If you have a teenager in the house, chances are your kids already have multiple online social network profiles, even as you read this.
A survey (PDF) of 10 to 17 year olds revealed 34% had posted their real names, telephone numbers, home addresses, or the names of their schools online where anyone could see; 45% had posted their dates of birth or ages; and 18% had posted pictures of themselves.
What do you need to know about this trend as a parent? Why do kids create these profiles? How do these online networks work, and what do you need to watch out for?
What Makes Social Networks So Attractive to Teens?
With so many sites gaining popularity, of course teens and tweens will likely be curious to check them out. These sites offer great opportunities to connect with old friends, stay in touch and make new friends. You can share photos, ideas, stories, whatever you want really, within your network and view other’s profiles. So, with so much sharing going on, it’s important to be careful what is shared and made public. A couple of the most popular networking sites are Facebook with more than 60 million users and MySpace with 110 million users worldwide. Make sure you know what is involved with using each site and it’s settings for privacy and protection of information. Here’ s a bit of a rundown:
MySpace: Not directed to children under 13. The birthday must be filled out at registration, but any 13 year old or younger who can do a bit of math is gonna figure that one out…Keep an eye on their sites Mom and Dad. There are reasons for age restrictions. MySpace does take proactive measures to protect privacy and it is definitely up to the user to make sure their profile settings are set to what they are comfortable sharing. The following is taken directly form the MySpace Website,
“Please be aware that your Profile Information, as well as any information posted to any public forum, can be accessed by the public….Profile Information located on private profiles can be accessed by MySpace at all times and, in limited cases, by certain third parties authorized by MySpace for purposes of ensuring compliance with MySpace’s Terms of Use.”
So, for you over 13ers…Be careful what info you are freely giving out or posting. At registration you must manually uncheck the box that displays your birthday so that it will not be made public. That can be missed sometimes. For a complete rundown of the Privacy and Protection visit the MySpace website and check out the Safety tips too.
Facebook: The 2 core principles of Facebook are (1) You should have control over your personal information and (2) You should have access to the information others want to share. They also do not knowingly collect information on anyone 13 and under and recommend that anyone between the ages of 13 and 18 consult their parents before setting up an account (not that that will happen all the time…). Facebook is very vigilant about protecting your privacy and it is mostly up to you to make sure you read the options and check boxes. There are many options available on the Privacy setting page within your account. Take the time to go through it! It’s for your own safety. The Facebook website provides Safety Tips for users and parents. Very good information!
You should always assume that information posted on profile sites and blogs (online diaries) can be accessed by the public. There are security measures in place but not always 100% reliable. It’s quite common for potential employers, teachers and parents to access profiles and blogs to do a little check on someone. That means be careful what kind of pictures you are posting, comments made on others pictures and profiles etc…Don’t forget that just because you are careful with your privacy settings that your friends might not be. That is how lots of information that you thought was private, can be made public. The dangers are out there. People are not always who they say they are so sharing any kind of personal information can be dangerous, even an innocent comment to a friend about where you are going to meet after school can have dangers attached to it. One comment made is that the lines between what is public and what should be private are blurring. And the part of the problem is that adolescents have the ability to adapt technology without fully understanding the ramifications, and before caring adults can monitor it. This comment was taken from a really interesting article called “Social Networking: Is it Worth the Risk?”. It’s worth checking out.
Facebook and MySpace are only 2 examples out of dozens. Some other popular names you might recognize are: Twitter, 43things, Gather,YouTube, hi5, Bebo, Habbo, Second Life… Check out the sites before signing up with an account.
Have anything to share about Social Networking? Leave a comment!
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