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How and when social network sites go about such policing of their users is up to them. Do the sites take such matters seriously? Some good (and bad features) of each are reviewed.

Even after the Long Island girl killed herself, the harassing Internet messages kept on coming, posted on a page meant to stand as a tribute.

Cyberbullying is sending inappropriate or mean messages and pictures to others and/or sharing personal, private information about others through technological channels. With texting and the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, it is a big problem facing preteens and teenagers. There are things teachers can do to better understand cyberbullying and help students dealing with it.

Salt Lake City's Granite School District is expected to approve a new policy this month barring students and teachers from connecting on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The policy - the first of its kind in Utah - provides an exemption for teachers' sites that are educational, not personal. Officials said there was no specific incident that spurred the new guidelines. But with the popularity of social networking sites in schools, Granite wants to eliminate any gray areas when it comes to teacher-student interaction, district spokesman Ben Horsley said. "The reality is if someone is going to interact inappropriately with a student, there's certainly lots of technology out there that can help them get around those rules and guidelines in a very nonpublic way," Horsley said. "This gives us some tools to move forward on a disciplinary track."

What happens if someone posts an unflattering, or worse, a scandalous or compromising picture of you on Facebook? What are your rights? That's a sensitivity that we need to start nurturing by training our kids -- and our employees -- to use online tools responsibly', says Anna O'Brian, a PHD student in digital technology. What happens when only some of us know how to use these connective technologies to improve our lives (as opposed to overwhelming ourselves even more). In other words, what happens when only a small portion of online users is actually digitally literate?

A free-to-play "alternate reality game" from the UK commissioned by Channel 4 Education that is intended to give teenage players a personal encounter with everything from identity theft to cyber stalking. Kids (age 14-16) explore websites, search for clues, receive phone calls, chat on IM, and tackle puzzles and mini-games. Through thirteen challenges, (each lasting 10-20 minutes) and a dramatic storyline, they find out who they can trust and who they can't.

Two out of three online U.S. households use social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, nearly twice as many as a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Reports State of the Net survey. But millions who use these services put themselves and their families at risk by exposing very sensitive personal information, according to the national survey of 2,000 online households conducted in January by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.

Palo Alto-based Togetherville.com has launched their new site as a social web experience for kids (age 6-10). Using Facebook accounts, parents manage the youth accounts and create approved lists of friends for their kids. On Togetherville, kids can play games, watch videos, send messages and create art in a safe and ad-free environment.

Missed Facebook DC Live from the White House yesterday? Check out this video-on-demand with President Obama's Domestic Policy Advisor Melody Barnes, Facebook Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan, author and teen behavior expert Rosalind Wiseman, and MTV Vice President of Public Affairs Jason Rzepka.

Many administrators, teachers, and parents simply associate MySpace and FaceBook with the term social networking, possibly adding Twitter to the mix and generally writing off the technology as an unsafe liability. However, we all need to expand our view of what social networking can be. Kid-friendly social media also doesn't need to mean Club Penguin and Webkins.

Great advice for ALL teachers [Not just those starting out]. From the Teacher Support Network: Privacy pointers to help you keep your personal life from being searched by your students on Facebook.

Call it the green Facebook. There's a new social networking site where environmentally minded teens looking for a place to chat, share ideas, and learn about careers and university programs can now visit.

Question posed in a high school newsletter: If a school comes across online material that depicts a star athlete or school government officer engaging in an illegal activity, should they merely ignore it? Surely, one's moral compass would dictate otherwise. Students must be disciplined for their actions in both the real and virtual worlds.

The digital world can be tricky for teachers.Those who grew up in the pre-Twitter era are often left casting about to learn how to use new technology and keep up with students. Others, comfortable with using text messages and Facebook to make connections, find themselves questioning, as they navigate the new frontier, just where students fit in.

While Facebook is adding users, MySpace is losing them. Many user profile pages on MySpace are either cluttered or neglected, resembling a strip mall with pockets of empty storefronts. The users who remain tend to be younger and poorer, putting a drag on advertising revenue from blue-chip clients.

Our Acceptable Use of the Internet policy next school year will definitely not only address cyberbullying, it will include a clause that states something to the effect, "If cyberbullying outside of school becomes an issue in which a student feels threatened or unsafe in any way at school, the principal has the authority to discipline the cyber bully." It will give the school community the clear message that cyberbullying will not be tolerated and at the very least will give me a little leverage when I need it.

If nothing else, the Iranian election has shown how important social-networking technologies have become in participatory politics. This trend was particularly evident in Iran because nearly half of the country's 46.2 million voters were under the age of 30. These voters have come of age as citizens in an era of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and instant messaging.

Do you wonder how kids are being affected by growing up in a globally interconnected, multicultural, participatory world? Whether you're a parent or educator, it's important to understand the challenges and opportunities experiences like posting to Facebook, creating a blog, or IM'ing offer to kids, and what you can do to help your kids be successful today.

The explosion in social networking may be even greater than imagined. The time that people in the U.S. spend on social network sites is up 83 percent from a year ago, according to a report from market researcher Nielsen Online.