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Over the past few years, online social networking has exploded in popularity as a means for people to post profiles of their personal information and to communicate with one another (“Social Networking Explodes Worldwide,” 2008). Facebook had 400 million active users and over 150 million new members added in 2009 alone, making it the world’s largest social networking site (Facebook Press Room, 2010; Sarno, 2009). Although Facebook originated in 2004 as an internet forum for college students, access was extended to the general public in 2006 to generate additional revenue for the company. The age group originally targeted by Facebook (18 to 24 year-olds) now makes up only 35% of all members and the fastest growing group--those who are 35 years old and older—make up 30% of all members (Eldon, 2009; Smith 2009). Global expansion has been another key source of growth for Facebook and its introduction of natural language interfaces in several markets has helped propel the site to 153% growth from June 2007 to June 2008 (“Social Networking Explodes Worldwide,” 2008). According to recent user statistics, over 70% of Facebook members are outside the United States and more than 70 translations are available on the site (Facebook Press Room, 2010). Membership gains have been particularly strong in Europe, increasing by ten million in 2009 and comprising about one third of Facebook’s active monthly users (Eldon, 2009). The growing global popularity of Facebook is also evidenced in recent statistics showing that the growth rate in the North American region (38%) is far less than other regions. For example, Europe had thirty-five million visitors in June 2008, a 303% increase over the same time in 2007 (“Social Networking Explodes Worldwide,” 2008). Other worldwide regions have seen even more dramatic growth: Latin America (up 1055%), Middle East-Africa (up 403%), and Asia Pacific (up 458%).
Although Facebook has prompts for different kinds of personal information (e.g. activities, interests, relationship status, political affiliation, favorite music, etc.), users have considerable freedom to post any information or pictures of their choice (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007). The result is profile content ranging from very ‘tame’ such as pictures of one’s pets to very ‘extreme’ information (such as pictures and comments about one’s sexual activities, use of alcohol and/or drugs). For instance, according to one study of the Facebook network at Indiana University, a user can find more than 500 groups and over 500 events that contain the search term ‘sex’ using a basic Facebook search (Brandenburg, 2008). Similar results occur when using search terms like ‘drugs’, ‘porn’, and ‘alcohol’.