Unless your teens are total strangers to the internet, they know about websites like Orkut, myspace.com and facebook.com.

What's the allure of these and hundreds of other free online communities? Teens flock to them to socialise, the same way as they do at a school dance or local hangout. These sites also let teens create a personal web page and decorate them just like they adorn their bedroom walls or school lockers.

When teens join an online community they create and post personal profiles that can include their photos, age, city, school, song clips or favourite books and movies.

Then they invite their offline friends — or even people they do not know — to join their contact list or so-called friends list. Photos of these "friends" then appear on your kid's profile page too.

Teens also interact within popular online communities by swapping messages with friends, posting diary-like blogs or creative writing, and sharing photos. Beyond their profiles, they can search through message boards and blogs on topics like sports, relationships or music. Many teens are now even using online communities to highlight social or political issues.

Despite the positives, a lot of dangers lurk in these communities—sexual predators, identity thieves and cyber bullies. Unfortunately, you can't always chaperone your teens to make sure they are safe online. But you can arm them with knowledge about the darker side of online communities to keep them away from trouble. Here's how:

Educate yourself
You can't teach your kids the ways of the internet — especially online communities — unless you know them pretty well. Explore these communities and get a sense of how people interact here and the kind of content they are posting. 

Protect personal information
You'll notice that teens often post a lot of personal information on these sites. This is where your kids can run into trouble. Predators posing as teens can easily forge friendships with trusting kids in online communities. Identity thieves could dupe your teen into revealing information and use it to obtain credit cards in your teen's name.

If your teens hang out in online communities, ask them to show you their profiles and give you a tour of the site. Explain the dangers of posting personal information, and make sure your teen's profile doesn't offer any clues about who she or he really is.

Meeting “friends” offline
The most important thing to tell your teens is to never, under any circumstances, agree to meet up with someone they met online. You can find plenty of stories about real-life meetings like this having a tragic end.

To stave off such encounters, experts in this field give this piece of advice: "Don't give out any personally identifiable information, such as where you go to school, what sports teams you're involved with or your friends names.”

Remind teens that their profiles are public —forever

One unintended consequence of online communities is that teens are posting material that can be used against them later. Sometimes they bully other kids from school by posting mean messages on their profiles. Or they tell tales of  unsavoury activities. And once posted online, these musings are out there for the world to see.

Open communication
As with any other aspect of your relationship with your kids, open communication is the key. Tell your teenagers they should alert you when something going on in an online community makes them feel scared or uncomfortable.
Together, become familiar with the online community's safety policies and reporting mechanisms. Teens who regularly talk with parents about these issues are better prepared for online communities.

(The author is manager , Consumer  pdcts & solutions, Symantec India)