49% of UK kids under 17 have social networking profiles

Almost half of all eight to 17-year-olds online have a profile, Ofcom found. 49% of children 8-17 have an online profile. 22% of 16+ have an online profile. On average adults have profiles on 1.6 sites. 63% of 8 to 17-year-olds with a profile use Bebo. 37% of 8 to 17-year-olds with profile use MySpace. 18% of 8 to 17-year-olds with a profile use Facebook. 59% of 8 to 17-year-olds use social networks to make new friends. 16% of parents do not know if their child’s profile is visible to all. 33% of parents say they set no rules for their children’s use of social networks. 43% of children say their parents set no rules for use of social networks.