Finding teenagers online:
A step-by-step approach to
navigating their online world
Note: Teens worldwide are sharing their lives with strangers online as part of one of the fastest-growing segments of the Internet: online diaries and journals. Use the approach provided below to discover the online world of the teens you know and love.
1. Visit the home page of the site you want to navigate. Your best bet is to begin with either www.xanga.com or www.myspace.com. If you have kids you believe will be open and honest with you, just ask them if they have pages on
any of those sites or if they know other kids who do. Eventually you may want to visit several sites since many kids will keep pages on two or three different sites.
2. Register for free as a user. This usually means coming up with a “user name” or screen name and providing an e-mail address and other information. Choose a user name that offers some anonymity. By registering you will also be given your own space for an online journal, though you don’t need to use it. The key is to gain access to the millions of Web pages created by teens. For greater flexibility in searching you may want to pay the small fee for a premium account.
3. Once you have an account you can use the Web site search engines to find kids in your area. Most of the sites offer a variety of search capabilities including town or school. You may need to do a little digging to find someone you know. Once you find just one, the task becomes much easier. Kids link to their 
friends by either subscribing (Xanga) or becoming “friends” (MySpace). As soon as you find someone you know you can weave your way through a web of other kids they know from church or school. Most of the kids use “screen names” rather than their own name so you may have to dig a little.
4. Take time to read without reacting. Read what they have written. Read their answer to quizzes they have posted on their site. Read the comments they leave on other kids’ sites. You may end up going back and forth between several sites to learn more about the context of their online conversations. Make sure you bookmark the sites you read so you can find them more easily next time. And check back often. While some kids will go weeks or months without updating their site, others will update daily. These kids may also offer links to the journals they have created on other online sites.
5. Make careful note of what you are reading. Print out pages you think are important as it is very easy for a kid to delete what they have written. Not only should you make note of the specific writings of the kids you know, but get a feel for the youth culture in general. Also realize that kids generally have a language all their own that they use when writing online. If you are unfamiliar with the subtleties of online language you may need to consult one of the many dictionaries of Internet slang so as to fully understand what is being said.
Most popular sites to check out · Facebook.com (college) · Hi5.com · Nexopia.com (primarily Canadian) · Bolt.com More sites to check out
Related Article: Dear diary, dear world
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For more information on resources to help you understand today’s rapidly changing youth culture, contact the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding.
©2005, The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding