Commenting on Other People s Profiles

Commenting on Other People's Profiles

Comments are in many ways the social glue of MySpace, and they provide a quick, fun, and popular way for online users to connect and stay in touch. As anyone who's visited a dorm knows, college students like to put things on each other's doors, and MySpace lets users do just that.

Unlike more private emails, these bulletin-board-like posts allow friends to publicly share thoughts, expressions, plans, and morewhich means at times that people can learn a lot about your kids' personal business. Plus when someone posts a comment, it kind of reflects on the person whose page it's on.

We urge MySpace users who allow others to post comments to check their profiles often (if they don't already!) to make sure no one posted anything that invades their privacy, or is embarrassing or otherwise inappropriate. It's also a good idea to check friends' profiles to see whether and where comments about you show up.

Profile Comments

These comments are the most public of MySpace features, appearing as they do right on your main profile page.

You must be someone's friend to post a comment on his or her profile, and users can set Privacy Settings to require approval before posting (see Chapter 3 for more details). But if you have a public profile, almost anyone can view your profile and its comments, should he or she come across it.

To post a comment in a friend's profile:

1.	On your friend's profile page, scroll to the bottom of the Friends Comments section, and click Add Comment (Figure 4.14). Figure 4.14. You can add a comment at the bottom of any friend's profile.
2.	Type your comment in the text box.
3.	Click Submit.

Picture Comments

MySpace picture galleries are another spot where you can share your thoughts and hellos. Users are allowed to upload a maximum of eight photos and images to their profile, and friends often like to comment on pics that catch their attention.

To add a picture comment:

1.	On your friend's profile page, click the Pics link below the profile picture.
2.	In the picture gallery, click the picture you want to comment on.
3.	Click Post a Comment below the photo (Figure 4.15). Figure 4.15. Click Post a Comment below the photo of choice.
4.	Fill in the text box. A Confirm Comment screen will pop up.
5.	Click Post Comment to publish the comment. If your friend has turned on commenting privacy, you will have to wait until your friend approves the comment before it displays.

Commenting and Privacy

To best protect your online self and reputation from potential unwanted comments and posts, you may want to consider enabling the Approve Comments Before Posting feature in the Privacy Settings section of your Account Settings.

This feature will allow you to review and approve all comments before anyone can see them. You'll be notified via email, and the user will receive a message, after they've posted a comment, saying you must approve their post first.

To activate this feature:

1.	On your MySpace home page, click Account Settings and then click the red Change Settings link beside Privacy Settings.
2.	Scroll down to My Privacy Settings, and check Approve Comments Before Posting (Figure 4.16). Figure 4.16. People can say anything they want in your profile unless you check Approve Comments Before Posting in your Privacy Settings.
3.	Click Change Settings.

Editing and Deleting Comments

Although only friends can write comments in users' profiles, blogs, and photos, there is always the possibility that someone will post something that's undesirable, embarrassing, inappropriate, or jeopardizes your teen's privacy. That's why users have the ability to delete comments that others put on their profiles.

If someone posts a comment you don't approve of, you can easily delete the posting.

To delete profile comments:

1.	Under your picture in your Hello Box, click Profile.
2.	Scroll to the Comments section of your profile and click View/Edit All (Figure 4.17). Figure 4.17. You can delete comments by clicking View/Edit All in the comments area of your profile.
3.	Find the comment you wish to delete and click Delete Comment.
4.	When MySpace asks you to confirm, click OK.

To delete unwanted comments people have posted about a photo or image you've posted in your profile:

1.	On your home page, click Profile in the Hello box to display a page containing all your uploaded pictures.
2.	To view and edit comments, click the applicable picture. The photo will appear with the comment next to it.
3.	Click Delete to remove the comment.

Tip

If your Profile Settings are HTML-enabled, people can post pictures and images, as well as text comments. To delete these types of "comments," follow the steps in the previous list.