Currently, 38 percent of all American teens on Facebook, or 7.5 million teen users, are below the minimum age of thirteen and even more troubling is the fact that 4 percent of children on Facebook are 6 years old and under. In other words, 800,000 American kindergartners are Facebook users. Based on a MinorMonitor survey taken of 1,000 American parents of Facebook teen users, 74 percent have valid concerns for the child’s safety, and of those, only 50 percent monitor their teen’s Facebook account by accessing it with or without the teen’s approval or knowledge. Twenty-four percent monitor teen accounts by “friending” them, which Mike Betron, VP and General Manager of MinorMonitor, says is an extremely ineffective way of monitoring dangerous activities and may provide parents with a false-sense of security since most children are still able to take part in private conversations and share private material without parental knowledge. Most troubling of all is that according to the survey, 17 percent of the parents admitted they do not monitor their children’s Facebook activities at all (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith & Zickuhr, 2010).

      So armed with these facts, what safety measures should parents take to safeguard their teen’s online experience? A big first step is education - knowing what resources are available and how to use them. *Active monitoring is also essential which may include the placement of the family computer in an open household location. *Recording login passwords and credentials ensure the parent is always able to access all Facebook accounts. *Looking for children’s online friends whose names may not be familiar and when they appear to be new, make a point of inquiring about their identity. *Today there are dozens of parental control software programs that assist the parent in logging activity as well as options for blocking and filtering certain material. *Require that pictures posted online meet with parental approval. Images may not be appropriate in many ways; those that are explicit and sexually provocative or images that may reveal one’s location or other private information. *Apart from close friends known to the parent, online buddies should remain online. No secret meetings or gatherings should be allowed without permission. *Taking an active part in reviewing children’s online logs, history and profiles. *Being an active participant in ensuring your child’s safety should be every parent’s responsibility.