Maybe it's just the parent in me, but when I hear the words “social networking” and “kids” in the same sentence I get a little tense worrying about my kids safety. There are so many things we need to worry about when our kids start using Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter: cyberbullies, online predators, sexting, loss of privacy – the list goes on. But don't forget that social networks can be a great way for our tweens and teens to get involved in good causes, spend their time productively, and do their own small part to make the world a better place.

The gaming giant Sony has been hacked twice in the last few months, compromising the identities and personal information of millions of users worldwide. Keep your kids safe: including their identities when they're online gaming. Even when users think their information is completely safe, it never truly is on the Internet.

The hackers first attacked between April 17 and 19, affecting 77 million PlayStation accounts. Personal information such as names, addresses, emails, birthdates, and PlayStation IDs, logins, and passwords were accessed. Credit card information could also have been stolen if the users gave it to the site.

Kids today keep track of their homework assignments, their schedules, and their lives in general on social networks. Just one more reason for parents to keep an eye on their teen's Facebook and MySpace pages.

When kids want to plan a party or organize a group study session, the event is often planned via social networking sites. The message can be sent to multiple friends at a time and the response is much quicker than they could expect with texts or phone calls. Social networking is one of the most convenient ways for kids to plan out their day.

By now, all parents should be well aware of the potential dangers of cyberbullying and Internet predators on social networking sites. But social networking can also keep our kids safe in ways previously unavailable. Law enforcement is discovering how to use Facebook and MySpace as a way to identify, prevent, and protect kids from crimes.

Many police departments now have a presence on Facebook or MySpace. By using social networking to establish a relationship with the community, police can reach out to at-risk youth and provide a teen-friendly avenue for reporting dangerous or illegal activity. Teens who know about a local gang fight that is about to happen, for example, probably wouldn't call the local police department but might find it more comfortable to tip off police through the familiar medium of Facebook or MySpace.

Burnbook.com not only helps cyberbullies spread nasty rumors about whoever they want with complete anonymity, it can also help them publicize it to the whole school.

Older studies reported that the age of the average online gamer was somewhere in the 40s. But now, the age of the average gamer is 32. What does this mean? It means that tweens are entering the mix – and they’re most likely yours.

The overwhelming majority of tweens are online, navigating their ways through virtual worlds. 91% of boys and 93% of girls ages 8 to 11 report playing online games, up dramatically from just five years ago.

Sort of a Tamagotchi-Pokémon hybrid, Neopets is an online game where players earn and spend virtual Neopoints to customize and care for up to 4 colorful cartoon animals.

Neopets launched in 1999 as a gaming site for bored college students, and today there are more teens and adults on Neopets than there are on comparable sites like Webkinz or Club Penguin.

After registering (kids under 13 must do so with a parent’s email), players can buy clothes, food, toys, and even houses for their Neopets. They can also track their Neopet’s stats as they train it to fight other virtual animals in the Battledome.

If you think that only kids that are the victim of cyberbullying, think again. Teachers can also become the targets of cyberbullying by their own students. In particular, Facebook hate groups aimed at a particular teacher are increasingly common.

In 2007, a Florida high schooler was suspended for creating a Facebook group called "Ms. Sarah Phelps is the worst teacher I’ve ever met!” She sued the school, claiming that creating the group was within her legal free speech rights. She won.

It may be legal, but it’s not nice – and it’s not smart, either.

You don’t need an expert to tell you that you lived a different childhood than your kids do. You remember when you had to get up and turn the dial on the TV to change channels; your teen can’t understand how a world without Facebook or MySpace would even function.

You perceive everything differently than your child, and that includes the very nature of social networking.

As adults and non-Facebook natives, we naturally approach social networking with more caution and more discretion. We are well aware that it is a public activity. We parents are more likely to view Facebook as more of a billboard-type communication than a conversation with a friend. But do our kids?

Now that most kids carry their video-enabled cell phones around everywhere with them, everybody is a cameraman. This can be a good thing – we’ve all heard stories about a thief who was caught because a bystander just happened to catch the robbery on his cell phone. But it can also be a source for trouble when fight videos start getting posted online.

Clips of two teens punching, kicking, and pulling each others' hair are surprisingly easy to find online, most of them posted by other kids who stood by and recorded the fight on their cell phones.

YouTube provides a completely free platform for uploading, sharing, and viewing video content on any subject. You can laugh over a parody of Twilight, see your nephew take his first steps, learn how to seal the grout on your tile floor, or prove to your kids that an octopus can, in fact, fit through an opening the size of a quarter. Here’s what you need to know about using this powerful tool called YouTube.

Watching Videos on YouTube

Anyone can watch videos without registering with YouTube. You can search by content to find pretty much anything you want, and YouTube will suggest related content.

Surely you’ve seen those cuddly little stuffed animals called Webkinz. Maybe your child just received their very first Webkinz as a gift, or announced that he wants to collect them like so-and-so at school, or is already playing Webkinz but you aren’t sure that it’s totally safe. Here’s a fast Webkinz tutorial for parents.

What is Webkinz?

Webkinz is part online gaming site, part social network for kids ages 6 to 13. (Though usually, the fuzzy pets and cute graphics appeal more to girls and younger boys.) Each Webkinz pet, which retails for about $10.99, comes with an online code that allows your child to “adopt” the pet online and take care of it in the virtual Webkinz world for one year. In order to continue past the one-year mark, you’ll need to buy a new Webkinz.

As the word "sexting" began to gradually make its way into every parent’s vocabulary, we worried that racy images of our kids could get passed on to other kids and embarrass our child. But now a new buzzword – sextortion – is proving how dangerous the practice of sexting really can be.

Sextortion is shorthand for online sexual extortion. When someone posts or sends suggestive photos or video of themselves through an online medium, it can be accessed by Internet-savvy strangers.

Would your teen start to get the shakes after 15 minutes if you took away the computer and all their Bluetooth-enabled devices? If so, it may be time to worry about their online usage’s impact on their mental health.

A study published on Monday by the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine suggests that teenagers who are pathologic Internet users are twice as likely to develop clinical depression.

I’m pleased to announce that MySpace has now been added to our service via the FamilyConnect platform.  This new feature enables you to better educate, engage with and protect your child when they use the popular website.  Unlike parental control software that is installed on a specific computer, our service runs across the Internet itself.  This approach addresses the reality that our children are increasingly social and mobile.

• Who is “friending” your child on MySpace ?

• Who is talking to your child the most on MySpace?