Study: Majority of teens stay private online | Tech News on ZDNet

Study: Majority of teens stay private online | Tech News on ZDNet:

Just more than half of all U.S. teens use social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, according to a new Pew Internet & American Life Project study.

But of those 55 percent of teens, age 12 to 17, who have created a personal profile online, 66 percent say that their information is not visible to all Internet users, according to Pew Internet, the nonprofit research arm of the Washington-based Pew Research Center.

"There is a widespread notion that every American teenager is using social networks, and that they're plastering personal information over their profiles for anyone and everyone to read," Amanda Lenhart, a senior researcher at Pew, said in a statement. "These findings add nuance to that story."

Since social networking sites like MySpace and Friendster exploded on the teen scene more than three years ago, it's become of national concern that kids are posting too much information about themselves and are at risk of being solicited by predators. That has caused a range of action: Some schools have banned children's use of MySpace; legislators have proposed new online rules for social networks; and worried parents have turned to software to monitor their child's activities online. Sites such as MySpace also have taken it upon themselves to institute security measures to protect younger members...