A Cheerleader is Finished after Posting Photos on Facebook

Social networking has redefined the way Americans share content with their peers, by allowing users to update their day-to-day lives instantly. As a result, the divide between the “real world’ and the “digital world’ has become somewhat muddled and the days where users could post content on social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook, without worrying about repercussions, have long since past. Which raises an important question, how much control do users have over anonymous users that may be viewing their profiles? Bree Vargo, a 16-year-old cheerleader from Middlefield, Ohio may tell you users don’t have enough control. According to CNN, Vargo was suspended from her cheerleading squad for violating her school district’s athletic policy on October 19, 2010, after an anonymous party allegedly submitted an inappropriate photo of her to her high school’s administrators. The incriminating photo depicted the 16-year-old Vargo posing with a friend, while one of them held a beer bottle under Vargo’s mouth like a microphone. This same photo, however, was shot from an angle that made it impossible to determine: 1.) who was holding the bottle, and 2.) whether Vargo consumed an alcoholic beverage. Nevertheless, Cardinal Local Schools’ administrators had a meeting with Vargo upon receipt of the photo, and suspended her for violating the district’s athletic policy. The policy, which restricts the “possession of or the use of drugs, alcohol and so on” earned Vargo a “three game or two weeks [suspension], whichever is less,” shared Paul Yocum, Cardinal Local Schools’ Superintendent. The 16-year-old cheerleader, Vargo, was heart-broken over the school’s decision to suspend her, while Vargo’s parents were furious with school administrators’ decisions to forego notifying them of their meeting with Bree to discuss the photo and failing to ask their permission before speaking with her. The cheerleader’s mother, Susan Vargo, argued that her 16-year-old daughter, Bree, was not even holding the beer bottle in the photo. Susan Vargo also argued that this same photo had been shot from a strange angle, making it nearly impossible for a viewer to determine who was actually holding the bottle in question. Cases like Bree Vargo’s are a cautionary tale as to why users should be more judicious about the information they post on sites like Facebook and Myspace. Currently, it seems the number of court cases where the “burden of proof’ has been established using information submitted to Facebook -and other social networking sites- will only continue to increase. An April 2010 article from Telegraph Online, “Crimes Involving Facebook Up 346%”, indicates crimes related to Facebook in one British community, Nottinghamshire, increasing as much as 326%. According to Facebook’s “Press Room’ statistics, the site currently hosts accounts for more than 500 million users, who spend more than 700 billion minutes per-month there. All things considered, it seems Facebook has not only become the flagship destination for people looking to connect with friends and family, but an excellent resource for criminal investigators and school administrators to operate as “watchdog” groups. Equally, so long as sites like Facebook continue focusing their efforts on creating universal appeal – so that everyone is using their service- people also increase their subjection to social networking sites’ use as a “crimestopping’ tool. As Facebook – and social networking, in general- continues to grow across every demographic, individuals are not only increasing the frequency by which they post, but they’re increasing the amount of information they’ve chosen to publish on their pages hosted at these sites. With the advent of the Digital Age, it seems increasingly important for social networking site users to become mindful of the content they published on sites like Facebook, since – as reflected in the case of 16-year-old cheerleader, Bree Vargo- you never really know who’s watching.