If you arrange to meet people you don't know, how can you expect everything to turn out well?

 

Do you remember when your mum used to warn you about talking to strangers? Well, nobody seems to care any more who they talk to and some of them are paying the price, particularly those who like to organise their social life online.

 

Last Wednesday, a water fight in Kensington Gardens, advertised on Facebook, ended with a female student being punched to the ground after she threw some coloured water over another unamused reveller. The entire event, involving about 250 youths, some brandishing knives, then descended into chaos with three small children nearby being thrown off their horses and breaking bones and nine people arrested. What fun that was.

 

And we all remember the Devon teenager, the details of whose party at her family home were put on to Facebook. Her parents were away and hundreds of strangers turned up, trashed the house and caused thousands of pounds'- worth of damage. A similar incident happened to a 16-year-old at her parents' villa in Spain.

 

Perhaps some of you were caught in the mayhem that ensued when a party organised online invaded the London underground in May to mark the last night of legal drinking on the tube. The event got out of control with four train drivers assaulted, a police vehicle attacked, 17 arrests and six stations closed. Happy days.

 

While there is no doubt it's fun to meet new people at parties, the idea of an 'invitation only' event seems to have gone out of fashion.

 

The problem is that we all want to share everything with everyone, whether it's a party, the fact we've broken up with a partner or the fascinating news that we're planning to see Mamma Mia! that night. If you're a teenager or in your early twenties, you no longer celebrate your birthday with friends and family, you share the occasion with millions on Facebook. If you think that Britney Spears is being treated unfairly by the media, you video yourself having a tearful tantrum and stick it on YouTube (and get a TV show as a result, as happened in the States recently).

 

And if you've smacked a Formula One boss's bottom, you immediately tell the News of the World.

 

Despite the Ministry of Justice revealing figures recently that showed soaring levels of violence committed by under-18s, and more than 50 people being stabbed to death in London so far this year, a large number of Facebook users still remain convinced that the world is full of shiny, happy people who they would just love to meet. They don't seem aware that some of those flickering profiles belong to cynical, street-savvy criminals waiting for a chance to punch, rob or rape them.

 

Source : Observer

 

Is inviting people to events/parties etc on Facebook such a good idea?

Is inviting people to events/parties etc on Facebook such a good idea?

 

Let's put it this way, Should Turkeys vote for Christmas? :D

I love it how they're blaming facebook for 250 uninvited people taking part in a water fight at HYDE PARK :rofl: You know this little private place that no one goes to in London :)

 

Without Facebook NO ONE would have come to my last show because I couldn't have contacted so many people at the same time, these people have no idea how it all works especially the fact that young people use facebook (maybe not myspace now) to keep in touch with PEOPLE THEY KNOW and most people ignore invitations for most applications. If people want to add strange applications that can secretly access info or not use the features that block uninvited users from viewing any event or group containing such personal information like their address then they face that risk (I started a group to get everyone's number and listed my own for example which is a classic facebook cliché) but anyway as usual the media make 2 out of millions of events and groups that just couldn't get the word around without the use of such things as a facebook event too big of a deal which leads to gullable being misinformed. :rolleyes:

I think that Social Networking sites are a brilliant idea for keeping people informed about small, local gigs or specialized club nights... It's a great way to get like-minded people interested in stuff like that... BUT, you have to be sensible about it.... The examples given are isolated and happened as a result of people basically being stupid.. Facebook itself gives all sorts of warnings to people and stress the need for caution... More fool them if people choose to ignore these warnings.... -_-

As far as I'm concerned if you're stupid enough to put your address on the internet making it available to millions of strangers you deserve anything that happens....

As far as I'm concerned if you're stupid enough to put your address on the internet making it available to millions of strangers you deserve anything that happens....

Yeah I don't understand why some people have their full address in their profiles :blink: What's the purpose in having that exactly? That is a very good point there.

Yeah I don't understand why some people have their full address in their profiles :blink: What's the purpose in having that exactly? That is a very good point there.

 

To make them an easier victim of identity theft.