Facebook, Myspace, and Xanga: Why All 3 Are a Danger

Social networking websites run rampant in the big world of the World Wide Web and there are many legitimate uses that a person can have for all three of the major websites, like Facebook, Myspace, or Xanga. Unfortunately, not everyone does have good intentions, but instead there are those people who carry the concept of social networking to feed their own habits. A couple examples of this is stalkers finding an innocent teenager to stalk and prey on, rapists who look for adolescents to commit their next crime, and others who only use social networking websites as a way to continue statistics of crime-ridden America.

Age Restrictions

There are age restrictions to using Myspace and you cannot have a Facebook account while in junior high. The age restrictions for Myspace, however, include not being able to create an account unless you are at least 14 years old. On the other hand, Facebook's Terms state that users can use a Facebook account if they are 13 years of age or older and in high school. The age requirement for Xanga is also 13 years old.

Safety Precautions

Myspace - Even though Myspace automatically makes a user's account "private" for children under 16 years old, they do have a glitch in the system. For a child under 16 years old, no one can add that user as a friend until they input some personal detail, like their email address or last name, about the child they're trying to add. That might stop a predator from adding a child under 16 years old to their friend list, however, it does not stop them from messaging the user under 16 years old. Therefore, users on Myspace can be threatened, harassed, stalked, and otherwise preyed upon through the use of the Myspace messaging system.

diagram of social networking

Credit: Old Dominion University

Copyright: Old Dominion University