Have you ever been sent a friend request by an unknown person or have seen inappropriate comments posted under some of your pictures? Many students have, and during an age when technology is at an extreme, it isn’t too hard to be found by using search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Just recently, Google has announced their newest application called, The Local Social Search. The idea of this program is to enhance search results in hope that the user will be able to find what they need and to find it fast. Google headquarters claim that this new program will give the user a more narrowed down version of what they are looking for, thus making people searching a lot easier. The problem is, will this be helping the user or placing them in danger?

For years the issue of internet safety has engulfed all of the World Wide Web including many of the most popular websites such as; MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. For these sites, the constant need for security is apparent with sexual predators and total strangers roaming the web. When students were asked about their opinion on the matter, many expressed an up roaring concern. Two of the main issues brought up were being searched by employers and by absolute strangers.

Many employers find it a necessity to search the web for their future employee. Things such as pictures, usernames, friends and articles all have an interest to the employer. For example, if a person has a Facebook page complete with an inappropriate profile, that information, as well as their friend list, will appear in a Google search even if the profile is set to a private setting. The final concern is the worry towards online predators. This problem has been a reoccurring issue and there is even a television series devoted to finding sexual predators through chat rooms. The question is, will this new Google application be helpful to the user or will it just add fuel to the fire? The way this is looking, this program will not be of any help, and in fact may develop a possibility of increasing the percentage of predators online. Overall, the risks for this new application seem to be rather high. Believe it or not, there was a time when there were no cell phones, television or computers, and those generations turned out just fine. In fact, they helped us discover many of the things we use today. Another search engine just isn’t needed.