I wrote this article a couple of months back as I was (and still am) concerned about the use of Facebook and other Social Networking sites by our youth.

In addition I will write some more about internet security as far as other topics go. Such as fraud, phishing and more.

Here is the original article. Its still valid. 

I don't have any wonderful powers or secrets apart from some pretty obvious, to me, thoughts.

Facebook is a wonderful thing but is inherently dangerous to kids because it is, by default, wide open. No security in place at all. Get your kids to lock down the security. It's in ACCOUNT, top right of the screen. Only allow FRIENDS to view ANY information and photos etc etc. Don't let anyone view the profile. Don't post any phone numbers, age, address etc etc. Your for real friends know this information anyway so NO NEED to put it online is there?

Look at the whole of their FB. Check out the Groups and Pages and other items on FB that they are members of.  Some of these Groups etc sound innocent enough, but they are also "Wide Open" and full of inappropriate content.

Talk to your kids about this. Have access to their FB account if they MUST have one. Talk about stranger danger, talk about trust and what is and isn't appropriate. etc

Thats a good start. If you are suspicious about whether there is a chance of your child being at risk and maybe talking with someone inappropriate there are other ways to check. :)

Here is a link that  sums it all up in one page. http://netsecurity.about.com/od/newsandeditoria2/a/socialpredators.htm

Our friends know that Amy and I met on the internet. And of course to us the internet is a wonderful thing, but it has hidden  dangers too. I hope that this is of some help.

Also of course the other thing that a lot of people neglect is their AntiVirus. The guys at Symantec do a great job of their Anti Virus software and I have here a link with a coupon for a 10% discount. 10% Off - Norton AntiVirus 2010 Coupon - Code: 10NAV2010 - Exp. 7/31

take care
Eric

P.S. Since I wrote this Facebook has made changes to th default security settings and have tightened it up a lot. I would still strongly recommend that parents oversee their child's facebook.