How can I recover any data or chat-related messages from a “Myspace” account?

Recovering myspace chat

Myspace.com (Myspace) is a popular social networking website giving registered users the chance to share information through uploaded files, chat, and email message formats.

The communication between members is all conducted through the Myspace website, and therefore the information is stored on server computers. There is very little, if anything, stored on the user’s personal computer other than a cookie to remember log in information.

Deleting Myspace data

If you need communications you deleted, try contacting Myspace’s technical support team.

The message or chat log may or may not be recovered depending on if it even still exists on the server and the reasoning behind the request. For legal proceedings, you should have appropriate documentation from an authority or court. Don’t count on cooperation without a court order for civil proceedings, like a divorce, especially if a profile is private.

Backing up chats on Myspace

One way to keep a “back-up” of your chats and messages is to use a key logging type program to “record” your keystrokes and other information sent across your Internet connection. However, the value of these files is questionable. The files are great if you just need a reference, but they may or may not be admissible in any formal proceedings. Also, the storage of these files on your computer open you up to others stealing any personal information you typed.

Monitoring activity of children

Parents can use monitoring programs to see what children are transferring across the family’s Internet connection.

For problems related to Myspace accounts of those under the age of 18, Myspace now has a special section for parents. Any parent can request a removal of their teen’s account, and work with Myspace staff to block any future attempts at registering with the site. While Myspace is able to give parents access to a teen’s account by resetting the password to one of the parent’s choosing, the site may not be able to recover any messages or chat logs the teen deleted.

Myspace wont help much

Overall, unless the data or messages are yours and needed for non-legal reasons, like say an old friend gave you their new cell phone number in a chat and you didn’t get to write it down, don’t expect Myspace to cooperate. For one, it is not easy to recover anything from a server, and especially not for a site as large and global as Myspace. In fact, there is nothing in Myspace’s FAQ or Technical Help section that gives any indication data recovery is possible. So the chief reason Myspace may not recover your message or chat log is simply an inability to do so.

You may need some legal pull

Assuming Myspace could recover the lost communication, even with a court subpoena, Myspace will probably try to fight the order since it jeopardizes their business. Myspace is free to users, but the site still makes a great deal of income from advertisers and endorsements. If users think their personal communications, and chat and email are generally thought of as private, are overly monitored or turned over to be used against them, they won’t participate. Without users to participate, Myspace loses advertising revenue. This is the chief reason why social networking sites, and even search engines, have fought recent court orders with crack legal teams, not as a protection of privacy, but as a protection of profit.

 Facebook incorporates numerous networks as a means of facilitating social communication among people who live, work, or play in the same general area or location. Each of these individual networks is based upon a single theme such as a school, a specific company, or location. Facebook is designed to enable people to get to know those they interact with on a deeper level.

In addition to text communication, Facebook offers the opportunity to share links and videos among its users. Plus, each user can upload an unlimited number of photos onto the site.

Individuals who decide to use Facebook can decide to join one or more participating network. No membership fees are charged no matter how many networks a person joins.

Facebook began in 2004 and has continued to grow in popularity, becoming the sixth most trafficked website in the United States. The only requirement to join Facebook is a valid email address. Of course, you will also need to provide your full name and birth date. When you sign up, you will be asked to create a password and you should make sure to create a strong one.

When you sign up, you will be given instructions on how to join a supported network such as the school that you attend or your place of employment. It might even be useful to use the email address affiliated with your school or workplace. For example, individuals wishing to join a school network should use their school email. If you aren’t interested in an established network for one of those, you can also sign up to become a member of a regional network.

Connecting with people in your area is simplified with an active use of the website. In fact, Facebook features a handy search tool to locate individuals that you are associated with outside of the site. You can search by college, Aim buddy list, company, and more. It’s easy and allows you to locate active members more easily.

Facebook’s platform provides a number of applications that can be used by its members to enhance their time on the website. Among these, members will find the ability to chat, poke, write on members’ walls, join groups, view videos and photos, access social ads, access new feeds, and more.

Facebook’s help center is informative and easy to read, providing members with all they need to now in order to browse and use all of the site’s features. Plus, an informative and user friendly tutorial on how to get started is supplied as well.

Privacy is one of the advantages of this particular website. Facebook has incorporated privacy settings that are accessible to any member who wishes to edit them. Members have complete control over the manner in which their information is shared. Members can decide who can access their information by confirming friends. Once confirmed, these friends can then access the member’s profile. Members within a specific network can also access the profiles of other network members.

 While I understand the allure of MySpace, as a parent, I’m extremely concerned about social networking websites. My children aren’t old enough just yet to want a MySpace profile but I know that it won’t be long.

One of the common concerns that parents have with sites such as MySpace involves predators. Who’s looking at your child’s profile? What if they like what they see? What if they can find out where your child lives or goes to school? What if they can find out where your child hangs out after school?

This is a common concern and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look at information and come to conclusions. For example, if your child uses a screen name of “No1CardinalFan” and customizes his MySpace profile with “Go Arizona Cardinals!” one might make an assumption that your child lives in Arizona. Next, let’s suppose that your child posts that he is at the top of his class at Mesa High School. Could he live in Mesa, Arizona perhaps? Could a predator then look up the local newspaper and find a list of school awards, thereby figuring out your child’s name?

Scary, isn’t it?

Sure, you can teach your child not to reveal too much information but can you really be sure? What about the comments left by your child’s friends? Imagine that one of your child’s friends places a comment that says, “Meet me at Burger Hut tomorrow after school.” The predator already knows that your child lives in Mesa, Arizona - now he knows where and when to find him.

I joined MySpace about a year ago to see what the big fuss was all about. Honestly, I was terribly impressed. There’s no real age verification making it easy for kids to create their own profile without any sort of restriction. While I was experimenting with creating a profile, I suddenly found myself with several “friend” requests - most involving webcams and promises of scantily-clad adventures. Who’s sending friend requests to your child?  

I won’t be allowing my children to set up MySpace and other Social Networking profiles though by the time they are old enough, there will be other, equally disturbing, Web sites and dangers out there.

However, I’m not naïve. I may say “no” to MySpace but my kids may find a way to do it anyway. That’s why, even now as they are just getting comfortable with the Internet, we discuss the dangers of the Internet and how some people might pretend to be other than they really are. Education is the first step. These dialogues should be ongoing.

The second step is to keep an eye on what your child is doing online. While it may seem like the modern equivalent of snooping through your child’s diary, using software to restrict and monitor online activities is a necessary evil. Use parental control software to block access to sites such as MySpace and follow up by using monitoring software to see exactly what your child is up to.

I’ve been involved in several different groups where we have needed a simple email distribution list. While having members create “groups” of email addresses in their own address books is possible, it’s not ideal. First, everyone must somehow manage to create their initial list of contacts in their email client. This can be done by having each person manually input names and email lists from a roster or by providing your fellow group members with a list in a comma separated value (.CSV) format and having them import the list into their email client’s address book.

Let’s be serious for a minute here - do you really think that you can get the entire PTA, soccer league, church group, or service organization to do either of these steps? You’ll be lucky if ten percent of your group’s members do so. Now, let’s assume that by some miracle, you’ve managed to get the entire group on board and everyone has an identical email group. What happens when a member leaves the group? Will everyone in your organization remember to delete the departing member from their distribution lists? I doubt it. Same with when new members join - will everyone add the new member to their lists?

Yahoo Groups solves this dilemma and offers a variety of extra features that are sure to enrich your group’s communications. By creating a group, you can assign members, delete members, add new members and much more. All the rest of the group needs to do is remember a single email address. Whenever anyone emails the group, only current members receive the message. Now, no one (except for the group’s moderator) has to manage a membership roster.

However, when you first establish a Yahoo Group, you might be concerned about privacy. Who can join? Who can view the group’s membership directory? Who can read the group’s messages or view files posted? In some cases, groups are open to the general public and all are welcome. In other cases, privacy is essential.

Fortunately, you can make your Yahoo Group private. For example, let’s say you are creating a Yahoo Group for communicating with your son’s Boy Scout Troop. You don’t want the general public viewing your event dates or private emails, right? You really only want to invite the parents of each Boy Scout along with any troop leaders who need to be involved.

To do this, you must first create a Yahoo Group. This is done by following the prompts at the Yahoo Groups page. When you first create the group, the sign up process is extremely limited and privacy is not addressed. Because of this, you cannot start using the group until you have taken the next step and have made your group private.

If you have just now created your Group, you will be prompted to customize the Group in which case you will be able to privatize it during this step. However, I’m assuming that you missed this step which is why you are wondering how to make the Group private in the first place. You can do so after the fact by logging into your group (assuming you’re the group owner) and clicking the Management link (on the left side).

In the Management pane, find Group Settings (toward the upper right) and click Membership. Click Edit. Now, you can change your Group’s settings! Change it to Restricted or Closed. Closed provides the highest level of privacy (invitation only). Keep in mind that once you choose this option, you can’t go back - but then, why would you want to?

 While it’s recommended that you keep the family computer in a central location where you can supervise your child’s Internet usage, the fact remains that you simply can’t keep guard 24/7 - especially as your children get older. For example, you have more control when setting time limits on a six-year-old’s computer time than you do when restricting a teenager’s time. High school homework assignments can require hours of research - are you willing to hover for hours on end each night?

While supervision is one of your best tools, you can’t always be reading over your child’s shoulder. Instead, you need some sort of monitoring plan. Software is readily available to help you in this quest. For example, Windows Vista has a feature called Parental Controls that allows you to restrict websites, set time limits, and view reports about what types of websites your child is visiting.

Don’t have Windows Vista? You can always perform simple monitoring by checking the history list in Internet Explorer. This list will reveal all of the websites visited by date, by website, most visited, or currently visited today - provided that the history file has not been deleted. Computer savvy children will likely know how to clear the Internet Explorer history list, so relying on this technique for older children has its pitfalls.

Want a better way? Try software specifically designed to help you control and monitor your family’s Web usage. You don’t have to spend a fortune either. In fact, many of these programs are offered as a service to parents such as yourself. For example, PG Surfer is one such application from a leading software security firm, ParetoLogic Software.

Microsoft also offers a free tool, Windows Live OneCare Family Safety. This is another option that uses age-based filtering as well as blocking and monitoring of online activities. Both PGSurfer and OneCare Family Safety take parental controls to a higher level and put you back in control.

While monitoring products allow you to control and monitor Internet usage and history, they also have their shortcomings. Both PGSurfer and OneCare Family Safety allow you to set up multiple users accounts so that each family member has a profile. However, this means that each family member must log in and out of the computer in order to be effective. Because many people don’t do so, these tools generally automatically log out users after a set period of time.

While this helps prevent children from getting into too much trouble when using a computer under a different profile, it can be annoying to parents. After all, who likes being disconnected from the Internet and prompted for a password every five or ten minutes? Fortunately, this setting can be adjusted but the disconnections and prompts do continue, only at longer intervals.

Monitoring has a few inconveniences and takes a little bit of experimenting to find the right balance. However, it’s worthwhile to use one of these products. Not only will you be able to see what’s going on online, your children will know that you are serious about this issue. That alone may prevent them from getting into trouble.

How to Find People on MySpace

In the top toolbar, next to the <Home> link, you will see a <Browse> and a <Search> link. Though they sound similar in function, the two pages are quite different. The Browse page is used to search the entire MySpace network, while the Search page has more specific searches, such as Classmate Finder.

Browse Profiles
Let’s explore the <Browse> link now. You’ll notice a bunch of profile pictures with a search box at the top of the page.  The search form has two tabs:  basic and advanced search.  Both can be used to search the entire network, or only your friends.  That option is found just under the search engine tab.  On the left-side of the basic search box you can select if you want to search for men, women, or both.  You can then choose an age bracket from pull down menus.  Ages start at 18 and end with 100.  Hey, don’t smirk at that, people are living longer!  Next you can select one or more status options such as single or divorced.  Why are you searching for people?  Is it to make friends?  Find a job?  Or date?  Make the relevant selections and then move to the bottom of the search box. You can narrow you search by choosing a country from the drop-down menu, and if that particular country has a zip or post code, you can further narrow down the results to a certain number of miles from a specific region. (i.e. 30 miles from 60610.) If you are just looking for online friends, this really doesn’t matter.  

If you would like to see only profiles with photos, or names and photos, choose that option in the far bottom right side of the search box.  Last but not least, decide how you want the results presented:  recently updated, last login, new to MySpace, or distance.  Click <Update>.  This will update the pictures that show on the Browse page.  If the user is online, a small “Online Now” flashing icon will appear under the picture.

The Advanced Search engine let’s you really narrow down the specific from body type to ethnicity.  The basic search engine is good if you’re looking for online friends, the advanced option is more for people who date offline.

Search
There are five main options on the search page:  general MySpace search, finding people you already know, locating old classmates, searching for affiliations for networking, and links to see results for the 10 most popular searches.

MySpace Search
The top search box is a general MySpace search.  Chose an area of the site from the drop down menu (i.e. blogs, music, etc.) then type in your keyword, click <Find> and review the results.

Friend Finder
The next search box allows you to find people you know.  First decide if you’re going to search by their name, display name, or email.  Chose the appropriate radio button, type in the information, then click <Find>.  If there is a match, you will the person’s profile picture and heading, personal information he/she has elected to shared, the date of the last profile update, and links to view the profile, send a message or IM, forward to a friend, or ad to blog list.

Classmate Finder
Next you can find classmates, by entering your school name in the “Find Classmates” search engine.   Enter in your country and state, and then press <Find>. The search engine is pretty fussy, so be sure to enter the exact name of your school including any hyphens if applicable.  A screen may appear staying MySpace can’t locate your school.  You then have the option to click the first letter of the city where the school is located.  Click the letter, and then if you see your town, click on the link.  From there you can either choose to see schools in a specific grade level (first grade through college) or you can opt to see all school in that particular city.

When/if you see your school’s name, click on the link you and you will be taken to a page with profiles on the bottom half, and a search engine on top half.  The search engine allows you to narrow down your classmate search from date of attendance to present marital status.

Affiliations for Networking
To find people with certain affiliations to network with, first enter a category field from the pull-down menu. Once a selection is made, a menu of appropriate sub-fields is activated.  Choose the appropriate one from the pull-down menu.  Next, choose the role of the person you wish to network with.  For example, if you choose the Publishing field, Business sub-field, some of the available roles to choose from would be agent, publisher, buyer, etc.  Adding a keyword for your search is option.  Remember, anyone can claim to be a talent or literary agent on MySpace, so never meet with, or relinquish your work to anyone, without full contact information and a list of references that you check out.  It is also not a bad idea to check their file with the Better Business Bureau and do a background check on the agency.

How to Make (or get rid of) Friends

Okay, so you know how to find people, and visit their profile, but how do you make friends, and interact with current ones on MySpace?  For starters, perform a search, or browse profiles as you previously learned.  It’s best to search for people you know, or people with similar interests. 

The Contact Menu
When you see a site you’d like to visit, click on the profile link.  As with your profile, you’ll notice a contact menu, normally in the left-side menu bar.  Your options are to 1) send an email; 2) add the member to your friends list; 3) send an instant message; 4) add the member to one of your groups; 5) forward the profile to a friend; 6) add the profile to your favorites list; 7) block the user; and 8) rank the user.

Send a Message
The option to send a message allows you to send an email through your MySpace email account, which you learned how to do earlier.  Just click <Send Message>, add a subject if any, type your message in the body and click <Send.> The next time the person logs in, a “New Message” notice will appear in their mail center.  Once your message is sent you have the option to return to the user’s profile, or your inbox.

Add to Friends
When you find the profile of someone you would like to include as a friend, click the <Add to Friends> option.  A message will appear asking if you really want to add this user to your Friends list.  Click <Yes> to proceed and <No> to cancel and reconsider  The next time the user logs in, a message will appear just above the contact menu alerting that he/she has a new friend request.  It is up to that person to accept or deny the request.

Likewise, when someone requests to be your friend, you see a message that says “New Friend Request” in your mail center.  When click the link, you’ll see the date of the request, the requestor’s picture if any, and their username with a link to the profile.  You have three options:  Approve, Deny, Send a Message.  If you have many to approve or deny you can click the box next to the requests you wish to accept, and then hit the <Approve Selected> or <Deny Selected> buttons.  Once approved, your new friend’s photo (if any) now appears in your Friend’s Space on the right-hand side of your profile.  They are not able to post comments to your page.

Delete Friends
To delete a friend, click <Home> to get to our main edit page if you’re not there already.  Now, keep in mind that when you delete a friend, they will not receive a message, so this person will only figure it out if they try to send a comment.  So, be aware of this.  Go to your Friends Space (right-hand corner just above Comments.)  Click on the < Edit Friends> link.

Check the box next to the profile you wish to delete, then click the <Delete Selected> button and poof-they disappear from the list.

Instant Message
If the user’s “online” icon is showing you can send an instant message or IM, by clicking the <Instant Message> link.  A window will appear allowing you to type in a message.  Once you submit the message, it will instantly pop up on the recipients screen, provided he/she is still online.  You may receive a message that the user does not accept Instant Messages, in that case, you will be unable to send one.

Add to Groups
To invite a member to join a group you must first of all belong to a group and secondly, have the authority to invite new members. If you do, click <Add to Groups> to send an invite request.

Forward to Friends/Add to Favorites
Let’s say that you’re on MySpace online, and you’ve found the profile of a long lost friend, or a profile that you find interesting, you can forward it to your other friends by clicking the <Forward to Friend> link and selecting the friends from the drop down menu that you want to inform.  You can also click <Add to Favorites> to save this to your favorites folder.

Block User
If there is a particular user you would like to block, just visit his/her profile and click <Block User> from the contact list.  You will then be asked to confirm by clicking <Yes> or cancel the block request by clicking <No>. 

Rank User
Yes, that’s right, users can rank other users.  When you click the Rank User option, you will see a scale from 1 (cold) to ten (hot).  Choose the number you feel is appropriate for the profile.  There is no need to press a submit button, however, if you’d rather not rank the user, click <Skip>.

So, how do your fair in the MySpace world?  To see your ranking, click <Home> to go to your main edit page. 

To the right, you’ll see a data menu like the one pictured here. This shows how many people are in your network (this number increase fast), the number of views your profile has received, and your last login in.  Under this information are links that show your rank, favorites folder, invite history, classified and bulletin posts, and your groups. 

When you upload a photo, you are asked if you want to add that image to the rankings.  If you click yes, then users can view, and rate the picture on a scale from 1-10.  This is designed for pictures of people, but you can add any picture you want.  Hey, our daisy photo was ranked a four—thanks for…..that. 

Adding Comments
On the right side of the user’s profile page, you will see, towards the bottom, a list of that person’s friends, and below that, a list of comments people have made.  Comments are a fun way to interact on MySpace.  For teens it would be like that passing remark in the hallways at school, or that note left on dorm room bulletin board.  To add a comment to someone’s profile, go to the comment section (bottom right-hand side) and look for “Friends Comments.”  Next to that you will see an “Add Comment” link.  Simply type your message into the box, and click <Submit>.

If you are not an approved friend of the person, you will receive a message telling you, that you cannot post a comment. 

If you are a friend, and your comment does not show up immediately the person approves all comments before they’re posted.  This was covered earlier in Privacy Settings.  If you allow all posts on your comment pages, be sure to regularly check and edit comments, and you never know what people will say—or what information may be divulged about you.  To delete a comment, click <View My Profile> under your picture, and then scroll down to your comments area (right-hand side). At the top of the section you will see a “View/Edit” link.  If you click this, you will see all the comments with a link to delete each one separately.

Photo Comments
You can also add comments to people’s pictures. From their profile page, click <View My Pics> under the profile picture, and you will see a photo album of images with links underneath to comment, email the picture to a friend, or report the image to MySpace.  Again, you must be a friend of the person to comment on images.  

Other MySpace Features

Home
The Home link will always take you to the main edit page.

Film
This is your directory to mainstream, Indie, and even small label films.  MySpace members can also submit a request to participate in free screenings.  If you have a film to promote you can submit it to MySpace, then include a clip on your side (video option) and possible be featured on the Film page.  You will also find some very cool forum topics on this page, like how to write a script.  Forum links are found in the left-side menu bar towards the bottom of the page. If you’re looking for profiles of famous faces, this is also the place to look. Often times when a new film is promoted on MySpace, the MySpace pages of a director, actor/actress, writer, etc. will be linked to the film information.

Music
This takes you to the main music page which you learned about in the Add Music section.

Comedy
If you like jokes, searching for the next big comedian, or sketch comedy, click the Comedy link.  You can also participate in fun forums like the funniest movie line. Each comedienne is listed with their picture, profile name, type of comedy they perform, location, last time their page was updated, how many times it’s been viewed or played, and how many fanes he/she has.  Click on a profile that catches your eye to go to that page. (Keep in mind that there may be some inappropriate material for people under 21.)

Go back to the main comedy page.  To the right, above profiles, you’ll see links to view the Top Comedians, Gigs, the Comedian Forum, and to Sign Up as a Comedian.  To add yourself to the funny pages of MySpace, you will be taken to a registration page. 

Promote
If you click on the <Promote> link in the bottom menu bar (very bottom of the screen) you will see a list of banners and codes.  You can add that code to any other web page you have (or even our MySpace page), but if you change the URL to your MySpace URL then anyone who signs up is automatically added to your friends list.

Buying/Selling/Finding a Job
MySpace has an extensive listing of classifieds for US and international members. Posting a classified ad is free too!  Use the MySpace classifieds to buy and sell items, find or post a job, find a new home or apartment, and buy or sell services.  Ironically, this is an under-advertised section of MySpace! You can find the Classified section on the top tool bar, all the way to the right.

On your first visit to the Classifieds, you’ll notice the page defaults to the My Ads page for Los Angeles.  Click the <Change City> link under Los Angeles to pick a different city.   A page showing all the available cities and regions will appear.  Just click on the one you want.  This will then become your default city for your Classifieds page.

Once you choose a different city, you’ll notice that a page with ad categories now appears.  Click on a main, or sub category to view all ads.  If you see something you like, click on it and learn how to respond. Also, notice in the upper right-hand corner of the page, are links for posting or viewing your ads.  This is a great place to find or post a job, or buy or sell items.  Remember, don’t post personal information such as your home phone or address in your ad, but rather have responses sent to your MySpace email address.  The <My Ads> link in the upper right-hand corner will show you all the ads you have listed.

Career Forum
If you click on the <Forum> link in the top menu bar, you’ll find a Career/Jobs forum about four folders down.  Click on the forum folder to the far left and then click the <General> folder.  As you look over the subject lines of the posts, you’ll notice most are either people looking for work, to get rich quick opportunities.