The youth and fake social media content.

The youth are the major target group for fake content on social media only because the youth is part of the ‘technology generation’. The internet is used mostly by teens and basically students exposing them to the dangers of fake social media content. The following content can be used to steal or misappropriate identity. Full name (particularly your middle name), Date of birth (often required), Home town. Relationship status, School locations and graduation dates, 

Pet names

Other affiliations, interests and hobbies

In a study, it was recognized that:

• 91% post a photo of themselves, up from 79% in 2006.
• 71% post their school name, up from 49%.
• 71% post the city or town where they live, up from 61%.
• 53% post their email address, up from 29%.
• 20% post their cell phone number, up from 2%.
• 92% post their real name to the profile they use most often.
• 84% post their interests, such as movies, music, or books they like.
• 82% post their birth date.
• 62% post their relationship status.
• 24% post videos of themselves.(2013,May)

All this information is used by teens on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Snapchat, Instagram, Skype and others. Although this information is accurate and harmless, it tends to serve a different purpose for ‘fake’ users. To provide a very broad example of how teens are affected with fake social media content, I will demonstrate this with the biggest social media platform, FACEBOOK. With over one billion users worldwide, Facebook serves as a continent on its own. Basically any and everybody over the age of 13years, with access to the internet can be a part of these enormous platform. Out of these users, so many fake accounts are created and with no way of our teens knowing the difference between a real account and a fake account, they may fall prey to a predator.

Most teenage girls tend to seek attention in their early teenage years and will 70% of the time fall prey to these fake users. Such users create fake accounts and appear as appealing individuals of the same age and interest to these young girls. These attacks are not only on teenage girls but on boys as well. This cancer is one which is out of the hands of parents and even that of the management behind Facebook. All accounts will not be able to be verified as authentic or fake all the time, as Facebook gets new users each and everyday. The only way to control this is for parents to monitor the friends their kids have on Facebook. As well as the interactions in which take place. To prevent your child from falling prey to this cancer that is affecting the global community, fight against this by monitoring your kids use on Facebook and all other social media platforms. 

Mary,M, AMANDA,L, SANDRA, C, URS G, MAEVE D, AARON S & MEREDITH B (2013,May)  

Teens, Social Media, and Privacy Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/05/21/teens-social-media-and-privacy/