Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o apparently had a girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, whom he met through the internet. The two became very close through online chatting and phone calls, and their relationship was “just becoming serious” when Kekua died of Leukemia. Although the football player was deeply saddened, he did not attend her funeral because of a conflicting game the same day. Te’o told CBS that he promised Kekua he would not miss a game if something happened to her, and he went out to play the best game of his career, leading the Irish to the BCS championship game. This touching story instantly inspired many football fans across the country.
However on January 16, it was confirmed by Manti Te’o that he was a victim of a online hoax, and that Lennay Kekua never existed. “This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about,” Te’o told CBS, “but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online, and I grew to care deeply about her. To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone’s sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.”
This story might be looked at as a cruel, embarrassing hoax, but it can also be seen as a cautionary tale. With all the buzz in social media, people as young as the age of twelve are constantly checking their Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites. Rachel Dautel, a sophomore at Padua Academy, says she has become very careful when checking her Facebook and Twitter. “More than once I’ve logged onto Facebook to see a friend request from someone who I did not recognize,” Rachel stated, “if it is someone who I seem to have a lot of mutual friends with, goes to the same school as me, or seems to be about the same age I will usually accept, but I have also encountered completely random people who do not live near me and whom I have no mutual friend requests. In that situation I would ignore the request.”
Recently online corporations such as Facebook and Twitter are now realizing the public’s need for safety and have acted accordingly. Facebook seems to have increased their security settings, allowing the user to customize the privacy settings to their liking, such as making the user’s profile only available to certain people. Because the user has to approve who can contact them, it makes them more aware of whom they may really be talking to. Social networking users should only accept requests from people they actually know and have met to prevent future situations similar to Manti Te’o’s.
