I hope online predators are too busy hiding from the cops to read the latest Pew study.

The premise remains - kids are smarter than their parents think. But maybe what we need is a little misinformation now and then to quell the concern.

I’d like to see a study released that says “85% of all social networking profiles are created by beer drinking, football-crazed men aged 35-45 who have concealed weapons permits and moonlight as undercover agents.” What would the scumbags think then?

With all the talk about social networks - the inherent safety issues of “going public,” the politics that won’t help, and the sneaky buggers taking advantage of the situation, we’ve forgotten to take a step back and see what might be headed this way so we can prepare.

You have some much in your face, but what’s next? Well, think about all those public profiles - a great way to develop dossiers. Add the fact that there are groups of like-kind thinkers/feelers banding together for social interaction. Throw in malicious code writers ramping up targeted attacks.

I say it’s a recipe for a big headache.

***UPDATE***

A new study suggests the same.

According to MessageLabs, spammers are growing bored with POP/SMTP and are shifting their marketing time to web-based venues. Instant messaging (nothing new), blogs, and social networking communities (it “comes with the territory”), makes this kind of a bore in the way of announcements.

Not even kind of.

An old Friendster user is calling the service annoying, as the company seems to be resending old invites to potential users.

I stay away from the online social network scene for two reasons: 1) I am anti-social, and 2) I think all those emails I get everytime someone posts something are annoying too.

Speaking of annoying social networking services, does anyone know how SMS.ac is doing, after their bout with being annoying?