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As any parent knows, tweens are crazy about cellphones. Those hoping to delay such a purchase--despite cries of "But everyone else has one!"--take note: 46% of U.S. tweens (ages 8 to 12) use cellphones, but only 26% own them, according to data released Wednesday by Nielsen Mobile. These "mobile borrowers" use their parents' phones when they go out with friends or on short trips, says Sally DePiro, a Nielsen product manager who worked on the report. The borrowing is more than an occasional habit: About 50% take their parents' phones more than three times a week. The key age for these early adopters is 10. While kids start using borrowed cellphones, on average, at around age eight-and-a-half, American tweens generally acquire their own phones between the ages of 10 and 11, reports Nielsen.

Practical advice for parents with pre-tweens who are interested in social networking. The following ten tips will make your tweens safer on social networking sites.

One in five of the nation's wired "tweens" -- kids ages 8 to 12 -- has posted personal information on the Internet, and more than a fourth have been contacted online by strangers, a poll released Tuesday found.

Cisco & Wired Safety's Tween CyberSafety 6-page document is loaded with colorful graphics and gives kids tips on a variety of Internet safety topics, such as cyberbullying, remembering passwords, and determining which sites are safe.

Don't Hit Send Just to Fit In tells the story of a group of tweens who become victims to cyber bullies. On their way to discovering more positive ways to deal with these new found issues, the tweens become bullies themselves. Through the help of positive adults and a magical keyboard, they learn not to succumb to the lure of cyber bullying and realize that there are better ways to fit in and make friends.

Snapchat is becoming wildly popular with teens and tweens. The idea being that photos and texts self destruct after a few seconds. You can probably guess how it can and is being misused.

Social Media Sites Have a Growth Spurt; Trying to Avoid Mom on Facebook

It's an animated website that claims it's for young audiences. Zwinky.com looks innocent enough. But is it a safe place for your tweens?

Teens and tweens have been bullying each other for generations. The bullies of today, however, have the advantage of utilizing technology such as computers, cell phones and other electronic devices to inflict harm on others. "Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying," due out this month, uncovers the types of youth most susceptible, how they felt, who they told, how they coped and how it affected their lives, and illustrates the gravity of cyberbullying and its real-world repercussions. The co-authors, [Justin Patchin, Ph.D. and Sameer Hinduja] both have backgrounds in Criminal Justice and are university-based. Their web site, Cyberbullying.Us is dedicated to identifying the causes and consequences of online harrassment.

Ypulse is a media platform for youth media and marketing professionals, founded in May of 2004 by journalist Anastasia Goodstein. It provides news, commentary and resources about commercial media for teens (teen magazines, websites), entertainment for teens (movies, video games, television, music, books), technology used by teens (cell phones, instant messaging, hardware and software), the news media's desire to attract teens (newspapers, cable news), marketing and advertising (targeting the teen market) and non-profit youth media (highlighting organizations' efforts at promoting youth voices in media and creating media by and for youth). Anastasia is also the author of Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens are Really Doing on Line.

Three-minute video from the folks at Common Sense Media. Ten rules of the road will help kids make smart decisions online. Teens and tweens deliver the message.

When is a phone not a phone? In the hands of children and tweens, today's cell phones are primarily used as text messaging devices, cameras, gaming consoles, video viewers, MP3 players, and incidentally, as mobile phones via the speaker capability so their friends can chime in on the call. Parents are getting dialed in to the social media phenomenon and beginning to understand-and limit-how children use new media

Anthony Orsini sent an e-mail blast to the Benjamin Franklin Middle School community in Ridgewood, New Jersey, on Wednesday, urging parents to take down their children's online profiles on Facebook and elsewhere. "There is absolutely no reason for any middle school student to be a part of a social networking site!," he wrote. "Let me repeat that - there is absolutely, positively no reason for any middle school student to be a part of a social networking site!" The main problem, he wrote, is that tweens do not have the resilience to withstand internet name-calling. "They are simply not psychologically ready for the damage that one mean person online can cause," he said.

New book for teens and tweens. Part graphic novel, part practical life skills, REAL FRIENDS VS. THE OTHER KIND by Annie Fox is here to help. The second book in the Middle School Confidential™ series, it follows a tight-knit group of fictional seventh graders--Jen, Jack, Michelle, Chris, Mateo, and Abby--as they work to strengthen friendships while navigating tough social situations.

If you made a list of sounds you might hear at your local library, the rumbling of explosions and the loud hum of race-car engines probably wouldn't rank high on it. But in a darkened room at the Quincie Douglas Branch Library, about 20 preteens and teens gather around two screens. It's a mostly soundproof room, to make sure their efforts to rack up points on Nintendo's Wii and PlayStation 2 don't bother the consumers of decidedly more static media. It's a sight that could become more frequent at a library near you.

John Walsh, children's advocate and host of America's Most Wanted, will discuss what parents and guardians can do to help protect and educate their children about the potential dangers of online predators and offer tips for safer surfing. Live Webcast. Wednesday, July 23, 2008 1:00 PM Eastern

If your kids are too young for Facebook, or you're concerned about privacy, consider looking into some lesser-known social networking sites geared for tweens, preteens, and yes, even teenagers.

Great parenting advice from Rosalind Wiseman on appropriate discipline for teens and tweens who have participated in sexting either as the perpetrator or someone who has helped spread the photos to others. Three different scenarios are addressed. Some advice may be applicable to school. The idea is for kids to own up and take responsibility - as perpetrators, bystanders, and targets - for unethical behavior.