“Think Before You Post” Ad Campaign Aimed at Teen Girls

How much of you is online? Have you got a profile on MySpace? Facebook? Xanga? Sconex? And if so, what kind of personal info do you have on it? Full name? Pictures? Contact info?

We’ve all heard about the dangers of “online predators” – bad people who scour the social networking sites in the hopes of finding a vulnerable target. But is there any truth behind the hype?

According to one recent study*:

• 1 in 7 youths (10-17 year old) were sexually approached over the Internet
• of those youths who were sexually approached online, 70% were girls
• 4% of youths were aggressively sexually approached (someone asked them to meet up somewhere, called them, or sent them snail mail, money or gifts)

But even if you know what to do if you’re sexually approached online or someone you don’t know tries to get too personal, you may not realize that the info you’re putting online is increasing your chances of being approached. A new PSA (public service announcement) campaign by the Ad Council wants to challenge you to think twice before posting your picture online.

The campaign is called “Think Before You Post,” and the ads are aimed to “encourage girls to ‘think before you post’ personal information that would leave them vulnerable to online predators.” As the Ad Council explains, “the Internet is not a ‘private’ place, rather it’s a public place. Social networking profiles and blogs potentially release information that can be easily found by anyone, including ill-intentioned people.”

Here’s one of the PSAs…check it out. Does it make you think differently about the info you’re putting out there for the world to see?

*Statistics are from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children