Do you think MySpace is safe?

Myspace is for the 18+. I have two pages one for business and one that I use to connect with family and friends. The only reason people are harmed is because no one wants to follow the rules and parents are so damn stupid.

If anyone has common sense then they will know to decline requests from sickos or somoene who just doesn't seem all there. Or just won't respond to weird messages. And when my kids are old enough to be on myspace or whatever what may be by then... I will feel the same way as you, it's a mommy thing, whether they know better (which they will). Are their pages set to private? I am 31 and a mother, and even I am afraid of weirdos... I mean the sickos out there so my page is set to private. Myspace has options in order to keep kids safe but they just need to be utilized.

It's a safe place if you are smart, it's actually the little girls who are desperated to be grown that get themselves in trouble on myspace by talking to perves and ending up meeting them then they don't like what comes next. I think overall it's safe if you know what you are doing. I'm on there and I don't have a problem with it at all.

I'm 21, with 2 kids (they aren't old enough for myspace - 15 months & 5 months), but my younger sister- 17yrs old is on myspace & she has enough common sense to know when to delete someone or block them from talking to her. I think most of safety on-line comes from waiting until you really know someone before you confide in them too much. I confide in my online friends (that I have never met), but we have been friends for roughly 3 years. On top of that they atre all women like me, and are all mothers too. So all I can suggest is review the whole "do not talk to strangers" talk but revise it to "do not give out personal info to online strangers"

I think its safe if they are taught the dangers of the internet. Parents really need to let their kids know that alot of people on the net are creeps, and will say anything to get closer to you. as long as they dont give out any info like they're phone number, adress, credit card numbers...and so forth..normal stuff you wouldnt give a stranger..than yea its all good.

well, I dont know much about myspace, i am not useing that, but after read all the comments i thoughts its not safe, wht u say???

To me, it's not just about the predators, it's about the kids too. Kids put down revealing information on their Myspace. They write surveys all about them they put their cell phone numbers in their profile, and then they friend random people that they don't even know. They start talking to them...to me, the children are just as guilty. Now, I'm not saying that I don't feel sorry for any of the kids getting sexually harassed if they meet any of these pedophiles off-line, because I do...however, teenagers should not give their information on-line. And it's not just with Myspace, it's everywhere. It's on AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Facebook...it could be anywhere. I have a Myspace, but I don't put anyone on there I don't know. I check them out first. It kind of annoys me that Myspace is getting all this ridicule, when it's really the users' fault...it could happen ANYWHERE.

you really should monitor their useage of the computer, myspace is somewhere teenage girls should not be on, too many perverts on it. Also kids shouldn't be using sites like that unsupervised all the time anyways, need to check on them from time to time.

I have friends who have let their teens get myspace accounts, but they also sit down with the teen and make them show them their profile and view their friends, etc, to make sure everything is on the up and up. I also found one of my student who had created a profile saying he was 17 and a senior and in all these sports, had tons of girls on his friends page, and this is a 13 year old 7th grader. I think it *can* be safe and fun, but only if parents stay involved and know what their kids are doing.

Hi jeannie :) I'm conflicted on the whole Myspace situation, mainly because online security for kids and teens is a big part of what I do for a living. Where adults are using the site, I have no opinion because we all have our own comfort level about what information we are giving out and, as you mentioned, it may be for any number of reasons (business, self-promotion, online dating, making friends, etc). Having said that, I truly do not believe Myspace is a safe environment for young people and so many of them are overly anxious to get there. Their profiles may provide false ages and highly inappropriate photos. I found a family member's child on Myspace, just doing a simple search. She was giving out her full, real name, where she lives, the name of her school and also lied about her age. Of course, Myspace is not really any different from any other social networking site or even any other online forum, such as a message board or chat room. Kids (including teens!) need to be taught about something called "personally identifying information" or PII. PII is a guideline violation on most websites for those who are not of majority age and, on such sites, they can have postings removed or may lose their account entirely. What some of our young people don't realize is that, just because they don't give out their real name or home address, doesn't mean that they are anonymous. I can't tell you how many kids I've seen posting the name of their school, the name of their sports team, what position they play, what dance school or karate school they attend, etc. Anyone who spends more than a few minutes online with these kids can put these factors together and obtain pretty quick and accurate profile. If the child/teen then discloses the town where they live, it becomes instantly possible to locate them in person. It's really great that you check up on your daughters' online activities. I do "the Mommy thing", too :) I have two teenaged daughters and I monitor their internet use at home (knowing, of course, that they can get online plenty of other places -- school, library, friends' homes, etc.). I do my best to teach them what I know and show them examples of what not to do and why. I don't want to discourage their use of the internet, at ALL, because it offers them far too much "good"... I just want to be sure they are sensitive to and aware of the "bad" and that they manage their online participation in a responsible way. One last bit of information to add to your question about whether or not Myspace is viewed as safe... several of the websites I work with on a regular basis do not even allow their members to mention the name "Myspace," much less allowing the posting of Myspace URLs, because their demographic includes members as young as 13 years of age. Thanks for an interesting topic :)

I think it depends on each girl. I definently would be checking out thier profiles and make sure that they don't have any strangers added as friends. I have a myspace and you can make it resonably safe if you are smart about it.

I am a member of myspace... I do have it also..It's like friendster,getting along new friends...it's not really a bad influence. For me, it's safe as long as there's limitation... :)

yeah, www.myspace.com/counterstrikecz check mine. I have gamer friends. I like the escape. but sure i have some girl they trust me.

The internet is not is a not a safe place to be for teenagers,you have to put in adequate security measures,if you must allow your children access to the internet,there are dangerous and inappopriate places where your children can learn bad things,myspace blogs contains all kinds of information ,so you should monitor your children's use of myspace and the internet in general

Is myspace safe? Sure I think it is. Now the people that go there and the reasons they go there may not be. I have a Myspace site just because I was curious about it. I didn't fill out much information or anything, and only uploaded one picture. I have one person that found me from highschool on there and one friend from highschool. Other then that I don't do anything with it. There are some people that go there for bad reasons and people that put up bad pictures. The Texas school cheerleaders who get suspended is one example. I guess they put up pictures of themselves and they were not appropriate. They got taken down and suspended from school if I remember right.

I think people need to trust their kids. Remember today's generation has grown up with the internet and is well aware that there are potential predators out there. They're much more worldly-wise and savvy than their parents were at the same age. If parents come down too hard on their kids then they will end up sneaking around and not telling them what they're up to on the internet, making it much harder to keep them safe!

I think as long as kids are under 18 and governing entities hold you responsible, then privacy is a mute point as far as protecting them from strangers, or even from other kids. Parents know more and are the protectors. I have a Myspace profile and I'm not a bad person, but I have seen many idiots there, the same as anywhere offline. I don't think parents can control who the kids are talking to since it happens so fast in chatrooms, however, the challenge is to make sure the kids feel close enough to talk to the parents when they have questions. A weekly meeting of online activities should also be done. Anything to keep it in the forefront of daily life in the home, rather than secretive online. There really are too many bad people who can hide online. Yeah it is very complex, and much harder than saying stay away from a car on the street. In Myspace I try to be nice and show respect to the kids in the chat rooms. I never know in my email, chatroom, or forum, if it is a kid or not. I have to research it, and at my age, anyone 20 something or under is a kid :) lol! I have even be protective of a younger girl in a chatroom, where some older guy tried to talk to her the wrong way. I'm not afraid to do that, so at least know there are people out here who care about protecting your kids online too. Just like if I saw a kid on the street in potential danger, I'm not afraid to speak up and help. It is just the civilized thing to do.

It's as safe as YOU make it or in the case of kids, as safe as their parents make it. I have seen young girls on there wearing little clothing, in provocative poses and provacative screen names. They have blogs talking about partying and getting drunk. WHERE IS THE PARENTAL SUPERVISION? Why aren't they being taught about internet safety AND being checked up on by their parents? On MySpace, you control how much information is shared, you control what pics to put up, who to have in your friends list, whether to make your profile public or private. I think it is wonderful that you check their profiles. I think that their privacy can be respected (not reading their messages) unless you feel there is a reason to do so. I think the only thing that makes something like MySpace NOT safe for teenagers, is parents who don't pay attention to what their kids are doing and don't bother to teach them the basics of internet safety. The parent should have all the control of the computer and what is on it. Parents should pay attention and KNOW who their kids are hanging out with, where they go, etc. I think you've taken the proper steps to ensure the safety of your own kids. I wish more parents would do so.

i dont know how safe any internet site is when you are meeting new people or sharing your life online but I do know that you can block your profile so only people you accept as friends can see your profile.

i think that myspace is safe. i cant do anything to you as long as you do not reveal personal sensitive information. i think that myspace is good because it promotes friendship around the world and it exposes people to different languages, different kinds of people, different characters and different likes and dislikes. myspace is also a nice way to practice you html skills and also your typing skills.