Internet Life

MySpace, Facebook and Hi5 More Popular than Toys

Social networking sites have a growing popularity among kids

By Bogdan Popa, Security and Search Engines Editor

4th of April 2008, 21:06 GMT

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It's a well-known fact that the social networking websites out there, including here MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, Bebo and other services, are quite popular among today's Internet users as they record millions of new accounts every day. What's really bad is that an

important percentage of the social networking population is actually represented by kids who are always looking to socialize and make new friends. This wouldn't be a problem if the social networking communities were peaceful and safe places but, with more and more sex offenders and pedophiles, children must be protected.

A recent study conducted by Ofcom has revealed that no less than 49 percent of the users aged 8-17 created accounts on social networking websites, while only 22 percent of those over 16 joined such a service. Sure, this wouldn't be impressive at all, but finding out that approximately 41 percent of kids publish their details on profile pages, which makes their private information available to anyone, is indeed. Only 44 percent of adults do the same thing.

"There are huge benefits to Internet use, and we do not want to be too scared about the dangers. But parents who allow children to go online without supervision need to recognise that they are potentially at risk. When children go out to play, parents often state ground rules about when they come back. Parents need to recognise that going online has the same kind of risks," Robin Blake of Ofcom said according to PC Advisor.

The research has also revealed that Facebook is the most social networking website among adults, being followed by MySpace and Bebo. What's interesting is that most kids aged 8-17 choose to create profiles on Bebo and not on Facebook, that has always been regarded as the leader of the online social networking market.

TAGS:

facebook | myspace | social network | children | hi5

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