Next social-networking issue

To my mind, the big three concerns where young online socializers are concerned are predation (by adults), bullying (peers), and marketing (marketers and peers). Predation has the highest fear factor, of course, but probably the lowest across-the-board impact; it's also where most of the media attention is stuck at the moment. Bullying, which covers everything from gossipy meanness to harassment to threats of school violence, is definitely on schools' radar screens (so it's the No. 2 SN topic in the media) and needs more parental mindshare. The media are only just beginning to look at the marketing piece. Today, CNET gives a great example of what social-networkers can expect on the viral marketing front. "Viral marketing" is the very cost-effective practice of marketers using users as "co-marketers" (instead of one-to-many mass-marketing, it's peer-to-peer, much more personal – a message from a friend is much more influential, the theory goes). The potential, in other words, and what we'll be hearing more about from psychologists and watchdogs, is impressionable kids being used to promote products. "Using special tools, marketers and people seeking fame on MySpace [for example] can game the system and take advantage of what experts call 'unintended features' allowed by the Web site," CNET reports, referring to techniques like data-mining people's profiles (to target ads and users) and automating messages to "Friends" lists. See CNET for details. Of course, politicians get this, too. California gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides has a MySpace page, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.