Pinterest

This site makes it easy to categorize clothes, accessories, art, and other items you find interesting. Just add the "Pin It" button from Pinterest to your browser and click on it to add a website image to one of your boards. Users categorize their Pinterest boards by topic, such as fitness or food and drink. That makes it simple to search for other users with similar tastes by hitting the Profiles button; you can re-pin their picks or post comments about them. Pinterest is generally a good example of positive social networking with lots of practical purpose and creativity in the vast majority of pins. But it feels less interactive than Facebook or Twitter -- users seem to re-pin more than they comment, which doesn't make the experience very social; and it's a user-generated content service, so items can range from kid-friendly to possibly inappropriate.

You can limit who posts images to your boards, and can mark individual boards as secret so they're only visible to you -- but your basic Pinterest profile will be public, so other users will be able to see your photo and any other information. Pinterest could be safer and more appropriate for teens if there was an easy process to filter pins that contain nudity, profanity, and violence. Users can create a filter to block specific terms in comments that are posted on published pins, but it's harder to avoid seeing any pins that involve violence and other elements. While much of the content about sensitive subjects like depression is informative, not exploitative, concerns about what kids might stumble upon arose after 14-year-old Molly Russell committed suicide in the U.K. in 2017 after searching for items about depression and suicidal quotes and pinning images that involved self-harm. The site tries to limit nudity that would qualify as pornography and some other potentially objectionable material -- although it's not always clear exactly how, or how often, those determinations are made. Administrators also reportedly try to prevent items that showcase excessive violence, although the site notes some may not violate Pinterest's policies -- such as images from historical events -- but could still make viewers uncomfortable. Users are told they can report objectionable items. The site also advises them to remember their home feed will be "full of Pins from things you follow and Pins we picked for you," and says they can unfollow people, boards, or topics if they don't want to see certain items on the homepage -- which seems to place a challenging onus on users. Pinterest constantly updates your feed with items that relate to your activity on the site. So in theory, if teens were to search for war information, for example, they might later see suggestions that contain battle photos or other violent images. That algorithmic capability may be problematic, according to an NBC News investigation that indicated the site was recommending photos and videos of young girls to users who'd sought similar content. NBC News' month-long review of hundreds of young girls' profiles found a number of their followers were adult men, and according to the news outlet, curating that type of content could inadvertently enable pedophiles to access, collect, and sexualize imagery of children. Pinterest has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual exploitation of children, and officials said it's adding options to specifically flag content, which currently undergoes an AI- and human-based review, that involves a minor. Technically, users are supposed to be 13 to be able to register and view the site. But there isn't a stringent age verification process, and profiles of kids who appear to be younger can be found on the site. For adults, the abundance of user-created boards that provide cooking, craft, and other ideas -- and the ability to cull visual topic-based lists -- make Pinterest a great way to brainstorm and keep track of things like gift suggestions. Parents should be aware, though, that even though Pinterest may seem to pose less of a risk than some other social media venues, kids could still come into contact with iffy content -- so you may want to monitor your teen's time on the site.