Many kids have turned to the Internet for a place to hang-out and MySpace has become the predominate setting for mingling and chatting.  Everyone has different uses for the Internet and kids are especially vulnerable.  There are some things you can do to make it a little safer.

First, if you are a parent, I recommend signing-up and creating a new account for yourself.  It only takes a couple minutes to do this.  You will need to provide an email address and a little information about yourself.  You can browse and see what your kids are doing this way. Remember to add their profile to your favorites so you can keep an eye on them. 

Viewing other people’s profiles could be a real eye opener.  Start viewing the profiles and blogs of other users.  This may even prompt you to limit your kids access to the Internet and possibly encourage you to buy some child safety or monitoring software.

Even though MySpace posts a warning indicating that you must be 14 years of age and to not lie about your age, this does not prevent predators from talking to your children.  You can prevent unknown people from getting through to your child by requiring that a valid e-mail address be provided before that person can be added to the Friends List.

Also you can hide your children from being listed for all to see.  You can stop others from passing along e-mail links to download your child’s photo and restrict blog posts to only people you know.

Many users’ profiles will play music when you enter.  You can block the music so that your child will not be exposed to sexually and racially offensive lyrics. There is also the option of closing your child’s MySpace account. Here are some frequently asked questions and this is the page for safety tips.

There is also software you can buy to help keep your kids safe.  CyberSitter makes a program to help and 4SafeInternet provides a service that is billed monthly.  For a minimal fee, 4safe says they can block pornography and other offensive material.