Habbo Asks Teens About Online Safety

Habbo, an online community where teens can play games, build rooms, and communicate with other players, offers the latest snapshot from teens about their safety awareness online.

In a survey of 3,500 teen members, 86.4 percent of teens said they had talked to their parents about online safety. And 72.5 percent said they are aware that anyone can view personal information they post online, not just their friends. Still, nearly 32 percent said they had posted personal information online in the past. (Thanks to Anne Collier at NetFamilyNews for the link.)

During the social networking and gaming site's "Teen Online Safety Awareness Month," Habbo also encouraged members to have their parents read Habbo's online safety. About 21,000 teens did so, Habbo says, though how they verified that parents actually read it, I'm not sure.

That aside, I like that Habbo conducted a month-long series of safety-related activities and educational programs for teen members. The more information teens get, the better. Because even with that information, here are some other bracing stats from the survey:

• More than half of teens said they enter a chat room everyday, and nearly 60 percent of them say they have chatted, IM'd, or emailed someone they met online that they do not know in person.

• 18.5 percent said they have chatted online with someone they later found out was an adult pretending to be a teen.

• More than one quarter of teens said they had been asked about their sexuality or sexual experiences while chatting online and it made them feel uncomfortable

All the more reason I'm hopeful those 21,000 kids did show their parents Habbo's safety guide, which hopefully led to face-to-face chats about chatting safely online.