We have all seen it, kids go online, ad an interesting picture on their social network or download a song highlighting street violence. According to a CBS affiliate website gangs are turning to Youtube and other social networks to find new gang members.

The disturbing article by Joe Vazquez interviewed several teens hanging out in front of a movie theater on a Friday night. The teens spoke about how they add gang logos and songs to their online profiles and were soon approached by gang members.

One teenager said the possible gang members simply ask him what he is up to and try to start a dialog with him. What this teen doesn’t understand is that this is how criminal recruiting works. Start a simple dialog, befriend and create trust, then move the target on to some simple crimes to begin the snow ball of primal world.

Vazquez’s article references an anonymous spokesperson at YouTube that states that YouTube actively removes and responds to flagged illegal content. I wonder if it is even possible to flag something as illegal activity any more. The types of tools that these gang recruiters appear harmless at first sight.

Can YouTube even monitor for these thing? Can social networks start to actively ban gang insignia found online? I think the problem of gang recruiting could be a much larger problem for social networks than child sex predators.

Think about it. It is possible to identify and criminalize people who perpetrate sex youth crimes. Finding a gang member who is simply cultivating sympathy for criminal behavior is much more difficult, you can exactly arrest someone for posting a digital representation of a gang sign on their web page.

As criminals become more tech savvy both parents and police are going to have to find new ways to monitor and protect their children. The first step in this fight is education. Police need to take the offensive and hold seminars and online sessions that parents can log into and find out what all of these tags and gang signs mean.

I am the son of a New York City police officer. I have the utmost respect and admiration for law enforcement officials. I would like to see nothing more than police jurisdictions taking the lead in educating parents on how best to protect their children online from criminal behavior.

Do you have any input on how we could teach children to be wary of this new form of criminal predator? Should social networks monitor for gang signs and gang related videos? Who’s job is it to protect our children?

Something came to me this weekend when I was sitting at home playing Call of Duty 4 on my PS3, the world has changed. It took me all this time to figure it out, but I am pretty sure the world is not the same place I grew up in.

Let me set the stage for you: I was playing COD4, not doing so well, when I began to swear. I was in the Navy so I swear like a sailor, then a voice came over my headset and began to speak to me.

“LaFauce,” the voice said. “Could you please not use that language here, my son is playing the game and I try not to expose him to that type of language.” I had to pause, I was playing probably one of the most intense and violent games on the market today, and someone was reprimanding me for my language.

After talking with the voice for a bit I found out that the parents monitor what the child is playing online by watching him play. They then comment on anything inappropriate or tell the child he can no longer play if the room becomes obscene. The child was 14.

There was a great deal wrong with this entire interaction. One one hand I applaud the parents for monitoring what their child does online, but who lets a 14 year old play Call of Duty? Then to reprimand me for using foul language just seemed moronic.

I assumed everyone one playing that game was of at least the age where I could use foul language around them. What if I had said somethings that were really offensive, could the parents have found a way to say I was corrupting their child?

I think about it like this: When I go to a bar I assume everyone there is 21. Now if I say something inappropriate or do something inappropriate I at least I have the law on my side saying that I am surrounded by adults and I am not corrupting any youth.

The world has changed, just as we manage who can vote, own a fire arm, and drink, perhaps we should regulate who uses social networks. Already we have standards set up to control who visits what sites, should social networks have the same standards? Could we legally regulate who goes where on the web?

I spend a great deal of time online and I worry constantly about who I interact with. Do any of you out there feel the same way? Are any of you afraid of saying the wrong thing or sending the wrong email to someone?

LinkedIn just released “5 Tips to Jumpstart your Career in 2008.” Naturally interested, I took a look, and was relatively pleased with what I saw in the headings, but a bit disappointed to see that it was mostly flouting its own services. In any case, with the New Year rolling around, it’s a great time to start thinking about how we brand ourselves online. As times change, our online presence is becoming all the more important. I see my college friends, who are now teachers, still posting their drunken party pictures on Facebook.

I also see lawyers adding clients on Facebook that shouldn’t know about one another, which could constitute enough of a breach of confidentiality to risk the lawyer’s career. On the other hand, I see a brand new, massive opportunity for professionals to market themselves online. The trick is to remove the unprofessional things from your online identity, and to be meticulously aware of how you present yourself.

LinkedIn recommends that you work to build your own brand online. This has never been more true than today. Bloggers and YouTubers have become quasi-celebrities virtually overnight. I’m personally good friends with the “bridezilla” girls, whose YouTube hoax landed them spots on Good Morning America and a few big late night shows.

Once you have people’s eyes and ears, the potential for business and to help your career is massive, and there are tons of places online to make yourself known. To the authors of the LinkedIn article, this means using their site. Perhaps it’s a good place to start.

LinkedIn recommends that you be at the forefront of people’s minds. With people glued to the internet these days, it’s a great time to remind them that you’re the person who does what you do. It’s important to add old friends and acquaintances, and to broaden your network of people who know who you are, so in time they can know that you’re the #1 person for you line of work. If people see you as someone who is well connected with something impressive or important to say, it could work wonders for your career in the long run.

The article suggests that you make smarter decisions. Essentially they mean to draw off of the knowledge that you can get from others online, as opposed to trying to appear to be the expert. There’s a fine balance between seeming like you know what you’re doing, and seeming like you’ll pretend in any case.Learn from the people around you, act humbly, and don’t let stupid arguments end relationships. Re-read your e-mails 3 times before you send them, and stay away from MSN for very highly charged discussions.

LinkedIn says that you should prioritize your time. That means you should use their services to research the professionals you work with so you’re fully prepared when you meet with them. This is indeed quite true. When working on projects in general it is very important to know who is championing your project in the background. Who the potential benefactors are and generally who who have to woo in the process?

Keep in mind people will also research you. That’s why it’s all the more important to vigilantly filter what makes it into your online identity.Lastly LinkedIn suggests that you stay on top of your industry. It’s true. Changes are happening very quickly, and the group of people in the know is generally small but accessible. A ton of people are talking about Facebook apps and development, yet the forums are relatively silent.

Get into forums and discussions related to your line of business, keep yourself caught up, and make yourself known to the others! It will pay dividends in the long run, I promise. When I do business with a new person who I meet online, which is happening more and more, the first thing I do is check out their profile on LinkedIn and other networking sites to see who they know, how connected they are, etc.

Keep this in mind, realize that people are checking up on you, and give them something to look at that will make them want to work with you. Show them you’re connected, show them you’re intelligent, show them what you do. Just take my advice and be careful: many things online can’t be taken back once sent, and people may have the ability to post things on your profile that you wouldn’t want people seeing.

-Jonathan Kleiman

Over the past few days, a number of articles have been written that state the risk of using social networks. According to one article yesterday, “one in four users of social networking sites leaves themselves open to crime by revealing personal details.” Today the BBC published broader security risks for users. According to Get Safe Online, “eight million people leave home wireless networks unprotected against intruders. And more than half of the over-65s polled use a single password for every website they visit, the group said.”

So what are the real risks posed by using social networks? Identity fraud is probably the biggest risk. Protecting yourself is pretty straight-forward. Don’t publish your address or phone number. After checking my Facebook profile it appears that I’m at risk as well. Apparently a combination of contact details and birth dates are sufficient for identity fraudsters to compromise your identity. If you choose to publish your personally identifiable information make sure that the majority of the information is private to users outside of your friends.

Additionally, it’s a good idea to switch up your passwords for each site you use. This prevents fraudsters from creating complete havoc for you. Imagine all of your accounts being compromised simultaneously. Online banking, social networks, email and more are all at risk when you use the same password across networks. Have you ever had any of your accounts compromised?