Reporter’s Notebook: Social Networking Symposium
March 14, 2008 by Chad Day
Here’s some information that was brought up at the symposium that might be of interest.
Background for context from original story.
California State University-Fullerton professor Paul Lester prepared for Wednesday’s discussion at MU under an azure sky while palm trees swayed in the ocean breeze and the surf broke against the shore just behind him — while sitting in his office on the California campus.
“Let me pull up the Power Point,” he said. “Just a sec.”
A line of blue dots shot from Lester’s chest to the display, and his slideshow appeared on the screen. On the beach behind him, empty rows of rugs, couches and chairs, some suspended in mid-air, waited for his students to teleport in.
Lester, who gave his presentation from California, demonstrated how he uses Second Life to teach a section of his communications class for the nearly 40 people attending the Social Networking Symposium on Wednesday afternoon in Memorial Union.
Additional information:
Lester was asked to teach this course on Second Life by California State University — Fullerton because classroom space was becoming a problem.
He has two unorthodox rules for the class: No changing of appearance and No flying.
Second Life is beginning to attract a diverse cross-section of businesses and organizations, including banks, retailers, news organizations and non-profit groups.
Debra Mason, director of the Center for Religion and the Professions at MU, mentioned that the center has a presence on the virtual reality Web site.
Rebecca Phillips, vice president of social networking for Beliefnet, spoke about how social networking sites have changed religious communities. With 3 million users, Beliefnet is the largest religion and spirituality Web site in the country. Phillips said Beliefnet has a liberal definition of social networking.
“It’s not just about users connecting to other users, but users connecting to the content,” she said. “If you want to express yourself on a page, that’s social networking.”
Phillips said Beliefnet allows members to connect to people with similar beliefs using message boards, blogs and prayer circles. Prayer circles allow users to request prayers for loved ones or share their thoughts with people who have posted prayers.
“On Beliefnet, a lot of our users are lost socially,” she said. “They can find members of the same community. I’ve been astounded by the amount of real friendships that start on Beliefnet.”
Phillips also debunked some of the myths concerning social networking, particularly that all users are teenagers or young adults. She noted that the demographic of Beliefnet users is typically 30- to 50-year-old women.
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Phillips also highlighted the active political discuss on the Beliefnet Community. She noted that some of the posts are heated opinions and not always in best taste. However, the Web site doesn’t have to do a lot of policing of offensive posts because the most dedicated users handle most situations within the online community.
Phillips said that some of the site’s members expressed concern over the recent acquisition of Beliefnet by News Corp, which incorporated the site into the Fox division. The site provided a forum for members to discuss their response to the acquisition.
“Our goal was to make sure that the community concerns were heard,” Phillips said.
However, some of these members questioned Beliefnet’s decision to not discuss the merger with them before it was finalized. Phillips responded by saying that while the Web site’s readers are important, they are not going to control any business decisions.
“We are a business. We are not a non-profit organization,” she said. “We care a lot about how much we make.”
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Patricia Fry, a professor in MU’s School of Law, talked about legal issues facing social networking sites.
Fry said it is important to realize that what happens on sites such as Beliefnet or Second Life have consequences in the physical world and that criminal law applies to the Internet. She also advocated a laissez-faire approach to regulating what goes on online.
“I would urge, personally, a hands-off approach and let these things grow and develop,” Fry said. “This stuff’s exciting, and we don’t really know where it’s going to end up.”
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Fry also noted that anything posted on the Internet usually has a long shelf time, making it easier for someone to find personal information.
A question from the audience yielded some insight into law enforcement techniques involving social networking sites. Although law enforcement policies vary, MU Police does not monitor Facebook or MySpace on a regular basis. However, they are legally obligated to go onto the medium in the case of an official investigation.
