MySpace Cheat Sheet for Parents - Wired

Many parents are just now catching wind of a phenomenon that is, in fact, several years old. In our house, I'd known about MySpace for some time - having discovered it when I was looking for a good blogging platform. At that time I simply saw it as an ugly boil on the backside of the web - crappy design, self-obsessed teens and overall lack of any content requiring more than an I.Q. of 85 to produce or digest. I moved on and forgot about it.

More recently we ran headlong into some of the issues surrounding the use of MySpace due to some misuse by a member of our family. Summary: big mess - trust broken - feelings hurt - 'nuff said.

One of the conditions allowing MySpace to foster the kind of garbage it does is the lack of understanding on the part of parents - most of whom have a difficult time figuring out the difference between an internet connection and the browser they use to surf the web. (note: if that sounds like you - please read this recent article from Wired.)