These days, almost everybody seems to be logging onto online social networks or cyber communities like Facebook and MySpace.
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After highly interactive online social networks burst onto the scene less than three years ago, millions of users — including thousands of NCAA student-athletes — are using their services to chat with friends, blog and catch the scoop on the latest in news, music, movies and other events. That is all for the good, but embarrassing excesses have emerged that have harmed individuals, athletics programs and even entire universities.

The sites are good places for organizations to publicize themselves and keep readers apprised of meeting dates and scheduled activities. Musical artists and entertainers are using cyber communities to successfully promote their acts. A recent Chronicle of Higher Education article on the decline of school yearbooks even suggested that the instant gratification associated with online social networks may be contributing to the continued steady downward sales of the annuals (even though at least one school is using the popular sites to promote the sales of yearbooks).

MySpace.com, introduced in 2003, has rapidly grown to more than 60 million users. Facebook began at Harvard in 2004 and is approaching 10 million users. Both are among the most popular online social networks.

The ability to easily, quickly and frequently communicate with others is one of the main reasons why so many, especially those in the 18-30 age group, are flocking to cyber communities. "It is a little easier to send a quick message on Facebook then it is to call sometimes," said Matt McDougall, a member of the NCAA Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and a recent graduate of Augustana College (South Dakota). "I see it, personally, as a new communication tool, and any time something new like that comes along, you want to take advantage of it."

By creating profiles that can include a range of information such as interests, background, hobbies, lifestyle and photos, users are able to message back and forth with old friends and also seek new ones based on shared interests and characteristics. In fact, in the world of online social networks, the more "friends" one can claim, the better or "cooler" he or she appears.

Becky Ahlgren-Bedics, NCAA associate director of education outreach, said many student-athletes also see cyber communities as something exclusive of their parents or other authority figures, despite how easy it is for those groups to access the sites. Online social networks also provide an outlet for self-expression.

While it may be hard to argue against their communication effectiveness, a recent flood of unflattering reports about social networks — including the well-chronicled criminal and hazing cases at Duke University and Northwestern University, respectively — has raised the concerns of athletics administrators across the nation.

Scott Eaton, senior associate director of athletics at Northern Kentucky University, is concerned that an individual may ask to become a friend when he or she wants additional information about another user. Many times, such invitations are accepted whether the user knows the person or not. At that point, nothing in a user’s profile is private.

Users also have the ability to form smaller communities or groups. A group’s creator has the power to change its title, however, so a grouping that initially touts something positive could morph into something destructive without participants’ knowledge or permission.

Perhaps more disturbing is some users’ misconception that they are just sharing with friends, or even friends of friends. That attitude has induced many student-athletes into sharing personal contact information such as addresses and phone numbers, posting photos depicting inappropriate or embarrassing incidents, or writing indiscreet or hurtful comments about their athletics teams and coaches.

"Student-athletes assume that no one is going to look them up who doesn’t know them. But that’s not the case," said Ahlgren-Bedics. "When you’re putting your rosters online and they can be cross-referenced with Facebook or MySpace or any cyber community, it’s three clicks away."

Students at the University of Kansas and at the University of Arizona were stalked through information provided in their profiles, proving that accessible personal information can leave student-athletes vulnerable. In another case, two swimming and diving student-athletes at Louisiana State University were dismissed from the team after making negative comments about the team and the coaches on Facebook. The men’s basketball coach at Northern Kentucky University in another instance discovered photos of underage team members with alcohol.

In fact, administrators are concerned that the social networks exacerbate the problems that come with being in a media spotlight.

"We don’t want pictures and things going on there that are going to represent our athletics department in a bad manner," Eaton said. "What we’re trying to make our student-athletes aware of is their pictures might not be on their personal account. It may be on others’ accounts showing them doing things they might not ought to be doing."

Cyber communities also have drawn the attention of the NCAA’s enforcement staff and the NCAA Sports Wagering Task Force. Sandy Parrott, NCAA assistant director of basketball certification, said the networks could become a recruiting tool because individuals can so easily create false identities through online social networks, thus enabling boosters to use personal profiles to influence athletes. Also, Parrott said even the most innocent of comments could have gambling implications.

"For example, if an individual rooms with a top athlete and that kid gets hurt in practice, he or she wouldn’t think anything about saying ‘so-and-so got hurt in practice and can barely get out of bed in the morning.’ That affects the Vegas lines," she said.

For now, the staff is mostly monitoring the issue, although Parrott noted that at least one student-athlete reinstatement request has been filed due to activity in cyber communities. In March, a student-athlete filled out a bracket for the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship on Facebook in an attempt to win a 20-inch LCD television.

Further, an increasing number of employers are combing online social networks such as Facebook and MySpace for clues about potential candidates. Companies are able to gain access to networks in multiple ways. The New York Times noted that recent graduates who are now employed may have retained their college e-mail addresses, which would enable them to see pages. Also, the Times said that companies have requested college interns to do background checks. The article said that such searches have caused students to have job offers withdrawn after prospective employers discovered inappropriate information on their personal profile.

Concern is not limited to administrators, however. SAAC member McDougall, who led Division II student-athletes in a discussion about cyber communities at the NCAA Leadership Conference this spring, said participants did express concern about users who abuse online social networks in ways that could reflect negatively on teams or put student-athletes in potentially dangerous situations.

"Student-athletes actually weren’t as aware of it as I would have thought," he said. "More awareness would help them become more concerned. If you give them the information, I’m sure they will be able to make the right choice. Right now, a lot of them may be still thinking, ‘It’s my profile and I can do what I want.’ "

While that’s true to an extent, the medium has its limits. Ahlgren-Bedics said many student-athletes would benefit from learning to use privacy functions available through the online networks.

Although athletics administrators may have been surprised with the rapid expansion of online social networks, campuses are now employing a variety of methods to gain some control. Many athletics departments now sponsor educational sessions with student-athletes. Other schools, such as Northern Kentucky, are developing formal policies or revising codes of conduct to incorporate guidelines for navigating in cyber communities. While nothing is certain yet, Eaton said the gist of the policy would allow student-athletes to continue to engage online social networks but would strongly encourage them to do so with extreme caution.

Other institutions, like Kent State University, have asked student-athletes to discontinue their profiles. At Kent State, all student-athletes are expected to take down their Facebook profiles by August 1. Those who do not meet the stated deadline jeopardize their right to continue to compete. The primary motivation for the policy, according to Director of Athletics Laing Kennedy, was concern for student-athlete health and safety.

"I’m not interested in prohibiting communication. Not at all," Kennedy said. "It just seems like we have to have discipline to control this from a point of view of student safety. It wasn’t so much what was happening with our situation, but what was happening at other schools, too, like at Northwestern. I just don’t want to have a team or student be put in that kind of embarrassing situation."

Fears for student-athletes’ safety also factored into Loyola University (Illinois) Director of Athletics John Planek’s decision to ask student-athletes at the school to discontinue their Facebook profiles.

McDougall noted that student-athletes at the Leadership Conference said they wanted to maintain access to cyber communities but understood they had duties to fulfill for their athletics teams and institutions. The group suggested that the Division II SAAC develop and distribute a best-practices document related to Facebook. That document, which McDougall said could be ready as soon as this fall, could include a statement clearly delineating the consequences for improper use of Facebook, a division-wide guideline for consequences, advice on how to make a proper profile and education about other Web sites that could potentially harm the reputation of student-athletes.

In addition to the best-practices document, conference participants also thought campus student-athlete advisory committees should educate their fellow student-athletes about Facebook and other online social networks and start programs in which student-athletes police each other by encouraging clean profiles.

The NCAA’s Ahlgren-Bedics said that even though responses to online social networks will differ from school to school, administrators must be aware.

"We’ve probably had these same conversations with student-athletes concerning alcohol use," she said. "We’ve probably had the same conversations concerning parts of uniforms or piercings. With any new trend, we’re going to have to continue to have these same conversations about what are the limits."

Perhaps such conversations become even more important when nobody knows whether the popularity of the networks is emerging or receding — although the consensus is that they are here to stay in some form.

"I don’t think this is the end of it," McDougall said. "I don’t know if Facebook and MySpace are going to maintain the popularity they have now, but I could see something new coming up in the next three to four years. I can’t see it dying down."