Social Networking and Virtual Environments are two popular ways of socializing online. There are minimal levels of supervision in social net-works and virtual environments. Social networks allow users to set privacy levels to protect their personal information, but few do. Most virtual environments employ moderators to keep out offensive topics or harassment, but the size of these virtual worlds, as well as the number of users, makes supervision very difficult.

Social Networking: A social networking site allows users to create a profile that introduces them to other members of the site. Profiles usually contain information about hobbies, photos, and short blog-like posts.

Virtual Environments: In virtual environments users control a character, called an avatar, that represents them in a virtual world. Some virtual environments are games, while others are focused more heavily on socializing, but all involve communicating with other users.

Some concerns around these environments:

• Discussions may become sexual or violent, or may promote hate against others.
• Because some people feel totally anonymous in virtual environments, they believe they can act any way they want. Girls in particular may receive crude or sexual comments.
• Online relationships with strangers met through social networking sites or virtual environments can lead to being cyberstalked, sent pornography, or pressured to arrange a real-world meeting.
• Anything posted to a social networking site (photos, contact information, etc.) should be considered as public.
• Social networking sites and virtual environments are often venues for cyber bullying. This can happen through harassment, exclusion, or the copying and distribution of photos or personal information.

Internet 101
Web sites | E-mail | Instant messaging | Social Networking and Virtual Environments | File-sharing | Text messaging