Tweens and the Online Life

I read a story this week about the online habits of teens and tweens. Recent studies prove what most parents already knew -- that youngsters as young as 12 are using social networking regularly, despite minimum age requirements of 13 or 14.

While experts in child safety, and in Internet addiction worry about the blowback of allowing youngsters to establish their own online profiles, many parents I know believe that social networking is a great way to stay on top of a child's life, and know what's going on at school, and with friends. What are your thoughts? Should tweens engage in social networking on sites such as Facebook and MySpace? Or should they wait a few years before jumping in?