The Danger of Myspace and Facebook for Your Children

Millions of people mainly teenagers are jumping on the myspace and facebook bandwagon. While these sites look innocent on the outside and most kids use it to stay connected with friends, it can be a cesspool for rapists and child predators.

Many kids on facebook and myspace post pictures, full name, addresses, the school they attend and even cell phone numbers. All this information is easily accessible at the click of a button to anyone. These sites are providing child predators with the exact information they need to track down kids right at their own front door.

Most parents are still in the dark about these sites and often don't know what their children are up to when they see them sitting at their computers clicking away. On myspace and facebook are young teens posting pictures of themselves practically naked, drinking and doing many other things that would turn on a predator and shock parents.

Parents need to be made aware of what is going on in their own homes. There are many programs available for parents to purchase in order to monitor emails, instant messages, and what websites they have visited. While these programs are great and should be put in place in every home, parents need to also open the lines of communication between their kids. The truth is it's the parents who have paid for the computer and continue to pay for the Internet each month therefore you have the absolute right to ask your child about their sites. You have the right to see their myspace accounts and face book accounts.

There are kids out there who are only thirteen years old posing as thirty-six year old women in order to attract older men. The land of the Internet isn't innocent by any means, it's an assembly of stalkers, predators, rapists, and identity theft. While there are nice things about myspace and facebook they aren't worth the horrible things that can happen if your child isn't careful.

Remember being a parent comes the responsibility to protect and ensure your children are safe. The old fashioned concept of telling your kids not to talk to strangers, not to take candies from strangers, not to open the door to strangers are all well and good but now we have to add on watch out for strangers on the Internet which, often can and have proven to be even more dangerous.

On the montel show today was a young 13 year old girl who was on myspace and had met a 21 year old man. They struck up a friendship and he wanted to meet with her. She of course said no but the scary thing is that based on the information posted on her myspace site he was able to track her down right to her front door. Once he had she innocently let him in and had it not been for her father she could have been dead.

This is just one story but there are many and based on databases and basic information the information that kids are placing on their myspace or facebook sites are often enough for predators to track them down.

Ask Questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Here are a few that might help in finding out what your child is up to online.

1. Can I have your email address?

Often 1 in 5 parents don't know their children's email or instant message name. It's important to know this.

2. Can I see your myspac or facebook account?

Your children should be made aware that this is your house, computer and Internet therefore you have the right to see what's going on. If they put up a fuss or won't let you see it, chances are there is content and such on it that they feel embarrassed about you seeing. In this case it's important to sit them down and talk to them about Internet safety and that tomorrow you want to see their sites.

3. I want to let you know I will check up every week.

You should keep up with checking up on their Internet myspace and facebook accounts. Every week take a moment and check on them to ensure that your child is not disclosing sensitive information.

Myspace and facebook both have in common that you need to provide certain information. Upon registering for the site you need to provide your email address, first name and last name. Right there is something that needs to be addressed. Giving out your first and last name isn't a good place to start. You then need to place your country and zip or postal code as well as your birthday. This is all information that makes tracking the person down very easy.

After registering it asks for a photo to be uploaded. Once all this is done you can now edit your profile and put all the pieces to the puzzle in place. It asks the following things:

-About me
-Interests
-Who I'd like to meet
-movies
-books
-TV
etc...

Then it asks for basic information like your first and last name. It asks for background information whether you're married or single, smoke or drink etc...Then it asks for what school or company you attend. All this information is available for everyone to see and I can assure you that predators are just a simple click away.

Here is a list of what to go through with your child to ensure that they are setting up a safe account.

1. Do not give out your last name. It's important to stress to your child that thir first name only is safer. Remember there are a lot more Tiffany's in the world than Tiffany Browns. Last names make it much easier for identity theft and strangers to find your child and their information.

2. Do not Put your real zip or postal code. It's easy to track someone down when you have their first and last name as well as their zip code and city.

3. Do not put in your real address or town. This is also easy information for anyone to put together to find your child.

4. Do not put the name of your school or past schools that you have attended. It's important that your child knows not to include information about which school they are currently attending or which they have attended. This is sensitive information as schools are usually close by to the house that you live in, as soon as someone knows the school they know your city.

5. Do not post to many pictures. Pictures are worth a thousand words and often times they are what will attract the wrong kind of attention. I've seen profile pictures of young girls in next to nothing clothing and provocative poses. This is dangerous and tells billions of people online just what you look like. So in a school playground a predator now is able to pin point the right child and perhaps follow them.

6. Watch what others are putting in their profiles and comment boxes about you. Many other people who are your friends will innocently place classified information of you in their profile and comment box. It's important to be careful and if you see something has been written about you that could be sensitive information you have the right to ask them to delete it.

7. Don't put something on your profile or comment boxes that you wouldn't want your parents, principle, or teachers to see. Often times kids put some racy things they've done in their comment boxes and will talk back and forth through the comments about events and such they wouldn't want their parents knowing about.

8. Do not accept friend requests from anyone you don't know! Do not accept a friend request from a person that is on one of your friend's page. Even if your friend thinks he/she is amazing and good it's not safe, don't accept.

9. Make sure if you are going to cancel your account that you follow the process carefully as illustrated on the site. Then go back a few days later and make sure your account has been deleted. If you see it's not contact the site right away.

10.If there is anything going on that seems fishy or if someone has contacted you that you do not know and somehow they know a lot about you, report it immediately to authorities.
It's also important to watch for online bullying. Many kids are being bullied online. There have been things posted on myspace and facebook that are compleatly attacking someone and can often cause problems for your child in shool. Be aware and check your child's profile often, report anything like this to your child's school.

It's important for your children to know that at any moment you can and will check your child's website to see what's going on. These tips are important to follow for any site your child is a part of where personal information is required. Never give out any personal information beyond your first name.

Although myspace and facebook are used primarily for your child to stay connected with others in their school or class it can easily turn into a predators gateway to get at your child and children everywhere. Lets work together to try and make the Internet a little safer for everyone in your family. It's so important parents are involved and aware. Keep your kids safe and keep yourself up to date on what's out there.

Here are a few websites to help you and your child create a safe Internet environment.

http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/net_safety.html

http://www.safekids.com/

http://www.softforyou.com/