Myspace Safety

On MySpace, young people are mixing with older people. Just as teens are hanging out on MySpace, so are weirdos, scenesters, porn divas and creatures of the night. They are also using MySpace to gather and socialize in the way that 20somethings do. They see the space as theirs and are not thinking about their younger audience, I dont think most of them are actually targeting the youth. Of course, there are adults who want to approach teens and MySpace allows access to youth communities, so MySpace users should take care. Also, there are teens who seek the attentions of adults on MySpace, for both good and bad reasons.

But it seems the majority of adults and teens have no desire to mix and mingle outside of their generation, but the digital world of MySpace connects them together. In response, most teens just ignore the adults, focusing only on the people they know or who they think are cool. Most people do not plan to actually meet their cyber connections on MySpace.

Privacy

Most people choose not to go private on MySpace and certainly not for fear of predators or future employers. They want to be visible to other people, not just the people they they've friended. They would just prefer the weirdos go away. Or you can just turn a profile private or use separate accounts under fake names.
Since its inception, MySpace has taken a lead in safety and content review.

Aside from the technology MySpace uses, they have over one-third of their staff and 25,000 volunteers reviewing content. Additionally, MySpace allows every member of the community to report content that negatively affects the community by listing "report this image" next to every uploaded picture. MySpace reviews every image that is uploaded to the site within 24 hours and every video before it goes live.

Safety

On the safety front, MySpace has special protections for younger members but know that the only long-term solution is education. For that, MySpace asks members under 18 to agree to the basic safety tips, and MySpace works with the top safety organizations in the country on education programs.

People need a place to gather and see and be seen by peers. In MySpace its possible to do what we have always done, discover new mediums in order to learn about social culture.

Simple Guidelines

Avoid postings that could enable a stranger to find you on MySpace. That includes your last name, the name of your school or sports teams, the town you live in and where you hang out.

Check to see if your blogging service has a "friends" list that allows you to control who can visit your blog. If so, be sure to allow only people you know and trust. Be very careful before adding strangers to your list on MySpace and be extremely careful about the information you post that can be accessed by people outside your friends list.

Avoid getting together with someone you "meet" through a MySpace blog or profile, unless you are certain of their actual identity. If you do meet them, arrange the meeting in a public place and bring some friends along.

Be very careful about photographs you put on your blog on MySpace. It's best to avoid photos that can make it easy for people to recognize you. Before uploading a photo, ask how you would feel if that picture were seen by your parents, a college admissions counselor, a potential employer, a future boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse or, perhaps, your grandparents. What if you were to run for office someday? What you post on the Internet can be downloaded by others and can hang around forever.

Avoid postings on MySpace that could embarrass you, your friends or family members now or later. Remember, what you post on your blog can be copied and stored and could come back to haunt you years later.

If you allow non-friends or strangers to post comments to your blog, check the comments regularly to make sure they're appropriate and, if not, remove them. Never allow messages that are mean, threatening or embarrassing to you or others. Never respond to such messages either. Just delete them and, if possible, block that person from visiting your MySpace blog.

Dont lie about your age when you sign up for a MySpace blog. Age limitations are there for a good reason. Claiming that you are older than you are could get you into trouble and put you at risk.