Recent news that Congressman Anthony Weiner used Twitter to communicate with a minor has left many parents feeling uneasy about their child’s social media activity.

But a handful of websites are designed to introduce kids as young as 6 to the world of social networking.

These sites are different from Facebook. They have stricter privacy rules and, in many cases, parental oversight over their child’s account.

Rules for joining the more popular social networks, like Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace, usually restrict membership to people over age 13. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) prohibits websites from collecting information on children younger than 13 without parental permission.

Unlike Facebook, kid-centric sites, like Togetherville for young children and Everloop for tweens, involve parents in signing-up and monitoring their children’s activity.

Many children’s social media sites require a parent’s credit card in order to create an account.  On Togetherville and Everloop, parents create their own profiles verified by credit card or  Social  Security number, and then add their children to their accounts.

According to a recent study by the American Academy of Pediatrics, social networking can help improve socialization and communication skills and provide digital environments for group collaboration on homework and school projects.

CLICK HERE: DIRECTORY OF THE BEST SOCIAL NETWORKS FOR KIDS

Hilary DeCesare, CEO of Everloop, said  that kids growing up in a digital world need to be taught how to properly use tools like social media.

“Kids only know this type of experience,” said DeCesare of the current generation growing up with the Internet.  For socialization and information, “they don’t think about going anywhere else but online.”

On Everloop, kids can create profiles, chat with friends, play games, and upload media, all in closed content “loops.”

In one such loop, young users Connor and Derek uploaded YouTube videos of their homemade sports show,  “Double Play.”

Other members of their loop can comment on the videos and discuss sports.

These loops are fully enclosed within Everloop, which requires parents to choose which activities their children can participate in on the site.  On Everloop, parents also decide who can join their child’s friendship loop and who their child can email, chat, and even text with their new SMS service EverText, which launched Monday.

“EverText is the first COPPA-compliant service of its kind,” said DeCesare.

With EverText, Everloop users can post updates to their profiles and to friends from their phones. The updates are monitored and moderated in real-time to block out both private and inappropriate information.

Everloop’s security system automatically blocks things like phone numbers, addresses, and swear words from being posted to the site.

A human “Mod Squad” also moderates the site, deleting inapropriate content flagged by the users,  and monitoring posts and chats for foul language.

Other sites, like Club Penguin, use similar automated and human defenses to protect children.

On  Club Penguin,  a popular game site for young children, users meet up in a variety of chatrooms called servers to navigate a frozen world as dressed-up penguin avatars, play games, and chat with each other.

On Club Penguin, certain servers allow users to only chat using a pre-selected set of dialogues.  On the less restrictive servers, chats are monitored by human moderators.

Everloop uses both types of monitors, and continually reminds its users to employ its “3 C’s” of conduct: be cool, be clean, and be confidential.

“It’s just as important to teach [kids] about  Internet safety as it is to teach them social media,” said DeCesare.

Dr. Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe, author of  “Cybersafe, “  said that while preparing children to be digital citizens is important, “Parents shouldn’t feel any peer pressure or pressure from their kid,” to get them on social media.

She said that these sites are appropriate “for the right kids,” and that parents should make the decision based on the child, as well as try to maintain a balance between online and real-world social interactions.

“Maturity has a lot to do with being safe online,” said O’Keeffe.

But where kids go online also has a lot to do with their safety.

“When you look at Facebook, that’s where the trouble is,” said Warren Buckleitner, editor of Children’s Technology Review.

Buckleitner said that  to his knowledge sites like Club Penguin, which he called the “gold standard” in children’s social networking, have had no instances of major security breaches.

Grownup sites, like YouTube and Facebook, on the other hand, are awash with foul language and opportunities for kids to share too much information with the wrong people.

Because of all of the filters and security on sites built for younger users, the most an adult posing as a child could really do is log on, play some games – and maybe buy a silly hat for their penguin.

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