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Resource
List: Popular
Networking/Blog Sites
This
well-known
social networking site labels itself as “a place for friends”. It
allows people
to post pictures, blogs (like online journal entries), and personal
information. Unless the user specifies their profile as private, anyone
can
access the information on their main profile. Communication is made
between
“friends.” Anyone that is registered with myspace can request to be
your
friend. Methods of communication include private messages (like
emails),
“comments” which appear for anyone to see on your profile, and
bulletins, which
are messages that post on all of your friends’ bulletin boards, which
they see
when they login. To access all of myspace’s features, simply go to www.myspace.com and
click “sign up” to
register yourself. You can then search for people using their name,
email
address, or school. Our suggestions: ·
Ask your
child
if they have a myspace. ·
Check to
see
if your child has a myspace. Do a search by name, email, and/or school.
·
Create
your
own myspace and make sure your child accepts you as a friend so you can
see all
of their profile’s content. ·
Have
your child
switch their profile to “private.” Facebook
started
off as a private, college-based networking site, where only students
with a
valid school email address were allowed to join. Facebook later opened
up to
high school, workplace, and regional networks. Recently, Facebook
opened its
registration to anyone over the age of 13. Facebook has more privacy
controls
than most social networking sites, and each user sets their privacy
levels. You
can only see someone’s full profile if they accept you as a friend
first. Our suggestions: ·
Ask your
child
if they have a Facebook profile. ·
Join
Facebook
yourself, and try searching for your child or their friends. Try
searching by
school and graduation year. You cannot see a person’s profile until
they accept
you as a friend. These
sites are
primarily used to post blogs, or online journal entries. They can be
public or
private. They are much less frequently used than myspace or facebook.
They are
harder to search and navigate without knowing someone’s individual
profile web
address. Our suggestions: ·
Ask your
child
if they have a Xanga or LiveJournal, or any blog online. ·
Ask them
if
they would mind if you read it. If they say yes, check it out! If they
say no,
ask them why. Discuss how you feel about them sharing personal
information
online. These
sites are a
different kind of entertainment for teenagers. They allow users to view
homemade video footage. YouTube allows registered users to post their
own
videos, and anyone can view the videos online. Our suggestions: ·
Ask your
kids
if they have seen any funny videos online, and see if they will share
them with
you. This will give you an insight into their world. Internet
Abbreviations
Here
is a list of
some commonly used Internet abbreviations. For an extremely extensive
list,
visit www.netlingo.com
and click on
their dictionary. Or use www.teenchatdecoder.com
to type in any abbreviation you don’t understand and get the
"translation." ·
ASL:
tell me
your Age/Sex/Location ·
BRB: Be
Right
Back ·
BTW: By
The
Way ·
GTG/G2G:
Got
To Go ·
IDK: I
Don’t
Know ·
IMO: In
My
Opinion ·
JK or
J/K:
Just Kidding ·
LOL:
Laugh Out
Loud ·
LMAO:
Laugh My
A** Off ·
OMG/OMFG:
Oh
My God/Oh My F****** God ·
ROFL:
Rolling
On The Floor Laughing ·
TTYL:
Talk To
You Later ·
WTF:
What The
F*** Helpful
Websites
X3watch
helps you
monitor questionable websites. You can download their free program and
install
it on your computer. Then, when anyone who uses your computer visits a
“questionable” website, the program automatically saves that
information,
including the website address, and periodically emails it to an email
address
of your choice. If anyone on your computer tries to change the
reporting email
address, or shuts down the program, you will be notified. Cyber
Sitter is a
program that costs a one-time fee of $39.95 (no monthly subscription
fees). It
allows parents to set filter levels to block certain websites, records
all
websites that are visited on the computer, and records both sides of
chat
conversations from AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger. It also
allows
parents to set time restrictions for internet use, and sends reports to
parents
by email. They have a free 10 day trial available on their website.
Helpful
Books
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