MySpace Unraveled: A Parent's Guide to Teen Social Networking (Paperback)

by Larry Magid (Author), Anne Collier (Author)
Key Phrases: privacy settings, new friend requests, save all changes, Profile Edit, Account Settings, Edit Profile (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Do you know what your children are up to on MySpace? MySpace Unraveled: What it is and how to use it safely discusses the booming MySpace social-networking phenomenon and shows you exactly what you need know about MySpace and how to create a safe online experience for your kids. Written by Larry Magid and Anne Collier of Family Tech Talk, this short and extremely useful guide discusses what children are doing on social-networking Web sites and why they have become so popular. While other books on this subject discuss how to use social networking sites, this is the first guide to address the topics important to parents. With this book parents will learn:

• The basics of online social networking.
• How children are using MySpace.
• Positive and negative aspects of social networking Web sites.
• Internet safety for kids.
• How to communicate with children about what they are doing online.
• What parental controls are available and how to use them.

About the Author
Anne Collier is an analyst, children's advocate, and journalist who has worked in media since 1980--in print and radio and on TV and the Web. In January 1999, she launched Tech Parenting Group, which publishes NetFamilyNews, the digital "community newspaper" of the tech-parenting and online-safety community. Larry Magid's Web site SafeKids.com is quite probably the world's best-known Internet safety resource. Larry Magid is the author of the earliest and most widely circulated Internet safety guide, Child Safety on the Information Highway, published in 1994 by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Larry is also a journalist and commentator on technology matters.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (August 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 032148018X
• ISBN-13: 978-0321480187
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #619,808 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well balanced, excellent guide, January 27, 2007

By	BeanWorks (Jupiter, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This stands out as the best of the MySpace books I've read. It is logically organized and well presented, with color screenshots. The authors present a balanced approach to MySpace, without an alarmist attitude, but with very insightful observations and helpful suggestions, backed by cited research. Their approach is based in the reality of the Web and social networking, addressing the issues one needs to know while guiding the reader through setting up a MySpace account and using MySpace resources.

Sprinkled throughout the book are "Key Parenting Points" which speak directly to parental concerns about MySpace features. Their philosophy on dealing with those parental concerns can be summed up by their statement (on page 12), "There is no substitute for engaged parenting...But that engagement...is less about control than it is about communication." Hence the book is about informing for constructive parenting rather than controlling a teen's access to MySpace.

The writing style is informal and easy. The authors speak as parents and professionals who are actively involved with teens, parents, and the Web. Their experience shows. [...].

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Social Networking 101 for Parents, November 8, 2006

By	Tatiana Platt (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Larry Magid and Anne Collier are industry experts on child safety online, and their collaboration here is outstanding. "MySpace Unraveled" explains the social networking phenomenon and the related safety issues in an easy to follow and practical way that is a must read for any parent who has children in today's day and age.

5.0 out of 5 stars Security Tips for parents to watch, February 9, 2009

By	Golden Lion "Reader" (North Ogden, Ut United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Myspace has become a very popular network for high school kids to chat or communicate with their friends. Myspace is the extension of school time socialization into the home. Kids can share pictures, talk about topics, and answer questions.

Parental guidance for myspace is a must. One story that stands out in my mind, is two girls that claim they had no personal information on their myspace account. However, when they were asked about their personal information, they told the interviewer, there was no personal information. An officer in the next room, revealed their names, home address, schools, and friends. The two girls had left a massive trail of bread crumbs for the officer to pickup and deduct.

Myspace claims there site is safe, clean of porn, and trends towards predators falling lower in projection. Myspace is becoming an attraction for music, entertainment, and game advertisement and interaction with the kids.

Sometimes the kids don't realize what words mean. They use word phrases too because another friends says it would sound cool. One mother told me, she called her relative and said, "do you know what your daughter has posted on myspace?" The lady view the information and was shocked. Address, crude phrases, and personal information was plastered all over the page. Needless to say, the woman immediately had the girl remove the content.

Myspace claims it can not monitor all the content on their site. However, if you complain too the myspace monitors, they will remove inappropriate accounts. Removing your childs account can be traumatic because of their time investment into the network. What an information machine, myspace has created. Highschools around the country are using myspace. Libraries are forced to open myspace to internet users because of the high requests for access.

Myspace opens up bulletin messages, events, daily journal blogs, chats, picture and music sharing, games, and plugins.