The fact that you know they're using MySpace is great - a lot of parents aren't even there yet. Some ideas: Talk with them about it, ask to see their profiles, note their URLs (page addresses like myspace.com/12345678), and go to their pages every now and then. Tell them you feel it's a good idea to have a handle on the online part of their social lives just as much as the offine part - you need to know who they're spending time with because it's your job as a parent to make sure they're safe. Tell them not to put their full names or other personally identifiable info up there, not to interact with people they don't know, and only to post things they wouldn't mind posted about them (you might call this the Principle of Reciprocity for social networking!).

Most kids on MySpace are just socializing with their friends at school - typing comments in their profiles, designing and redesigning their profiles, expanding their friends lists (hopefully with people they actually know), maybe joining their schools' discussion groups or those of topics of interest, such as the international soccer and US politics groups of teenager I know spends time in. For some kids, it's just one of their social tools, along with IM, of course, and teen-specific sites, video-hosting sites, and narrow-interest sites with boards like my son's favorite, Newschoolers.com.

Hope that helps. As Larry said, people are writing books about this, including us! All the best with it,
Anne
BlogSafety.com co-director

My sons are new to My Space and I was wondering to they could expect as well as what I should be looking out for as the parent. I am very concerned about internet predators, and although I have read the material on children most at risk for this, I would still like to know more ways to keep them safe.

Mommie365