Kids Safety Bulletin Internet Safety   by Don C. Keenan

Talking with friends online can be really fun for teenagers, but with over 100 million users, myspace.com can also expose your child to unwanted solicitations.  For parents who are unsure of how myspace.com works, here is a brief overview:

Myspace.com is an online community, also called a social networking site.  Anyone can sign up for their own myspace page free of charge.  Once signed up, users can find other people with myspace pages and add those people to their “friends” lists.  Friends can then send each other messages, pictures, comments, and more.  

Here are a few tips to keep your kids safe:

1.  TAKE ADVANTAGE OF BUILT IN SAFETY FEATURES

Parents should encourage their kids to take advantage of all the safety features myspace.com has to offer.  One of the most important safety features is the ability to set your child’s myspace.com profile to private, so only friends whom they have granted permission can see the content.  To set a profile to private simply go to account settings.  Click on the Privacy tab, and select “Profile Viewable By: My Friends Only.”

{sidebar id=1} 2.  NO PERSONAL INFORMATION

Discourage your child from listing personal information like last name, age, where they live, where they go to school, and details about their body type (example - 5’4’, slim, brown eyes, etc.)  This rule also applies to your child’s friends.  Talk to your child to make sure his/her friend isn’t including personal information in the comments they leave.  A friend’s comment as innocent as, “I hope Fulton Middle wins the game next week” can give away dangerous personal information.

3.  CHECK THE CONTENT

Ask your kids to let you see their myspace page “tomorrow”.  This gives them time to clean up any inappropriate content.  In this way they won’t feel threatened or like they are caught in a “gotcha” moment.  This will also let them know you will be viewing the site from time to time and content should be clean and safe at all times.

For more information on how to keep your child safe online, visit www.protectkids.org , or see Chapter 38 of 365 Ways to Keep Kids Safe.

Don Keenan, the founder of Keenan’s Kids Foundation, has recently published a book on child safety called 365 Ways to Keep Kids Safe, which is available at www.balloonpress.com and from www.amazon.com .  All proceeds benefit the Keenan’s Kids Foundation. 

This article originally published on March 3, 2008.

Written by :

mkwestmark

 

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