hardly fail-safe. Young children can still be targeted by predators posing as their peers or other “safe” figures. More importantly, MySpace represents but one of many social networks and Internet websites where predatory individuals can target children and teens can be cyber bullied. To truly protect one’s child and learn with whom your child interacts with on the Internet, services like Reputation.com’s MyChild remain necessary and invaluable.

How reliable is the Internet? Perhaps more importantly, how reliable does the average American assume the Internet to be? A new report from the Pew Research Project (released December 30, 2007) entitled “Information Searches that Solve Problems,” reveals a new trend in the way Americans solve their biggest problems. According to the report, when faced with a serious concern (be that concern financially based, a health concern, a government policy question, or any of 10 possible problems presented by the Pew Research Project) 58% of respondents replied that they had turned to the Internet as a trusted source of information. That’s compared to 53% (the second greatest percentage) of respondents who replied that, when faced with a pertinent question, they turned to professionals, such as doctors and lawyers, for answers.

As the Pew Research Project report shows, people with questions are turning to the Internet more than to alternative sources, including professional experts, family members, published articles, and government agencies. As Internet use grows, a trust in its relevance and reliability also increases in the psyche of the American public. With more and more people turning to the internet as a trusted source of information, it is important to make sure that one’s personal information accurate and relevant online.

Slashdot recently picked up this story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune that highlights the importance of online reputation management for students. According to the piece, more than 100 Eden Prairie High School Students have been reprimanded or suspended from extracurricular activities after school officials discovered photos of the students partying on Facebook. One high school lacrosse player faces an eight game suspension stemming from photos showing him holding beer and other alcoholic beverages at a party. A second student was reprimanded, but not punished for pictures of her standing near a bar.

“Students throughout the school are talking about getting stung by the Facebook photos, but the administration has not made any public announcements about it or sent out any information, Kalaidis said.”

While administrators have refused to comment on the case, students are talking about the mass discipline and their Facebook accounts. “It’s dumb to have these pictures up on the Internet,” remarked one rebuked student. “A lot of kids’ lives are going to be ruined as far as scholarships and sports are concerned.” He has since deleted his Facebook account.

Much like college recruiters, high school officials are now monitoring the digital profiles of their students. Most educators say they use this technology to better understand and connect with their pupils, but there is no doubt that they are also looking for criminal and inappropriate activities in cyberspace.

Reputation.com encourages students to monitor and manage what they place online. As social media continues to grow, IRL troubles will more often begin in cyberspace.

Peter Schworm has a great piece over at Boston.com that points out how college admissions officers utilize social media to attract top-tier applicants that spend most of their time on the web.

“In a study released this fall, UMass-Dartmouth researchers found that colleges are adopting Internet technologies such as podcasts, message boards, blogs, and social networks faster than Fortune 500 companies. The explosion of social media, higher education specialists say, is revolutionizing the college search process and the way colleges and prospective students interact.”

Although direct mail and glossy brochures still have value in promoting higher education, more and more colleges and universities are building blogs, uploading videos on YouTube, and podcasting in order to find future students. Colby College has launched insideColby to give graduating seniors “a student perspective on life at Colby College.” Similarly, Simmons College has set up MySpace and Facebook accounts for its admissions officers and many recruiters are now instant messaging and texting future applicants.

Schworm adds that “hundreds of colleges are recruiting through sites where high-school students post searchable personal profiles.” The influx of college recruiters on social media sites creates a double-edged sword for students. As admissions officers become more tech savvy, teens will have an easier time connecting with recruiters and narrowing down their list of schools. However, university recruiters will also be able to make preliminary evaluations based on student profiles, photos, friends and comments they find. Colleges are now seeing a raw, unvarnished portrait of their potential applicant pool in the digital world and students should be aware of the importance of monitoring and maintaining their online profiles. Universities are working hard to strengthen their digital reputations and attract high achieving seniors. Students should also take steps to ensure that the image they create online matches the one they present to a college admissions board.

The New York Times Fashion & Style writer Stephanie Rosenbloom took a
light-hearted look at how one presents oneself online in this era of
social networks and online dating.

From the article:

“Now that first impressions are often made in cyberspace, not face-to-face, people are not only strategizing about how to virtually convey who they are, but also grappling with how to craft an e-version of themselves that appeals to multiple audiences — co-workers, fraternity brothers, Mom and Dad.”

“Putting Your Best Cyberface Forward” does an excellent job
of illustrating how important one’s online identity is and also points out
the lengths to which individuals will go to manage their
identity in cyberspace.

Perhaps most interestingly, users at NYT.com launched into a
worthwhile discussion on means they use to get back control over
their online identities. There are many strategies one can use to
take control of one’s online identity, Reputation.com among them.

Quoting from the comments:

“Hired reputation defender to look up what others could find about
me, and then built a new homepage when I found out what was out there.”

“I take advantage of the opportunity web communication provides to
review and edit my ‘speech’ before it flies off to the recipient. For
a person who chronically finds himself in the middle of some too-long
sentence with no idea at how to connect what he’s said so far with
the intended conclusion, it feels great.”

“When you Google me, you can find three letters I wrote to the NY
Times that were published (all in the last 4 years). Makes me feel
smart and proud.”

You can check out and participate in the discussion here.