Calsey Merritt Jr. couldn't believe his mother created a personal profile on MySpace before he did.

But his mother, Dionne Dixon, wanted to test the Web site out first before she let her 16-year-old son join.

Before he joined MySpace, Merritt's friends would let him log on with their information.

Merritt's friends thought his mother was cool for having a profile on one of today's most popular Web sites, but her intention was not to win them over. She wanted to know what MySpace was about.

MySpace is a social networking online community, according to its Web site. Joining the site is free. MySpace has millions of users. Users create personal profiles, blog and can upload pictures, videos and music. Pages can be updated as often as users like.

Dixon's not alone.

In Greenville, S.C., mother of three Michele McClain says "somebody asked me why did I have a MySpace page, and I told them to stay two steps ahead of my kids — not on the same level, but two steps ahead of them."

And in Austin, Texas, mother of three Vicki Courtney is a friend on her children's Facebook page and often sends them instant messages or text messages. She is also the author of "Logged On and Tuned Out: A Non-Techie's Guide to Parenting a Tech-Savvy Generation," (B&H Books, 2007, $12.99).

The book aims to teach parents about the basics and checkpoints of instant messaging, text messaging, chat rooms and video and photo uploading.

"I wrote it as a crash course of sorts to catch parents up to speed on the basics of how their teens and pre-teens are communicating today and how they can get involved without having to become experts in every forum," she says.

Licensed clinical social worker Sarah Hamil encourages teens to join MySpace because it's a good way for them to express themselves. She works for Pathways Behavioral Health Services in Jackson, Tenn.

Hamil says, however, that there are potential dangers associated with MySpace. Children should be mature and show good judgment to use the site and parents must be comfortable with their children using the site, she says.

Youngsters on MySpace and Facebook still need to beware of people who may try to mislead them. In September, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said his office was investigating Facebook for not taking steps to shield youngsters who use the site from sex predators.

"In some cases, adults may set up MySpace (and Facebook) accounts and pretend to be a child," Hamil says.

Other potential dangers children face on MySpace include exposure to violence and sexual content at an early age and meeting strangers in person.

Parents need to be cautious because it's difficult to monitor a child's every move on the Internet, Hamil says. She encourages parents to set up a MySpace account before allowing their child to have one.

McClain concurs, noting that she frequents her children's MySpace sites and has set limits on his online interactions and access.

She says today's children are "growing and learning things at a rate that we never thought was possible. So nowadays what they see, we never had at school. They have it at school. They have it at home. They have it at their friend's house. It's everywhere."

Dixon registered for a MySpace account in March. Soon, she received friend requests from her son's friends as well as children she knows from working in the Jackson-Madison County School System.

After using MySpace for four months, Dixon felt comfortable enough to allow her son to create his own page.

Dixon is mindful of the people her son accepts as friends and communicates with.

"I always tell him any time he's on MySpace that he needs to be careful," Dixon says. "You can't trust everyone."