Ask.fm – the risky Q&A

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Ask fm logo
Source: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-rwcEw7859G4/Uyx4IbNStvI/AAAAAAAAAB0/A7LzOgSUlgM/ask.jpg

While I was researching messenger apps last week I was horrified to discover that Ask.fm was rearing its ugly head in popularity again. As described on webtrend.com,

Ask.fm is a Q&A-based site (and app) that lets users take questions from their followers, and then answer them one at a time, any time they want. In any case, it gives youngsters another reason to talk about themselves other than in the comment section of their own selfies.

(Selfies are a type of self-portrait photograph, taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone. they are usually associated and circulated within social networking, like Twitter. They are often casual, are typically taken either with a camera held at arm’s length or in a mirror.)

The site sign-up asks people for a username, full name, email address and password. It also gives the option of signing in using their Facebook or Twitter accounts.

After giving these details, users are then given the option of filling out more personal information such as date of birth, gender, location. After this, they create and design a profile about themselves; hobbies, pictures, a short description, etc; pictures of the user can also be added.

Ask.fm encourages a new member to share their profile through various different social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and blogger websites. This is similar to what these websites also do. On signing up, users are also given the option of searching for people they know already using Ask.fm by entering names, usernames or emails etc. to find friends.

 

The basic design intention of Ask.fm is to be a question platform site. It is similar to Twitter because you can follow people. When your sign-up process is complete or if the link of your Ask.fm profile has been shared on various other social networking sites you are a member of, people are able to ask a person questions (usually controversial or sexually explicit displayed on their profiles. The person asking these questions can decide to do it publicly or anonymously. They can ask the question to a specific person or to all their followers.

Ask.fm has no real terms of privacy. It allows all content to be viewed publicly by users and non-users.

This site has become extremely popular among pre-teens and young adolescents as a means of messaging. Strict terms of service of privacy and usage should be outlined and enforced if this is the type of age group joining up. I am really against this site because it has lead to many cases of suicide due to bullying. I am in shock that this same site that enables cyber bullying is still active and has still not been censored or had any restrictions placed upon it. 

Sample ask.fm questions
Source: newsinitiative.org

On a website for parents called webwise.ie there is an article explaining what exactly ask.fm is and specifically how it enables widespread abuse.

You only have to skim through the site to see that sexualised, abusive and bullying content can be, and is being posted unchecked.

The unique selling point of Ask.fm is its guarantee of anonymity, with the website recently telling its followers on Twitter it will never release the information of anyone who posts to the site.

The fact that you can ask someone whatever you like or post anything on their profile without revealing who you are, seems to heighten the levels of dis-inhibition often associated with young people communicating online.

In other words, we tend to say things to people online that we wouldn’t say to their face – this is exaggerated when we communicate anonymously.

The result is that questions about highly sexualised, abusive, and downright nasty questions and comments liberally are scattered amongst the questions about celebrity and lifestyle. The site also raises many issues around privacy. It has very few privacy controls which mean that both questions and answers can be viewed by anyone, even non-users of the site.

Safety and privacy information is published on the site, however, there is no requirement to read any of this when signing up.

This is the default setting and there doesn’t appear to be an option to change this: once a post is published it is publicly accessible.

In my lecture’s for my Technical Writing module in University the topic of ‘’netiquette’’ was discussed. Netiquette is simply the words net and etiquette combined. The website Ask.fm is a perfect example of a website that does not have any netiquette. With allowing and facilitating the extreme exposure of sexual content and cyber-bullying among some of the things available to users it doesn’t follow the basic terms of accepted conduct. And what holds Ask.fm truly as guilty is because they do not give users the option to filter this kind of content from their profiles. I cannot understand how a site like this is still active in this day and age. With all the rules and regulations in place, strict codes of conduct with regards to internet use and terms and conditions outlined that other websites strictly follow.

Ask.fm has only recently increased its safety measures after a number of teen suicides that stemmed from cyber bullying enabled by this website. In my personal opinion, a website like this should have had these measures enforced from the beginning; to report inappropriate content, to block other users, or to remove any questions.

The effects of this site really highlight the negative, dark side of media.  Media saturation is obviously a huge issue if it is having this kind of effect on society and being allowed to do so in the first place. Websites should be regulated and approved on a weekly basis by an outsider party especially if its main users are of such an impressionable age. It is not enough for parents to keep an eye upon their children’s internet activity because it is now too easily accessible from outside the home or for an individual to report or block content. There need to be stricter regulations with regards to internet use especially if young adults are being exposed to sexualized, abusive, mature content and enabling cyber bullying.