MySpace's 13.5 million teens

"MySpace officials" told the San Jose Mercury News that "75% of its members are over 18." Doing the math based on "54 million members," MySpace.com alone surpasses the number the Pew Internet & American Life Project gave last November (12 million) for the overall number of US teens who "create content for the Internet." The number is probably growing so fast, no researcher could keep up with it and have a life. The Mercury News piece is really about something more important, though: how kids posting on sites like MySpace, Xanga, DeadJournal, Blurty, etc. "could do lasting damage to [their] reputation, and now more parents and school officials are taking action." One smart parent the Mercury News cites got her own space and used the messaging feature "to send gentle warnings to teens who post pictures of themselves drunk or half-naked." [A warning, though: They might just move on to lesser-known blogging services.] It's as if that northern California mom knew about a story this week in Michigan, about how "15-20 students at East Grand Rapids High School face possible disciplinary action by the school after parents reported seeing Internet photos of them drinking alcohol at parties" (from the Associated Press).