Social networking sites are taking the internet by storm, largely because of their popularity with kids and teens. However, they are also attracting "groomers" who pretend to be kids in order to stalk young people and abuse them.

What exactly are social networking sites?

It's a rather long name but it means sites which allow people to put up information about themselves such as interests, favourite music, photo galleries and diaries. People make friends by adding new contacts to their list of friends, giving them access to personal information and then chatting via instant message or email. Some sites even allow users to chat via webcam.

Popular social networking sites include MySpace, Bebo, Faceparty, Friendster, Orkut and MSN Spaces.

What are the dangers?

• Making a fool of yourself. If people put up pictures of themselves, or write personal diaries then they need to remember that, apart from their friends, there are other people who may use this information in a nasty way.
• Child abusers making friends with kids. If youngsters put lots of information about themselves on the Internet this gives "groomers" lots of ways of making friends with them (pretending to be kids themselves) and contacting them. If they put their school name and where they hang out then it's easier to do this.
• Bullying. If a bully gets hold of a kid's private pictures or diary then they can use this to be cruel and send round to others with unpleasant messages and so on.