How safe is facebook or twitter? i want to convince my parents to let me get one!?

[Emily]

Hey,

So, I don't use Twitter, at all, but I have used Facebook for awhile now. Here are some really good things about it that make it safe for anyone to use:

You have absolute control of your privacy settings for your profile. This includes setting your profile to private (so that only people that you have accepted a friend request from can view any information about you), making your name unsearchable (so in order for anyone to become friends with you, you have to be the one to look for them, because if they search for your name, it will not appear), and blocking your profile picture, so no one can see a picture of you unless you are their friend. Ultimately, you control your privacy settings.

Then, you control what information you include on your profile. There are places where there are specific blanks to be filled, like phone number or address, but it is totally optional to fill in that information. You can even put a nickname to appear instead of your real name, so only people who know your nickname would be able to find you (unless you have made yourself unsearchable).

Another bonus is that you belong to things called "networks" that are centered on your community and/or the school you go to, and each requires either an email verification or a zip code. The benefit of this function is that if anyone is on the site just looking for people to prey on, they would have to know a specific name, because you can only browse through people in your own network.

I really hope that this helps your case.