Instant Messaging


MySpace introduced an instant-messaging feature in June 2006 very similar to the popular AIM (AOL Instant Messaging) and Yahoo! and MSN (Microsoft) Messenger services (Figure 4.32). Unlike other aspects of MySpace that work within your Web browser, to use this service, you must download a separate piece of software. As of this writing, the MySpaceIM service works only with Windows (sorry, Mac users).

Figure 4.32. MySpaceIM works a lot like other instant-messaging services, so it'll be very easy for your kids to pick up (if they haven't already!).


To download the MySpaceIM program:

1.

On the MySpace.com home page (not your home page), click MySpaceIM in the box just below the main toolbar.

2.

Click the Download MySpaceIM link, which downloads an installation program that you can run to install the software.

Pay close attention to messages from your browser. You may have to select a security option to allow a download.

When the MySpaceIM software is installed, run the program, and fill in your email address and MySpace password just as you do when you sign into MySpace. The software can be configured to remember this information in the future.

Before you can start exchanging messages with friends, you have to add them to IM by clicking Add Your Friends to IM! just below your photo. You'll see a list of your friends, whom you can add by clicking their profile names.

Then, when you're signed on, you'll see a list of your friends who are online and also running the IM software. To send someone an instant message, double-click his or her name, and you get to a box where you can start typing your message.

Key Parenting Point

Unless their parents use IM at work, most teens know more about instant messaging than we'll ever know, and even if we're fluent, they use it differently than we dowith multiple conversations and other tasks running simultaneously. It's tough to get a word in, but if you can, try to get teens to include only people they know personally in their IM friends listsand to remember that people can copy and paste their comments elsewhere, beyond their control. They need to think before they post here, too.


There are some optional privacy features in MySpaceIM, which you can configure by choosing File > Preferences in the IM program and then clicking Privacy. Your choices allow you to be contacted by anyone or only people in your contact list (we recommend the latter, of course). You can also list specific people you want to block from contacting you. While you're looking at Preferences, check out General Preferences, which give you control over what picture to display in IM, as well as control over some other features.

Also look at the Appearance options, which control how the IM program looks, and the Contact List options, which help you manage your contact list. You can also change the alerts and sound, which is a very good idea if you're using IM in an office or classroom, where you don't want others to hear sounds when you send and receive messages.




MySpace Unraveled. A Parent's Guide to Teen Social Networking from the Directors of BlogSafety. com
MySpace Unraveled: A Parents Guide to Teen Social Networking
ISBN: 032148018X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 91

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