Social networking sites allow people to gather online around shared interests or causes, like finding people who live nearby or who are in the same age range. These sites allow teens to design their own personalized page on the Internet, much like an interactive scrapbook, that can include their favorite music clips, their choice of background designs or “wallpaper,” photos, favorite quotes and any other information about themselves – and anyone else – that they wish to include. Users can also set up blogs (online public journals), a friend network and messages centers. It’s very easy to put a lot of information online, and savvy teens can accomplish this in just a few minutes, sometimes without appreciating the risks they may be taking when they do.

Social networking sites are becoming more and more mainstream and according to Nielsen//NetRatings reach 45 percent of active Web users. Some of the most popular social networking sites for teens include MySpace, Facebook, Friendster and Bebo.

To learn more about the top teen social sites, click here>>