It seems like everyday you hear another story about someone in some sort of trouble in regards to posting something on a social networking site, such as Facebook or MySpace. Whether it is Miley Cyrus’ photos with friends or the Oregon mayor who was recalled after being photographed in her underwear in front of a fire truck, the message is clear: be careful with what you upload. Are our children hearing that message?

At least in the U.K., the message does not appear to be getting through, according to research recently released by Ofcom, a British communications watchdog. It reports:

● 40 per cent of children leave their privacy settings on “open”
● In spite of minimum age of 13 or higher on most social networking sites, 27 per cent of 8-11 year olds who are aware of social networking have a profile on at least one site.
● While two-thirds of parents say they set rules on social networking, only 53 per cent of kids say such strict guidelines are in place

Social networking can be great, however it is not appropriate for many young people. Even with teenagers, you want to trust them, but it is important to establish some ground rules. Our sister site, Safesurfer.org, has a WebSafe section with some great ideas about dealing with social networking sites with your kids.

However, everyone has their own approach. What do you do?

Robin

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 11:28 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.