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Based on a survey of 25 countries, this new report from EU Kids Online reveals that 38 per cent of 9-12-year-olds use social networking sites in Europe, with one in five of the age group having a profile on Facebook. Observing that age restrictions are partially ineffective, the report then examines whether 9-16 year olds use set their privacy settings, disclose personal information or obey their parents on social networking sites.

The report also shows that:

·         Younger children are more likely than older to have their profile ‘public’. A quarter of 9-12 year old SNS users have their profile ‘set to public’.

·         Parental rules for SNS use, when applied, are partly effective, especially for younger children.

·         A quarter of SNS users communicate online with people unconnected to their daily lives, including one fifth of 9-12 year old SNS users.

·         One fifth of children whose profile is public display their address and/or phone number, twice as many as for those with private profiles.

·         The features designed to protect children from other users if needed are not easily understood, by many younger and some older children.

Read the full report at http://www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/ShortSNS.pdf (pdf)