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Making new friends online can be fun but it can also be dangerous if you’re not careful. Don’t worry; here’s some advice to help you out.

The popularity contest

• It’s great to be popular, but remember that the more online friends you have, the more people can see any private information in your profile (even if you use the highest privacy setting).

• If you’ve added someone as a friend, and then changed your mind, you can generally delete them, but remember they have had access to whatever you’ve posted.

Keeping it nice

• When you’re communicating through technology, it’s easy to forget that the person you’re talking to is a real person with real feelings.  If you wouldn’t say it face to face, or yell it out at your school assembly, don’t say it online. That goes for insults, swearing and rumours, too.

• You can’t always tell if someone’s joking when you can’t see or hear them - even with emoticons - so be careful when you’re chatting, to make sure that what you say won’t be taken the wrong way.

Gossip girls (and boys)

• Saying or forwarding mean or humiliating things about other people can cause them real worry and pain, or get them into trouble with their parents or the school. You can get in trouble for spreading stories about other people, too.

• In some parts of Australia, it’s against the law. Even where it isn’t illegal, the other person can take you to court and if they win, you can be made to pay them money for the hurt you’ve cause them.

• Making someone’s private information public (like posting their phone number or address online) might cause them more than a bit of drama (such as prank calls); it might put them in danger.

• Think before forwarding pictures, messages or jokes about someone else, or sharing their private information.

If someone’s bullying or harassing you

• If someone is giving you a hard time – through MySpace, Facebook or Bebo, texting, phone calls, email, Instant Messaging or in a chatroom - don’t respond and don’t reply. Lots of people will give up if they don’t get a response.

• But that doesn’t mean ignore it – tell a trusted adult and ask them to help you.

• Save nasty messages, texts or emails (or copy and paste Instant Messaging chats to Notepad) so you can show an adult if you need to.

• And remember, most chat sites, Instant Messaging software and phones have a feature that lets you block communication from people you don’t want to hear from.

• If you know someone else is being bullied, tell someone. The person being bullied might not have had the courage to find help for themselves.