Social Networking sites are great for meeting people, for dating or just friends it brings a sense of community to the internet. In a new interesting way, the social networking sites are making the world truly seem so small.
However as in real communities around the world the net also has some bad elements, for the most part they are hidden away until the law enforcement officials point them out to us.
Social networking sites can be great places to visit and meet new people, however our children should be taught the same rules about strangers and the dangers they present in the online world. Knowledge about the dangers will be provided at lightninglikes.com to the people. Along with the teaching, children should be guided towards the following of the rules.
Our children’s profiles can easily led the wrong kind of people to your doorstep, which is why parents need to exercise caution with their children’s profiles on these social networking sites such as myspace and yahoo. Your children using sites like this can be okay if you take the time and show them why they should be careful.
Parents I cannot stress enough the importance of making sure your child’s profile has no identifying information on it. Do not list the address on it, this means do not list the full school name, the full name of any sports teams your child plays on, or god forbid your phone number. Bottom lines if you would not give a stranger the information do not post it on any public profile. It is simple; protection of your child is paramount, at all times everywhere.
If you yourself are using these social networking sites to find new friends, or dating, you must also remember stranger danger and skip the identifying details within your profile. I know you certainly would not publicly post our home address or phone number but if you list, your full name and the state in which you live a twisted individual can track you down.
I am not saying not to use the social networking sites, I am simply saying be careful of what information you make public out here on the internet. The internet is a safe fun place to be if you exercise some caution with personal information.
A good profile can include a real photo of yourself, a first name with last name initial, and a state. It does not include your full last name, street address or the fact that you are in seventh grade at ABC middle school in Timbuktu or work at ABC hospital. By listing the full name of a school or work place, the parasites of society can track you down. If you work at a Wal-Mart, which are all over go ahead and add that but if you work at a hospital with a specific name do not se the name of the specific hospital. I am sure you can see what I mean.
As I have said before these social networking sites such as yahoo or myspace are great places to find old and new friends, perhaps even dating and just plain network but we must use caution as parents to protect our loved ones from the dangers.
