Myspace Safety

Tips For Teens

• Don't say you're older than you are. MySpace members must be 13 years of age or older. We take extra precautions to protect our younger members and we are not able to do so if you do not identify yourself as such. MySpace will delete users whom we find to be younger than 13, or those misrepresenting their age to access content or areas they should not.
• MySpace is a public space. Members shouldn't post anything they wouldn't want the world to know (e.g., phone number, address, IM screen name, or specific whereabouts). Don't post anything that would make it easy for a stranger to find you, such as your local hang out. It's always fun to post pictures but remember that what you might consider a harmless picture of you and your friends in your uniforms at a school football game, is actually a map telling a stranger exactly where you go to school.
• Don't post anything that could embarrass you later or expose you to danger. Please remember that MySpace is public and many people have access to what you post, including potential employers, colleges, your teachers and peers at school that you might not even know. You shouldn't post photos or info you wouldn't want adults to see or people to know about you.
• Protect your privacy. Set your profile to private which lets only your friends view your profile. Users under the age of 16 are automatically assigned a private profile. Only accept friend invitations from people you know and trust.
• People aren't always who they say they are. Be careful about adding strangers to your friends list. It's fun to connect with new MySpace friends from all over the world, but avoid meeting people in person whom you do not fully know. Remember that you don't really know who is on the other end of an Internet connection.
• Harassment, hate speech and inappropriate content should be reported. If you encounter inappropriate behavior, inform your parents or a trusted adult and report it to MySpace or the authorities.
• Don't get hooked by a phishing scam. Phishing is a method used by fraudsters to try to get your personal information, such as your username and password, by pretending to be a site you trust. If you suddenly start receiving abnormal bulletins or messages from a friend, they might have been phished. Check with them before opening any files or clicking on any links. If you think you, or a friend, are a victim of phishing, change your password immediately.
• Avoid in-person meetings. Don't get together in person with someone you "meet" online unless you are certain of their actual identity. Talk it over with an adult first. Although it's still not risk-free, arrange any meetings in a public place and bring along friends, your parents, or a trusted adult.
• Think before you post. What's uploaded to the net can be downloaded by anyone and passed around or posted online pretty much forever. You shouldn't post photos or info you wouldn't want adults to see or people to know about you.

For more safety tips, please visit the FTC's social networking safety tips.