ABSTRACT
Children and teenage involvement on the Internet and Online Social Networks (OSN), in particular, allows them to benefit from many possible global opportunities, but it also increases their exposure to possible risk behaviors and interactions. In the study developed in Portugal, people focused more on collecting troubling perceptions in OSN by young people, and less on the contents to which they have access. The focus group interviews people organized with youngsters aged 9-16 in Portugal coincided with the questionnaire data. Parents' and teachers' concern regarding the use of OSN by young people is high, is clear when they are asked to assess the risk of a number of actions that could be developed by young people in the OSN. Teachers believe that they are better informed than parents about the risks to which young people are exposed to on the Internet in general and in the OSN in particular, resulting from their contact with students and awareness of cases.
