For teens and adults, IMVU is a popular online hangout that allows them to safely express themselves and make new friends. As with all things on the internet, we understand that being safe online is a shared responsibility between the service provider, teens and their parents. At IMVU, we take teen safety seriously.

As a parent, please consider the following guidelines to help your teens make safe decisions about using IMVU and other online communities.

• Talk to your teens about how they socialize online. IMVU allows users to express themselves in the way their avatars look, the way their avatars dress, where they chat, etc. Talk to your teens about how they represent themselves on IMVU.
• Your teens shouldn't lie about how old they are. IMVU members must be 13 years of age or older. We take extra precautions to protect our younger members and we are not able to do so if they do not identify themselves as such. IMVU will delete users whom we find to be younger than 13, or those misrepresenting their age.
• IMVU is a public space. IMVU users can communicate with others and express themselves in 3D chats and 2D homepages. Members shouldn't post anything they wouldn't want the world to know (e.g., your real name, your phone number, address, screens names from other IM clients, or specific whereabouts) in either chats or on their homepages. Tell your teens they should avoid posting or saying anything in a chat that would make it easy for a stranger to find them, such as their local hangouts, where they go to school, etc.
• Remind them not to post pictures or any other personal information. IMVU encourages all of its users to represent themselves using avatars. There is no need for your teens to post any pictures of themselves or to provide any personally identifying information.
• Encourage your teens to report inappropriate behavior. IMVU provides users with easy ways to report anything that makes them uncomfortable in a chat or homepage. Encourage your teens to use these tools and talk to you about these incidents. Your teens should feel comfortable talking to you about these incidents or reporting them to IMVU or the authorities.
• Don't get hooked by a phishing scam. Phishing is a method used by fraudsters to try to get your personal information, such as your username and password, by pretending to be a site you trust. Click here to learn more.

To learn more please visit these other resources:

• SafeFamilies.org
• K9webprotection.com
• StaySafe.org
• Netsmartz.org
• KidsHealth.Com
• SafeTeens.com
• OnGuard Online: FTC safety tips
• CyberTipLine.com