My MySpace Article.

[sir zach]

So what should I add to this? I feel like im missing something. Also feedback would be nice :)

> MySpace has many features to communicate with friends, current or forgotten. It was originally designed to be used as a “friend search engine.” If you have lost contact with a friend over many years, you were able to go onto MySpace and search for them. If that person had an account you two could reconnect with each other. But it has been fading into just another “online hang out place” to communicate with anyone, which has also raised the concern of parents. They are protecting their kids from predators, but MySpace has this ability too. MySpace has a bad reputation because of the way it can be used. One thing that not many people know about is all the security features MySpace has. This online community doesn’t need its “unsafe reputation.” MySpace doesn’t deserve this reputation; some of its users do instead.
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> There is a whole entire section on MySpace devoted to security and privacy of its users. One of the famous security options is to set a profile to private, meaning only the people you have added, or accepted, as a friend can view it. With another feature, users can’t just send a friend request; they may have to know your email or last name. This feature is optional but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to use it.
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> In order for people to find you they need a name or email. When you register an account you’re suppose to enter your full real name, this information is only used for the search option for your friends to find you. This goes for your Zip Code too; it is only used for searching capabilities. Location is different how ever, it is shown, but a lot of people don’t put their actual location. So just make a place up, people get a kick out of the places where people “live.”
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> One drawback is the ability for a person to send a message to someone that isn’t even on their friends list. But this is just like emailing, and almost everyone I know has an email, but not a MySpace. If someone you don’t know sends you an email, you can simply delete it or block that person. However, there may be ways for them to continue messaging you. If problems continue then you can report anyone by using the reporting feature, located on almost everyone’s profile (some of the profiles have them hidden). You can also block people on your friends list and delete them from your friends list.
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> A major problem parents have is the fact that they can’t read the messages their kids are sending to friends. Parents have a couple options on how to read these messages. One of these options is for the parents to get a MySpace account and add their kids to their friends list, so that they can read the comments and look over their profile. Another option is for parents to monitor their kids’ use of MySpace. This can be done by parents simply watching their kids go on it or by getting login information and access the account completely.
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> Another issue parents have with MySpace is their kids can put pictures of anything on their profile. A way to look at this is: If somebody sees a kid on the street they can stalk them. But on the internet, if a profile is set to private, all they can do is see the users default photo, which is the photo that is shown wherever your display name is shown, of that person. They can’t get any information about you if you use MySpace safely. Users can even set their photos (but not their default photo) to “Friends Only” so that only a user’s friends can view their profile.
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> Ads are a major problem, for many reasons. They can contain inappropriate content or hidden viruses. But the people running MySpace are very careful about what ads they show on the pages of MySpace. Parents can educate their kids that ads mostly lead to trouble. There are also “Ad Blockers” available all over the internet, try searching Download.com for some high rated ad blockers.
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> There are “Black Hackers” allover the internet, “Black Hackers” hack for non-beneficial reasons. There are very few, if any, “White Hackers” on MySpace, which are people the warn users that they are open to hacking. Black Hackers will log into any open account they find and post inappropriate content or viruses using your account. The ways to prevent this from happening is by creating a unique password, changing it often, and only enter your login information on MySpace.
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> From the information above there are many ways to keep you safe from predators and other online issues. If, parents, are still concerned about your kids safety then you could make a test account and do a run through and see how many “creeps” actually want to befriend you. If a predator bugs you on the test account try getting rid of them to help you decide if MySpace is safe enough for your kids. I hope this article gave out useful information about how to use MySpace safely.

Bump ?