Bebo for the bairns

[sleeping giant]

My son has just asked me if he can set up a Bebo page.

He is 9 years old and tbh , i'm not too comfortable with it.

I have never used any of these social networking sites and i know very little about them.

He is saying that a few of his friend have an account and he would like one too.
I dont want to hinder his natuaral development and he does use the internet quite often.
I have a web filter installed and google safe search is on but i am a bit worried about Bebo.

I believe you can only allow people who have been invited to view your page.

So basically , has anyone on here let their child have a bebo account ?
Are they safe ? Can other peoples contacts contact you because they are friens of friends. Do you get spam messages etc etc etc

Cheers in advance

[Woody1985]

I think age filters can be added.

I know that adults can block anyone under 16 from contacting them. I think you can maybe set the age limit as well.

I'm 23 and nearly all of my mates are on it. I set one up just so I had one. I can't really be rsed with it and go on it about once a month as I'd rather speak to a real person, quite strange considering I come on this every day. :LOL:

TBH I only use it to speak to people if I've lost their number or haven't seen them for a while.

Don't know what my thoughts on a 9 yr old being on it are. I suppose if all his mates are on it it will be crap if he isn't and he'll be left out. It may stop him bein :cool2: which may further hinder his development :confused:

I don't have kids so just ignore everything I've said :greengrin (apart from the fact that you can add age limits!).

Edit; forgot to say, there are two options. 1. You have to accept someone as a friend before they can view your page. 2. It's available for public view.

You can also vet comments before they are posted. Handy if he has 2 girlfriends ;)

[EH6 Hibby]

You need to set their profile to private, that way only people that they have accepted as friends can view their page. I'm sure Bebo also has a filter that if the person is under 16, then people over 16 can't request to be their friend, your child would have to send them a friendship request, obviously there are ways round that though. A friend of mine allowed her daughter to set up a page on the understanding that my friend would be checking her friend list on a regular basis to make sure there was no-one there that shouldn't be.

[MSK]

My son has just asked me if he can set up a Bebo page.

He is 9 years old and tbh , i'm not too comfortable with it.

I have never used any of these social networking sites and i know very little about them.

He is saying that a few of his friend have an account and he would like one too.
I dont want to hinder his natuaral development and he does use the internet quite often.
I have a web filter installed and google safe search is on but i am a bit worried about Bebo.

I believe you can only allow people who have been invited to view your page.

So basically , has anyone on here let their child have a bebo account ?
Are they safe ? Can other peoples contacts contact you because they are friens of friends. Do you get spam messages etc etc etc

Cheers in advanceMy daughters have Bebo & have done since its inception ...its fine as long as he accepts his friends only & keeps it private ...

[matty_f]

My daughters have Bebo & have done since its inception ...its fine as long as he accepts his friends only & keeps it private ...

I think there's a fair bit of scaremongering and hysteria that surrounds these things.

It reminds me of the paedophile episode of Brasseye, where Phillipa Forrester (IIRC) claimed that paedos had developed a glove that could touch a child that was using the internet by reaching into the screen. It was ludicrous but she obviously believed it.

So long as it's used either under supervision to begin with, or with agreed rules in place then it's completely safe.

[MSK]

I think there's a fair bit of scaremongering and hysteria that surrounds these things.

It reminds me of the paedophile episode of Brasseye, where Phillipa Forrester (IIRC) claimed that paedos had developed a glove that could touch a child that was using the internet by reaching into the screen. It was ludicrous but she obviously believed it.

So long as it's used either under supervision to begin with, or with agreed rules in place then it's completely safe.:agree:

[Darth Hibbie]

If I remember correctly then there is an age filter that means if he puts his dob in then it will not let him set up an account. I think that 13 is the youngest that you should be and if you are younger then you need to lie about his age.

If the page is private then only his friends can view it and if you have the notifications set up to your email then you will be able to monitor who he adds.

[sleeping giant]

If I remember correctly then there is an age filter that means if he puts his dob in then it will not let him set up an account. I think that 13 is the youngest that you should be and if you are younger then you need to lie about his age.

If the page is private then only his friends can view it and if you have the notifications set up to your email then you will be able to monitor who he adds.

Hmmm. Cheers for that.
Im not comfortable with that at all.
Im going to try to set one up right now to find out.

Cheers everyone else too:hnet:

[Little Miss Perfect]

Just make sure he doesn't add all the random weirdos that are forever trying to add you as a friend. Otherwise like most have said if he keeps his profile private it should be fine.

[Woody1985]

Be wary of the private mails that do the rounds.

You get a mail saying 'here's a video of you drunk the other night' and the like, that are shown as being sent from one of your contacts. They're really viruses but usually only end up on your computer if you access the link and download the active X or associated program that allows you to view videos.

[sleeping giant]

It doesnt seem to want to let me register when i state he is 9 but lets me when i say he is 14.

Hmmm. Gonna think about this for a while

[Woody1985]

It doesnt seem to want to let me register when i state he is 9 but lets me when i say he is 14.

Hmmm. Gonna think about this for a while

Do you think he'd have the ability to set up his own e-mail account and set it up at his mates?

[sleeping giant]

Do you think he'd have the ability to set up his own e-mail account and set it up at his mates?

Not yet.

I will let him but i need more info first.
Im going to set one up for me so i can see it working.

[Sean1875]

Be wary of the private mails that do the rounds.

You get a mail saying 'here's a video of you drunk the other night' and the like, that are shown as being sent from one of your contacts. They're really viruses but usually only end up on your computer if you access the link and download the active X or associated program that allows you to view videos.

You only get them if your on a public profile dont you? Im on public and get them quite alot, not to bad aslong as you delete them straight away, pretty obvious to see whether its spam or not.

[Edinburghlass]

I was surprised to get a message on my site from a friend's colleagues daughter (still with me?!). She was 10 and obviously wandered through to my page through the links from her Mum's page, to my mates to mine. She's tried a quiz on it, and was completely naive about her putting messages on complete strangers webpages. Innocent as it all was, I said to my pal that she should maybe point out to her colleague that her daughter was just messaging random people through Bebo and maybe play closer attention to what she was up to.

Having said that, the kid is pictured on her own page with a bottle of Buckfast as her main picture and quite a bit of chat about 'ma bitch pal Suz' which I'm sure her Mum has seen :confused::rolleyes: so I don't think her Mum seems that bothered by her kid coming across as a chav and a half online!

[Gaffer1875]

My daughter is younger than 9 but I wouldnt allow her to have a bebo profile page at all. IMO bebo is bad news for kids under 16.

Recently, according to my sister, she recieves daily private spams messages with potential viruses and cant get rid of them being sent into her inbox...

[KingFranck]

From Bebo's terns and conditions

This why my 10 year old daughter didn't get a login -

Eligibility and Registration
You must be 13 years or older to use the Bebo Service. By registering for the Bebo Service, you represent and warrant that you are 13 or older and that you have the capacity to understand, agree to and comply with these Terms of Service. You should provide true, accurate and complete registration information to be a Bebo member (’Member’), and also maintain the accuracy of this information. As part of the registration process, you will be asked to select a username and password and you will be responsible for all activities occurring under your username and for keeping your password secure. We may refuse to grant you a username that impersonates someone else, is or may be protected by trademark or proprietary rights law, or is vulgar, offensive or otherwise inappropriate, as determined by us in our sole discretion.

Use or membership with the Bebo Service is void where prohibited.

[Jay]

I haven't read all of the replies so forgive me if I say something already covered.

My son got a Bebo page without me knowing a couple of years ago so he would have been about 10. I think it was on the go for a couple of months before I realised. Being from the dark ages I had no understanding of it and decided that as his friends had it it must be okay. One day I went on it to check it was still fine to find loads of messages from people he didn't know - some of them claiming to be 19 year old boys from England wanting to be his pal etc. He has no idea how they managed to contact him but because of his age he didn't understand all of the set up bits and maybe didn't tick a box or something. They obviously lied about his age. Anyhow I closed it all down.

He has another one which he very rarely looks at (his dad checked it was safe) and is on MSN but again uses it about once every couple of months. He's rather watch footy on the telly or play the XBox if he is in.

So my advice it if you go ahead with it to check in regularly to ensure he hasn't inadvertently changed settings etc.

I hasten to add he didn't hide it from me, he set it up with a pal who already had it and didn't think anything of it. It was in casual conversation that I found out he had it.

[The_Todd]

I think there's a fair bit of scaremongering and hysteria that surrounds these things.

It reminds me of the paedophile episode of Brasseye, where Phillipa Forrester (IIRC) claimed that paedos had developed a glove that could touch a child that was using the internet by reaching into the screen. It was ludicrous but she obviously believed it.

So long as it's used either under supervision to begin with, or with agreed rules in place then it's completely safe.


True.

The only reason I wouldn't use Bebo is because it's rubbish, and more open to spam which is fine if you just ignore it. All of it.

Every day I get hundreds of spam messages and friend adds which I just ignore. It's got to the point where I don't login anymore and I keep meaning to delete the account.

So in short, only add your friends and make your profile private. But on the other hand, Bebo sucks.

[RoslinInstHibby]

My son has just asked me if he can set up a Bebo page.

He is 9 years old and tbh , i'm not too comfortable with it.

I have never used any of these social networking sites and i know very little about them.

He is saying that a few of his friend have an account and he would like one too.
I dont want to hinder his natuaral development and he does use the internet quite often.
I have a web filter installed and google safe search is on but i am a bit worried about Bebo.

I believe you can only allow people who have been invited to view your page.

So basically , has anyone on here let their child have a bebo account ?
Are they safe ? Can other peoples contacts contact you because they are friens of friends. Do you get spam messages etc etc etc

Cheers in advance

like other have said set it up as a private page, but use your e-mail for the notifications, then you can see exactly who is attempting to add your son as a friend.

bebo is fine, he will probably get bored with is soon enough anyway.

[JimBHibees]

Age limits for social networking sites are about 13 and 14 probably for a reason. Interesting article here regarding this.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/aug/07/socialnetworking.facebook

One of my wife's friends is a primary teacher in Edinburgh and she was at a workshop showing just how easy personal information can be obtained on these sites. Better to be safe IMO.

[MrRobot]

My daughter is younger than 9 but I wouldnt allow her to have a bebo profile page at all. IMO bebo is bad news for kids under 16.

Recently, according to my sister, she recieves daily private spams messages with potential viruses and cant get rid of them being sent into her inbox...


I constantly get that too.

At that age I wouldn't recommend Bebo if I am being honest. It's not very safe, and younger kids are more prone to ust accept somebody or click on an E-Mail link.

Tell him to use MSN with his friends, it is safer IMO.