The Foreign Service Journal, June 2009

is extremely rude. Also, most Web sites have “rules of the road” that in- clude staying civil and G-rated. Crude language and personal harassment will usually lead to “flagging,” which leads to removal of the post and, often, ban- ning of the user from the site. It’s A Wide, Wide World Many Internet activities are essen- tially visual. Perhaps this is why YouTube is growing so fast. Its motto is “broadcast yourself” and, with the Internet’s options, everyone can now become a star, and not just for fifteen minutes. For those who enjoy the written word, there is blogging. You can pub- lish your photos, videos and words in your own blog. If you keep it com- pletely private, it remains a diary; but if you open it up to the world, you can get feedback — and once you do, you are engaged in social networking. Both Facebook and MySpace have many groups you can join, but beyond these platforms there are hundreds of social networking sites for every con- ceivable interest and activity (see Wikipedia for an encyclopedic list). Soon Internet access will be avail- able on all flights (it’s already in place on some), so there will be no moment in the day or night when you cannot tap into your social network. If there is electricity, there will be someone tap- ping or scrolling through an app or reading a message, caught up in their virtual world, even as they are physi- cally next to you. With social networking and the Web 2.0 world, international students can keep up with everyone they have ever met or would like to have met. Just like that Foreign Service child who was ready to kill his Facebook ac- count — until he was found. ■ 68 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 9 It is a fact that there is scant protection or accountability online. Once posted, even material that you flag or remove is irrevocably out there. S CHOOLS S UPPLEMENT