Popular Web site MySpace attracts teens, but some parents concerned

Browsing MySpace.com, with its bikini-clad pictures and graphic language, was enough to convince Jeff Allen to say "no way" to his daughter's request to join friends on the hugely popular social-networking site.

"It didn't take more than two minutes to find really inappropriate stuff I don't want my 14-year-old daughter reading and seeing," said the Bremerton dad, who is president of the Northwest Council for Computer Education. "I'd venture to say that the vast majority of parents of teens who subscribe to MySpace have absolutely no clue what's going on there."

The online social-networking craze that started with twentysomethings on Friendster and spread to college students on TheFacebook has now hit younger kids — down to age 12 or 13 — on MySpace.

Launched less than two years ago, the site boasted 21.2 million visitors in July, up from 15.5 million visitors in May, according to the comScore Media Metrix.

"It's hotter than hot," said Laura Kastner, a Seattle psychologist who specializes in adolescent issues. "It's just the rage."

If kids are out of elementary school, they're probably into MySpace, or will be soon. Users arrange themselves into linked groups by interest (hobbies, sports teams or bands) and by school.

Groups include hundreds of students from local schools, including Sammamish's Inglewood Junior High, Bellevue's Odle Middle School, Redmond Junior High, Mercer Island's Islander Middle School, Kent's Meeker Middle School and Seattle's Hamilton and Washington middle schools.

Users' profiles include a list of "friends," often numbering in the hundreds.

"MySpace is becoming part of the scene at school, so it's only going to increase as kids head back to school," said Kim Komando, who hosts a syndicated radio program on technology. "Now the cliques are moving online."

MySpace combines just about every new technology that kids love and parents distrust — instant messaging, blogging, chat rooms, music downloads — and melds them into a busy site that offers quick gratification for input junkies.

"MySpace is more than a blog; it's a community, a music source, a rankings site — many things," noted Amanda Lenhart, a researcher with the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which studies teen use of the Internet. "I don't know that we have any data that fairly captures what MySpace is."

The free site discourages underage users ("If you're under 16, MySpace is not the place for you," the site admonishes. "Go away."), but young teens sign on with an early birth date then give their true ages in their biographies. MySpace warns it will remove any under-16 sites it discovers.

On their individual profiles, teens list everything from their birthday and hometown to favorite bands and TV shows; add pictures of themselves and friends; and answer detailed questionnaires (see related story). Visitors can post immediate comments to the site or contact the person directly.

"You can, like, e-mail and IM friends who don't have the same MSN or AOL [service]," said one 15-year-old Kent resident. A friend helped him set up his site, and signed him on as a 20-year-old.

The site's band pages and connecting with her friends attracted Katie Allen. "It's just, like, a big community where people can talk and hang out," said the ninth-grader.

MySpace's appeal to young teens "makes perfect sense developmentally because of their burgeoning identity," Kastner said. "They can try on different identities and make them up along the way.

"It's like going to the mall times a hundred."

Teen communication is all about social relationships; now that's just moved online, said Crispin Thurlow, a University of Washington communications professor. "Kids have always wanted to hang out and not tell their parents what they're doing," he said.

As for the provocative language, teens like to "play with the rules, to deliberately break taboos," noted Thurlow, who edited "Talking Adolescence: Perspectives on Communication in the Teenage Years," out later this month. The shorthand instant-messaging lingo adds to the sense that the site is for teens by teens — not adults.

Katie is OK with her dad's restriction since she agrees some postings are inappropriate and "people can find out a lot of stuff about you." But she says adults shouldn't overreact. "A lot of teens on MySpace are not using it for anything bad," she said. "They're just using it to meet people. They're just trying to have fun."

Stephanie Dunnewind: sdunnewind@seattletimes.com.