Common Sense Media Review
By Dana Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Global social networking has some iffy content.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
What's It About?
Taking Facebook, MySpace, and Piczo to a broader stage, HI5.COM's social networking universe spans North and South Americas, Europe, and Asia. This makes for an interesting mix of international languages, members, and content -- think Fantasy Island and Bollywood videos. But there's also the standard fare of lots of mainstream American music videos and personal self-gratuitous photos from teens and young adults looking to be sexy, tough, or mysterious.
Is It Any Good?
As on most social networking sites, questionable content does pop up. The little hi5 "give 'em five" icons all over the place let users post the icons to each others' sites to "describe how you feel about your friend" -- with an option to delete if your "friend" doesn't feel very good about you. Don't miss the site's safety sections for teens and parents, and consider recommending to your teen that he or she use the privacy settings to control who can see their page. Otherwise it's global, quite literally.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Internet safety with social networking sites. Why is guarding your personal information -- and your personal image -- on social networking sites so important? What information should you include in your profile and what should you leave out?
Website Details
- Genre : Social Networking
- Pricing structure : Free
- Last updated : October 25, 2022
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