For social networks, pressure is once again mounting to curb the threat of sexual deviants preying on young members.
Until recently, longtime industry leader MySpace bore the brunt
of the criticism from safety advocates. But with its sharp rise in popularity, Facebook seems to have inherited MySpace's thorny crown.
"It's become Facebook's cross to bear," said Forrester
Research analyst Josh Bernoff, who insisted the site's future depends on its ability to address the predator issue.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo last month issued a subpoena against
Facebook, taking issue with the site's claim that it provides a secure environment for young people.
Then, last week, New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram issued a subpoena to Facebook,
requesting that the company turn over information by this Friday as to whether registered sex offenders have profiles on the site. (Milgram's office sent letters to 11 other social networking sites,
including MySpace, asking them to release similar data.)
Even Google--not known for its success in the area of social networking--recently came under fire for its arguably lax safety practices.
When a Brazilian nonprofit named SaferNet reported instances of child pornography on Google's Orkut site, the search leader cut its losses and removed all advertising from the social network.
On
the home front, parental concern over online safety has risen more than 30% since last year, according to Brand Keys, a New York-based market research firm.
"Parents seem to be realizing that
what seemed like a fairly benign issue is actually very real," said Brand Keys president Robert Passikoff.
To address this issue, Virginia recently became the first state to require public schools
to teach Internet safety. Officials in other states, including Connecticut and North Carolina, are also calling for stronger government regulation of social networking sites.
Yet despite this
recent rise in concern, many advertisers and agencies appear to have already accepted the risks associated with social networking.
"It's not an issue coming up in conversations," said Bob
Liodice, president and CEO of the Association of National Advertisers. "It's not on the radar."
Peter Levin, CEO of media agency Glow Interactive, said he is in the process of building Facebook
widgets for several clients.
"I'm all for greater safety measures, but we're not really talking about that with our clients," said Levin. "I think they understand that it's still a wild, wild
West environment out there."
Aware of the threat posed by parental and state regulation, social networks are taking action. Facebook last month said it had identified and removed an unspecified
number of profiles belonging to registered sex offenders, according to a statement released by Anne Milgram's office. The New Jersey attorney general, however, has demanded more precise data, like the
names and e-mail addresses of these individuals.
Such aggressive tactics, it seems, have already produced positive results. Earlier this year, subpoenas were issued by multiple state attorneys
general against MySpace, which ultimately led to the identification and deletion of 268 registered sex offenders' profiles in New Jersey, according to Milgram's office.
Last year, the News
Corp.-owned MySpace hired a chief security officer. Hemanshu Nigam, previously the director of consumer security outreach and child-safe computing at Microsoft, has worked since his appointment in
April to consolidate a number of duties previously filled by other managers--including outreach to law enforcement, and overseeing site security and user safety.
In addition, MySpace has
independently executed a number of public awareness campaigns promoting online safety, removed thousands of sex offenders from its site, strengthened privacy options, and claims to be perfecting
software for parents to monitor their kids' activity online.