Is there anything like a facebook or myspace for children 11 and over?

[Hannah]

Facebook and Myspace are for teens, and I was wondering if there is a SAFE alternative to these for younger children.

[David D]

No

All these sites operate in the same way - the provide a way for people to communicate. Sometimes that communication involves the sending of material that could be labelled "unsavoury". Sometimes it involves persuading the recipient to part with personal information about themselves.

The only way to be "safe" would be to have a human moderate everything before it got to the recipient.

[Crim Liar]

Frankly you shouldn't be letting such young children browse the internet without actively supervising them.

[holly145]

facebook and myspace are safe, your child has little chance of having an encounter with a dangerous person on these social networks, they can make their profiles private, which means that people who don't know them cannot contact them.

You can introduce your child to bebo if you wish, as it's more "child" orientated, but it's basically the same thing as myspace and facebook.

The truth is, every social networking site has the potential of being "unsafe" but, then again, so does everything else in life.
If you give your child the right information about how important it is to be safe on the internet, then I don't see why theyshouldn't be able to use sites like facebook and myspace.

Don't listen to anyone who says "you shouldn't let your children on the internet FULLSTOP"
it's that kind of attitude that makes kids WANT to do stupid things on the internet. Believe me, I know, i'm sixteen and I got into using the internet when I was very young, and it's done me no harm.

My parents always told me how to be safe, and because I didnt have them constantly crowding me, trying to see what I was up to, I didnt feel the need to rebel, or do something that I wasn't supposed to.

Obviously though, you know your child much better than I could (obviously, and assuming you have a child) but as a teenager, I suggest you give that child or children the right amount of freedom when surfing the web.

[nat revolution]

The only website that is myspace-like and allows kids under 13 is Yuniti ( http://yuniti.com ). It is really safe & my 12 year old brother is on it. I'm 18 and use it as well. They added a lot of extra safety features to make sure kids would be protected.

Sites like Neopets and ClubPenguin allow kids under 13 to join as well, but it's more of a game and you aren't allowed to actually talk to anyone on the site until you are 13.

This is my page on yuniti if you want to see what the site is like ( http://yuniti.com/natalie ). Since I'm 18 I didn't hide anything on my profile, but for a younger persons page everything/anything on it can be hidden (including age)

[prophet4000]

I think maybe friendster might be safe.

[Jason P]

I dont know about safer? But my parents dont mind my lil sis to go on http://www.popularones.com