The BBC reports today on a study of more than1,000 children and 1,030 parents by online identity experts Garlik found that use of social networking sites by children is now common and as many as 25% 8-12 year olds are ignoring age restrictions to use social networking sites with 13+/15+ age restrictions, such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.
> More than a quarter of the 8-15 year-olds questioned admitted they have strangers as “friends” on social networking sites
> 20% say they have met up with strangers they first encountered online.
> 2/3 have posted personal information on their pages, including details of the school they attend and their Mobile number.
> 25% of parents said they secretly log into their child’s networking page to check they aren’t befriending strangers.
The research warned that Social Networking environments meant children were mixing with people much older than them, and with 25% of parents admitting to secretly logging into their child’s networking page obviously it’s also common for adults to be online pretending to be children.
