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Online Social Networking - Safety Tips for Parents

For teens, Online Social Networking (OSN) is a popular online activity because it makes it easy for them to express themselves and keep in touch with their friends.

As a parent, please consider the following guidelines to help your children make safe decisions about using online communities.

  • Talk to your kids about why they use OSNs, how they communicate with others and how they represent themselves on OSNs.
  • Kids shouldn't lie about how old they are. Most OSN’s require members to be a certain age (MySpace members must be 14 years of age or older and will delete users found to be younger than 14 or misrepresenting their age).
  • OSNs are public space. Members shouldn’t post anything they wouldn’t want the world to know (e.g., phone number, address, IM screen name, or specific whereabouts). Tell your children they should avoid posting anything that would make it easy for a stranger to find them, such as their local hangouts.
  • Remind them not to post anything that could embarrass them later or expose them to danger. Although OSNs are public, teens sometimes think that adults can’t see what they post. Tell them that they shouldn’t post photos or info they wouldn’t want adults to see.
  • People aren’t always who they say they are. Ask your children to be careful about adding strangers to their friends list. It’s fun to connect with new friends from all over the world, but members should be cautious when communicating with people they don’t know. They should talk to you if they want to meet an online friend in person, and if you think it’s safe, any meeting should take place in public and with friends or a trusted adult present.
  • Harassment, hate speech and inappropriate content should be reported. If your kids encounter inappropriate behavior, let them know that they can let you know, or they should report it to the OSN or the authorities.

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