Social Networking for Teens

Hey girl..I have been on myspace for a few years now so has my 5 younger brothers and sisters and we have never had any problem! Yes def have her set her profile to private...people can still request to be her friend or message her but if she denies their requests and doesn't respond to their emails she will be fine!

I personally have a myspace account that is set to private. With it set to private it means that only people you have designated as a "friend" can view your page, pics, and blogs. Anyone can be your "friend" if you have given them permission to be. If your kids only have their personal friends on there then it should be okay, of course school things will still go on-people talking about others and stuff like that. But, there is still the chance that someone emails them and says "hey I want to be your friend" and then your child accepts them as a friend, now that stranger is a "friend" and can see anything on there. I suggest, if your kids have not, there is a security measure that they can add which is if someone wants to ask to be there friend they have to know your child's last name or email address. If they do not know one or both of these answers a request to be a friend will never be sent to your kid.
I enjoy it for finding old high school friends and stuff. But, it is the internet. Look into yourself...ask your kids questions like how it works and stuff and get involved. If they seem hesitant to let you look and stuff then something could be up. But, if they do let you see stuff, remember they are teens and will be up to normal teen things like talking about other kids or maybe trying to get a boyfriend or girlfriend and they dont want you to see stuff like that and take it out of hand. Of course there are times when things are done and said that should not be,internet or otherwise. Trust your kids first, if they break that trust then you let them know they did and how they did. I can be dangerous....I would not say no to it, but you have to be aware and observant. I would say a good idea if letting your kids help you make a myspace page, mainly just so you can be there "friend" and see what is going on for the most part on their page anytime you log on. good luck :)

i have been advertising and selling beaded jewelry on myspace for a couple of years now. yes you do get some weirdos on there but for the most part it's pretty safe. you can block anyone you don't want your child talking to or report if they harass your child in any way and that person will be banned from the site. as long as you have the profile on private none of your information is seen. i have my husband, my brother, his wife and nieces on there and it's fine. you control the settings as to what people see or not although if you go to search around there the profile pictures may not be the best for a child to see.

Hello Jeanette...

My girls know that my space is not an option in my home...period..it'sa breeding ground for problems...I have close family friend who works in law enforcement and this is exactly his job....online predators...ect....and he does not allow his kids to have a myspace account at all.....So..with him having that inside scoop on what really goes on there....that is good enough for me. No myspace at my house! :)

Jeanette,

I have a myspace page and can tell you that although you can set your account to private it will not keep your kids from seeing things they don't need influencing them.

Some of the good things - I originally created a page to keep up with friends/family that were on and we don't get to see often. It has allowed me to re-connect with people that I graduated with which has been wonderful.

Some of the bad things - For some people it's become a place to grip. For many kids/teens it's a place where they can get away with the foul language their parents would die if they knew about. You can send/receive emails that are not kept so parents don't have a way to monitor, this is not like Outlook where you could go through the computer to retreive messages and check on your children. You can search for other people's pages and like the internet when you search it will pull up people of "night-time" professions/unlike the internet you can't block the site & especially the photos that they have posted on their site. This is an easy way for kids to fall into pornography and have a way of communicating without parents knowing.

Although, I'm sure your children don't want to be involved or have anything to do with the negative that is on Myspace the site can not do enough to keep teens/children out of harms way. It's there for anyone to find.

It would be my recommendation that you do not allow it. I would also recommend that you try it out for yourself so that you are making a decision based on what you have seen and not just been told and heard.

Honestly there is potential in just about everything. But, in my opinion, your kids are right. If its set to private only part of the front page can be viewed. And as long as your children do not use any real personal information (and you monitor this) it should be okay. That means no actual picture set on the front, no real name, or actual location. Your child can even set up a different email address to link it too so people who may know their email can't find them. there are also parameters such as when anyone wants to be their friend they have to include certain information to prove they already know each other. Permission has to be granted to post any comments is another safety feature you can use. I have an account and I know many who do too (I'm 33). Its been a great way to keep in contact with people you don't talk to that much. I don't use it a lot...but its free as opposed to Classmates.com. And its a great way to share pics with friends who are across the country or world even.
So bottom line, with parental monitoring and the safety features you can use I beleive it to be pretty safe.
Good luck!

There will always be someone out there who can hack into other peoples stuff but as long as your children are not putting personal info on there page (phone numbers, address's and full name) and not accepting people they don't know in as their friends they should be safe. If someone is looking for someone to pray on I think photos are a big factor. I would watch how your children portray themselves in the photos they post online. I have a MySpace page and I get friends request from really strange people but, I deny their request and block them, and I have had no problems. Also go online and take a look at their site periodically.
Hope this helps.

I am also a MK military wife! Hi!
I have a myspace to keep in touch with all my friends and family. If it is set to private, no one can see it. If she accepts someone as a friend she doesn't know, that's when the trouble comes in. Just remind her she should only be freinds with people she knows!

I would agree to a myspace page with certain rules:
1. You have the password to the page and you go on frequently to check on the site.
2. She keeps the site private and agrees to only allow people she knows/has met as friends.
3. Put a random picture (not a photo of herself) as her profile picture.
4. I think 15 is a good age, no younger ;)
Keep a close eye on her site. Know where she is going out so she doesn't go and meet some random person. Speak to her make sure she fully understands all about online predators and things like could really happen. Be very invovled in her life. The kids who typically screwed up when I was a teenager were the ones who had parents who didn't care. Of course some kids messed up even with super involved parents too.

My 12 and 17 year old both have Myspace accouts. And I have created one also, most of the kids that my 12 year old has as your friends are my friends also. I log on several nights a week and check on the post that are done and if I don't like the language or topic I respond back to the kids and let them know. I also have told them that if they keep posting that way they can no longer be my daughter's friend on the Myspace. I also log on to her account at least once a week to see who she has added a friend and what they are saying.

I have even gone as far as making her delete post I don't like and then explain it to her how it can come back in the future and hurt her.

As far as my 17 year old, since he does not live at home anymore, (story for another time), I can talk to him and see what he is up to.

Good Luck, myspace does have it's good and bad points. So far I have seen more good than bad.

Hi Jeannette,

I think your child's information is as safe as anything else on the web. People who hack, hack... What I did find was as your child visits someone's site, then they can link from there into one of their friend's friend's sites or their friend's sites just surfing through and at that point you can find some pretty raunchy stuff. Why don't you set up a site for yourself and test it for a while? You can always close it if it doesn't suit you...

Regards,

M.

BTW, I told my 16 year old no.