Social networking sites like Facebook create challenges for modern parents

In a recent study released by The Nielsen Company, it was determined that 54% of kids who use popular networking websites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter don't actually know everyone on their "friend" lists. In a world where the internet is a playground for child predators, that number is downright scary.

Many parents choose to "friend" their child to monitor activities but the problem with this lies in the fact that parents have no idea what goes on in private messaging or in areas for which kids don't allow parents access. For instance, Facebook has a feature that allows users to pick and choose which items in their profile specific users can see. So while little Jenny may seem to have a perfectly innocent Facebook profile, it may actually contain links to naked pictures, inappropriate comments, or evidence of cyber-bullying; Jenny's parents would be none-the-wiser. The feature is designed to be discreet; it's not obvious to users that there is information being hidden. And more importantly, every popular social networking site offers private messaging between users. Parents wouldn't have access to those unless they were actually logged into the child's account.

On August 23, AOL released a new tool to help parents monitor children's social networking activities, giving reports of what the child is doing and alerting parents of red flags to things like signs that the child is in a potential child-predator situation, contemplating suicide, cyber bullying, or drug and alcohol use. It also checks out your child's friends, scanning more than 50 databases to find out if friends are who they say they are.

The program is the first of its kind and is a step in the right direction. Instead of the slinking around and ransacking children's computers, parents can be upfront about the fact that social networking is going to be monitored. Kids must "allow" the parent access before the tool can do its job. However, once it's in place, parents can review postings, photos posted by the child, and photos in which the child is "tagged" uploaded by others to check for inappropriate behavior. In other words, it keeps the child in check.

The problem for many parents is knowing how much freedom to give teenagers. Babysitting teens in their internet activities can restrict their ability to make good decisions on their own and make kids feel like they aren't being trusted. As an alternative, there are many websites that are helping parents by giving them information to use when teaching children about safe social networking. The problem is that many parents don't use social networking and have no idea how it works, which creates challenges when setting guidelines. Onguard Online, a website that specializes in keeping all consumers safe online, also offers in-depth information for parents.  It explains online safety and how it relates to social networking while helping parents to understand how the popular websites work. The National Crime Prevention Council also created this reproducible handout with tips for safe social networking. It is designed in such a way that it can be easily posted by a home computer to remind kids about guidelines while they surf.

Social networking sites are constantly adding new features and it's important for parents to be in-the-know about potential dangers. If the technology is confusing, join yourself and learn how it works. If you aren't sure what concerns parents should have about social media, research online and talk to other parents. No matter how you have to do it, the most important thing parents can do to combat unsafe social networking is to stay informed.

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