http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14325063/site/newsweek/

Picture this situation: You’ve just gone to an awesome dorm party and to celebrate, you decide to take pictures of the event and post them on Facebook to save the memories and share it with your friends. A few days later, you learn that these pictures were viewed by administrators and that you were getting punished for drinking in a dorm. This is exactly what happened to Brad Davis, a freshman at Emory, and this is a perfect example of the dangers of social networks.

“Web of Risks” discusses the negatives of having social-networking websites. The purpose of these websites is to connect people from all over the world and allow people to post interests, pictures, videos and other such info to allow other people to know more about them and to also help people find others with common interests. However, the ability to share and find info so easily is also the bane of these networks. Generally, anyone can view anyone’s webpage and explore all the contents in it. This freedom causes websites such as Facebook to become risky for students. Facebook has become the main netwrok for college students. Given the opportunity, many students, like Brad Davis above, tend to put up pictures of themselves doing unlawful activities that college students think are cool. However, administrators of the school can also sign up for Facebook if they are graduates of the college or are student workers in that college. These administrators can easily get access to almost every picture on Facebook that is connected to their college. These pictures can then be used as evidence to punish the students in it.

Although online social networks are great places to promote communication and find new friends, it is not all fun and games. It is still necessary to be careful in what is posted, for websites still follow the same laws as the real world.