Social site ZEBO: Review

In this week's issue of my newsletter, the third part in our series about social Web sites from the perspective of a university student studying their impact on youth. Ann Moylan-McAulay at Portland State University reviewed the social-shopping site ZEBO.com. I'd like to highlight here three characteristics Ann zoomed in on. They're the types of features all over the user-driven Web that, if used maliciously or just unthinkingly, can cause embarrassment, hurt reputations, or harm psychological well-being. These are the kinds of features we all – teens and adults - need to give careful thought to as we work through the positives and negatives of the social Web:

"Comment blocking. Users are not able to block certain people from sending messages to their ZEBO inbox. Blocking comments can be a very useful tool for online socializers - for blocking cyberbullying or other unwanted messages from unknown users. The site did mention that they were working on getting this option put into place, but as of mid-February, it isn't in place.

"Photostrips. The site caters to the more egocentric side of youth by offering a "photostrip" option (MySpace does not offer this feature, though someone savvy in html code could install one themselves). The photostrip is a scrolling slideshow on a user's profile page that can contain up to 1,000 pictures. The idea of photostrip may seem downright terrifying to some parents. While youth are exploring their identities, they may not fully understand that the photos they display are there for *everyone* to see. So, as a parent, it's important to keep a running dialogue with your child about the public nature of Web sites and discuss what is and is not OK to upload onto a public site.

"WikiEdit. This tool enables users to go to friends' profiles and change them in two ways. Members of the site can change a friend's profile photo or background image, by uploading one for them. Once a page has been edited the profile change will go into effect within 24 hours and an email will be sent to the friend notifying them of the change. If they don't like what was done to their profile they can change it back, but there is no option to approve the change before it goes public. There is an option within the site to not allow WikiEdits on your profile. But my concern is that younger users may not know about this option, or choose not to use it until something goes awry. If the intentions of the person making the edit are good, all should go well, but malicious edits could be traumatic for the profile owner. Out of spite or "humor," someone could post an inappropriate picture of a friend without considering the possible consequences. In other words, this is a feature that can be used for cyberbullying purposes."

At the end of Ann's review are some thoughtful pointers for parents of people who might be attracted to sites like ZEBO (here's her full review).