Scary article from John Higginson from Metro (London's daily free newspaper). Now I've reported on some of the good aspects of social networking (the woman who hunted for her burglar via FaceBook) now, this is something that all parents worry about.
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One in four children has put themselves in danger by secretly meeting stranger they have contacted online, a disturbing Goverment reprot shows. Of those, 69 per cent took a child friend slone, risking their safety aswell, and 25 per cent went alone. Only six per cent took an adult.
The figure, from an official survey of 6,000 children aged between 11 and 16, is a three-fold increase on a similar study carried out two years ago. A spokeswoman for the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre warned youngsters not to meet people they contacted in chatrooms and networking sites.
She added: 'People lie in the real world - they do in the virtual world too.
'The figures suggest that cfhildren are aware to a degree that there could be some danger in meeting someone offline that they first met online.
'But, by taking a friend along with them, they are potentially putting another child at risk f the person they are meeting is a predatory paedophile.'
In its first year, CEOP has received more than 1,400 reports from children saying they have been groomed online.
Of those, two out of three said is happened in chatrooms or on instant messanging. Social networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo were another area of major concern.
CEOP has rescued 76 children from sex abuse and arrested 83 offenders.
John Carr, of the Children's Charities Coalition for Internet Safety, said the findings were 'worrying and alarming'.
He added: 'Every time a child goes to meet someone in real life that they have met online, they take a huge risk'.
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Now people my age (29) will remember the "stranger danger" programmes that we went through at school. Then it was the guys hanging outside school offering sweeties to kids. What makes today's kids different to us as kids, is that they are able to engage with their "friends" online more. The social networking phenomenon is an opportunity for businesses but, is both a blessing and a danger for children.
It is interesting to see that there was an article I read saying that "businesses should allow people time at work to update their facebook pages". I've been asked by several friends recently whether I had a Facebook account as they wanted to add me as a friend. This "thing" isn't going to go away and neither is the internet. Awareness and Precaution is the best policy - remember "stranger danger".