Social networking sites and other Web 2.0 tools offered online are of great interest and fascination particularly for young people. Such sites have shown inflationary growth especially in 2007 – to a great extent due to the fact that self exposition in user-profiles as well as participation in online communities has great appeal. According to an online study conducted by the German public broadcasting stations ARD and ZDF, 40% of 14-29 year olds and 29% of 20-29 year olds have already visited such social networking sites (ARD/ZDF-Online-Studie 2007).

One good example showing this trend is the website SchuelerVZ (www.schuelervz.de), a social networking site for pupils over 12 years old with about 1.6 million registered members. The operators of the site approached klicksafe some time ago in order to receive information and advice about internet safety and issues dealing with youth protection. Schuelervz is providing a code of behaviour to which all users registering on the web site have to commit themselves. Parents and teachers, adults in general do not have access to this website, only pupils invited by other pupils already registered can sign up for the community.

A crucial point in Web 2.0 is that users are more actively creating content and putting it online. Therefore, users also need to be more involved in handling content and controlling it. Examples for that are the wide-spread commenting and evaluation possibilities, in blogs, book-selling websites and for hotel information. As regards social networks, self-regulation by users is an important point that has to be facilitated and supported by providers of such sites. Only if users are informed about their responsibility and their possibilities in reporting illegal, harmful or inappropriate content, will they do so. In the case of social communities like Schuelervz or also the equivalent for students, StudiVZ (www.studivz.de), contents like the sexualised self exposition of young girls, are the subject of discussion groups or focus of cyber-bullying.

One step in the right direction would be a central “report!” button on every site, for example, so users do not have to search for reporting possibilities all over the website. Thus, it is the website providers’ responsibility to provide technical solutions against illegal content on the one hand, whilst keeping their users informed about what they can do to help fight inappropriate content.

Stephanie Kutscher, klicksafe