Tech Bitch

Social networks have grown rapidly in the UK over the last few years and their share of total UK Internet visits more than trebled between November 2005 and October 2007.

As social networks expand their subscriber base, the network effect kicks in and the average time users spend on them increases as their number of friends and contacts increase.

For example, Bebo trebled its market share of UK Internet visits between February 2005 and 2006, and at the same time its average session time increased from 6 minutes, 22 seconds to 21 minutes, 32 seconds (Source: Hitwise). Consequently, social networks now receive one in every five page impressions in the UK - more than any other industry, including search engines and shopping & classifieds.

If any further evidence of social networking’s popularity is required, Christmas Day 2007 was the busiest day ever for social networks in the UK: Facebook was the third most visited Web site in the UK over the Christmas period, pushing eBay into fourth place for the first time since January 2005. But there’s a common misconception by users that these sites are altruistic, created to make the world a more sociable place. It is these people I feel sorry for because they are sitting targets.

If the whole online social networking craze has passed you by, let me take a moment to explain. There are Web sites out there that function much like an online community of Internet users. The most popular sites are MySpace, FaceBook and Bebo. Depending on the Web site in question, many of these online community members share a common interest such as hobbies, religion, or politics. Once you are granted access to a social networking Web site you can begin to socialise. This socialisation may include reading the profile pages of other members and possibly even contacting them.

This is where I start to have a problem. Actually, my problem starts from the outset - why are so-called ‘friends’ using the Internet to communicate? Isn’t that why God gave us the power of speech? Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, users of these sites divulge the most initimate of personal details that are being lapped up by advertisers looking to push products down your thoat while you catch up on the weekend’s gossip, as well as shaddy fraudsters sifting through your profile to extract personal data that can be used to extort money from your bank account.

Since most people access social networking sites from the comfort and privacy of their home or office, they can be lulled into a false sense of anonymity. Additionally, the lack of physical contact on social network site can lower users’ natural defenses, leading individuals into disclosing information they would never think of revealing to a person they just met on a street - or at a party.

Although some of these details may seem harmless, they actually provide rich pickings for criminals. Your date of birth and where you live is enough for someone to set up a credit card in your name. So while most people wouldn’t give this information to a stranger in real life, they will happily post it online where people they don’t know can see it. Of course, the user can make their profile private so only accepted friends can contact them, but there are plenty of users out there that don’t take these necessary safety precations and leave their personal data on show for anyone to see.

As a heavy Internet user you’re probably aware of the dangers of indentity theft, but there’s another dark side to online social networking - advertising. Advertisers are clamoring to engage people on social networking sites in hopes of generating viral brand awareness and affinity. The idea is to look for new opportunities in what’s known as user-generated content. Apparently the possibilities are huge (FaceBook says it’ll be bigger than Google), but the way advertisers are targetting users is worrying. Did you know that there are actually companies paid to sift through blogs/postings to pick out core keywords that can be used to target specific users? So, if you find that you and your friends talk a lot about movies, sport and holidays, be prepared for targetted ads selling cheap flights for snowboarders who like popcorn.

Social network sites are potentially useful business tools (LinkedIn is gowing in popularity), but only if you approach them with an adequate amount of caution and common sense. If you’re thoughful, discreet, skeptical, professional, wary, and check privacy policies, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Or am I just missing the point? My advice is to stay well clear.

UK businesses who are investing in newspaper advertising to recruit graduate talent are wasting their money, according to new research from Reed Employment.According to a survey of 400 graduates registered on Reed’s Web site, 89% of graduates claimed that they only ever search for jobs online; 18% use specialist recruitment agencies; 8% apply in person and just 3% regularly check newspaper job sections. 80% of respondents also claim to be avid users of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, but we can’t hold that against them.

It seems that speed is the name of the game for graduate jobseekers, with 57% stating they spend less than an hour researching for jobs; 18% spending between one and two hours; just 15% spending over two hours and 9% claiming they just turn up at interviews, without having researched the company at all.

While this is totally down to laziness, it does appear that graduate jobseekers want more information provided in job descriptions and from recruitment consultants. A half claimed they were not given enough information before their interviews. The kinds of information most in demand were details about training and development opportunities (40%); the office location and surrounding amenities (17%); the office culture (15%), and the salary on offer (12%).

The Facebook generation of graduates clearly is more receptive to receiving information online than in print format. To attract top graduates, businesses will need to rethink the ways in which they recruit ensuring that online recruitment and perhaps even social networking sites are included. Equally, they may wish to introduce innovative new mediums such as video recruitment as part of their strategy.

It is however, worrying that even with so much information about companies available on the Internet, many graduates are not spending enough time preparing and researching for job interviews. Companies expect interview candidates to have done their homework and any graduate looking for their first step on the career ladder should realise this. However, the onus is also on companies to ensure their Web sites are up to date; their job descriptions are as detailed as possible and for recruitment consultants to ensure that jobseekers are as prepared as possible for their interviews. It is a two-way process after all …

Word on the street is that buffer overflows are at the heart of a series of hacks against Facebook and MySpace.

I tapped a man in a white coat at Fortify Software and he said a buffer overflow enabled hackers to exploit the Aurigma ActiveX image uploading software used by these two - and other - social networking sites.

He said the bad news is that this exploit is being used in a hacker toolkit currently being offered for download on several Chinese language hacker sites, meaning that novices have been able to stage these attacks, and not just professional hackers. The good news is that anyone out of college won’t be affected.

Criminal hackers now view these social networking sites as their best target for attacks. Part of the reason for this is that the sites are designed to be usable by ‘unsophisticated’ consumers. You callin’ me thick? This means that the barrier to entry for attacks is potentially lower, as users are more likely to click on a link that leads them to malware.

Social networking sites can no longer restrict their concerns solely to their own security practices, but now take in the practices of their suppliers. Had Facebook and MySpace required Aurigma to provide a proof of a code audit before sourcing the plug-in, this latest security issue could have been avoided.

I figured you would find this interesting. I did. Number crunchers at Pingdom have monitored the uptime (availability) of 14 of the largest social network sites in the world, including MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Orkut, Friendster, Windows Live Spaces, etc. This report shows how much they have been unavailable so far in 2008. Bebo comes out worst with 12 hours 28 minutes downtime from Jan 1 - Feb 25, 2008. Yahoo! 360 deserves a tap on the back for having a bathroom break of just 5 minutes. I guess there have been a few teenagers with their knickers in a twist…