• Be reasonable and try to set reasonable expectations. Pulling the plug on your child's Internet activities is rarely a good first response to a problem - it's too easy for them to "go underground" and establish free messaging and social-networking accounts at a friend's house or many other places.
• Be open with your teens and encouraged them to  come to you if they encounter a problem online - cultivate trust and communications because no rules, laws or filtering software can replace you as their first line of defense.
• Talk with your kids about how they use the services. Make sure they understand basic Internet and social-networking safety guidlines: protect your privacy (including passwords), never post  personally identifying information, avoid in-person meetings with people they meet online and do not post inappropriate photos. Suggest that they use the services' privacy tools to share information only with people they now from the real world.
• Consider requiring that all online activity take place in a central are of the home, not in a kid's bedroom
• Try to get your kids to share their blogs of online profiles with you, but be aware that they can have multiple accounts on multiple services.

from State Library of Louisiana

adapted from www.BlogSafety.com