"Hookers" Are Fleeing to Facebook ????

[LynetteMarie]

"After studying the habits of 290 sex workers, Sudhir Venkatesh found that 83% rely on Facebook to lure johns."

Really? I don't know of any sex workers who use FB to "lure johns."

Additionally, who uses the term "johns" anyway? *sigh*
At least the term "sex worker" is finally catching on.

-------------------------------------------------------------
From http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_c..._facebook.html

Facebook friends take on new meaning as hookers are said to be flocking to social networking site


It's a friend request with benefits - but it isn't for free.


New York hookers are flocking to Facebook to advertise their services, a Columbia University sociologist says.


After studying the habits of 290 sex workers, Sudhir Venkatesh found that 83% rely on Facebook to lure johns.


"I estimate that by the end of 2011, Facebook will be the leading online recruitment space," Venkatesh wrote in the February issue of Wired magazine.


Even a quick search of the uber-popular social networking site reveals a trove of sex-charged profiles.


"I'm a full Gfe [girlfriend experience] provider," wrote "Molly Ravish" on her page, which features a picture of a young blond woman in lingerie.


"For a list of my services go to [my website]."


Ravish's personal Web page offers titillating photos and a detailed description of her services: $200 for an hour of passion, including "deep french kissing" and oral sex - and $150 for 30 minutes.


"Succulent, sweet, and dripping with charm, I beleive [sic] you will find me to be seductive, sensuous, and enticing," her website says.


Among Ravish's favorite quotations listed on Facebook are several sexually suggestive phrases.


"Remember my name ... you'll be screaming it later," reads one.


Other pages owned by local sex workers are less risque - but just as easy to find.


On her profile, "Beva Langoria" listed her employer as "independent escort" and provided an in-depth physical description.


"Hispanic, caramel soft skin, no tattoos or piercings, long dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, height 5'3", 125-pound, beautiful smile," reads the note on her page.


For those who are interested, Langoria included her educational background (Fordham University class of 2011) and her religious views (open).


Venkatesh says Facebook offers prostitutes a bevy of perks.


The site allows hookers to "control their image, set their prices, and sidestep some of the pimps, madams, and other intermediaries who once took a share of the revenue."


In 2008, Facebook accounted for 25% of the regular clients served by the women Venkatesh followed.


Top NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said the findings aren't too surprising. "Everybody is using the Internet," he said.


Still, not all sex workers are using Facebook - at least not yet.


A 32-year-old escort told the Daily News she would never advertise her services on Mark Zuckerberg's site.


"It's a place for teenagers to socialize, to play games, to meet friends - not a place for some dumb ass to find a piece of ass," declared the escort, who asked to remain anonymous.


Facebook is not the only site grappling with the prostitute problem. Even after shutting down its "Adult Services" section last September, craigslist is rife with ads from women offering sex for cash.


Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said the site comes down hard on anyone who uses it for illegal ends.

[pjorourke]

I dont even know how to use facebook, let alone get "lured by a hooker" on it.

[London Rayne]

I have a facebook under London Rayne, and I get hit up all the time from idiots who google my name. I don't list an email or website that connects me to this business, but people are nosy. I have had to block more than one for sending messages that included issues I did not want to discuss via facebook. I do know of many women who will use ANY AND ALL avenues of social media to get business, but I don't prefer to use that method.

[EJunkie]

I've seen women that have created profiles (in their escort name) on Linkedin as well.

[Naomi4u]

Originally Posted by EJunkie

I've seen women that have created profiles (in their escort name) on Linkedin as well.

Yes I have that. Postion: Owner!

Don't have a Facebook for my persona and I don't think
I'll create one. I see it as overexposure.. I know weird but just my $0.02.

[Camille]

Originally Posted by EJunkie

I've seen women that have created profiles (in their escort name) on Linkedin as well.

I keep getting requests to join linkedin as Camille. As if.
That's insane...
What I do like about linkedin (I have one in my real name) is I can see exactly who has looked at my profile...so if it does fall into the wrong hands I can take it down.

C

[London Rayne]

NO way London is on Linkedin, but xxxx certainly is.

[Guest042611]

More hard hitting journalism from the New York Daily News! I love how it's in the crime section, and that people are still saying things like this: "The site allows hookers to "control their image, set their prices, and sidestep some of the pimps, madams, and other intermediaries who once took a share of the revenue."

The Internet has been in popular use for about 15 years now, and you wouldn't imagine how often people tell me things about how it's eliminated intermediaries as if it were brand-new information.

[London Rayne]

They say that as if it's a BAD thing. Heaven forbid us hookers can somehow decrease our chances of being attacked or killed.

[Curious_Cat]

More hard hitting journalism from the New York Daily News!

Agreed, Natalie! And, moreover, apparently the best they can now manage is to recycle month-old stories from Wired? Way to stay ahead of the curve, there! I was surprised when I saw that the article is actually dated today, because I thought it was going to be a reference to this article from January 31:

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/01/ff_sextrade/

and the over-the-top, hyperventilating stories which followed in its wake, viz.:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20030954-71.html
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/201...facebook.shtml
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-services.html
and
http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news...st-for-hookers

And, the Daily News is so late to the party that the useful corrective article, calling BS on the initial research, is itself more than two weeks old. Here's Salon, who apparently actually bothered to go talk to some high-end escorts, only to be met with the reaction I would have expected, basically "advertise on Facebook? What the hell are you talking about??":

http://www.salon.com/life/feature/20...ion/index.html

("How technology is actually changing sex work: Prostitutes call foul on a recent report that Facebook is the 'new Craigslist.' They give us the real scoop," Tracy Clark-Flory, February 12, 2011, salon.com).

[Guest083011]

Originally Posted by Natalie

More hard hitting journalism from the New York Daily News!

Boy there's an oxymoron.

[pjorourke]

Originally Posted by Naomi4u

Yes I have that. Postion: Owner!

I would have guessed "Doggie"

[London Rayne]

Originally Posted by pjorourke

I would have guessed "Doggie"

Actually, that's my atf position. Anything not to look at some of you guys...LMAO!

[pjorourke]

Originally Posted by London Rayne

Actually, that's my atf position. Anything not to look at some of you guys...LMAO!

You ever heard the term two-bagger?

[atlcomedy]

I have a question for you FB users:

Do you friend request people you don't know or accept requests from people you don't know?

I don't do the former or the latter, although I'm pretty liberal about accepting requests, meaning she doesn't need to really be a "friend" just someone I know or have met.

BTW there are a heck of a lot of parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles with gray hair that have joined in the last year or so if only to keep up with/see pics of their nieces/nephews/kids/grandkids...