There are alternatives to Facebook for young children. Dr. O'Keeffe suggests the site . Togetherville is a social network created specifically for children. Parents use their own Facebook accounts to help kids sign up for Togetherville and then parents and children can use the site together to introduce children to social networking in a safer environment.

There's also the possibility that Facebook itself could create tools that would make it more kid-friendly. Denise Terry says she thinks the site could be a great way to teach kids how to use the Internet if Facebook added some robust parental controls along with the previously mentioned parental approval during sign-up.

At the moment though even for parents looking to educate their kids about the web it's a hard line to find the best way to let children learn about using the Internet without compromising the children's privacy.