How can I help reduce the risks my teen faces on a social networking site?

You can reduce the risks associated with social networking sites by counseling your child about the way they communicate online, limiting their time online, monitoring their social media sites, and by executing a "Rules of Engagement" contract. If the rules are broken, follow through with the consequences that are spelled out in the contract in order to keep the boundaries strong and solid. Children need to know that we, as parents, will enforce the boundaries that have been set in place. Finally, it's so important to continuously reinforce the need to protect their image when communicating within a social network.