OnlineFamily.NortonSchool’s Out and Your Kids Are Online:
Do You Know What They’ve Been Searching For This Summer?
During summer vacation, kids have more time to spend online chatting with friends, playing online games, and just surfing the Web. But this added time on the Internet can lead to trouble if parents don’t have “The Talk” with their kids about appropriate and inappropriate online behavior. Symantec has identified the top searches conducted by kids online this summer through its family safety service, OnlineFamily.Norton,* and some of the results may surprise parents and leave them asking “Who is Fred?”
According to OnlineFamily.Norton, kids’ top 100 search terms include sites like YouTube, eBay and Craigslist, as well as social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. The words “sex” and “porn” also made it to the top, ranking number four and six respectively. Number nine on the list was “fred,” for Fred Figglehorn, a popular fictional character whose YouTube channel has become a hit among kids. Other popular search terms include Michael Jackson, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and the Black Eyed Peas’ song “Boom Boom Pow.” Check out the full list below:
- 1. YouTube
- 2. Google
- 3. Facebook
- 4. Sex
- 5. MySpace
- 6. Porn
- 7. Yahoo
- 8. Michael Jackson
- 9. Fred (A popular fictional character whose YouTube channel has become a hit among kids.)
- 10. eBay
- 11. You Tube
- 12. YouTube.com
- 13. Gmail
- 14. Wikipedia
- 15. Miley Cyrus (Singer and star of the Disney Channel’s hit series “Hannah Montana.”)
- 16. Webkinz (Toy stuffed animal that comes with a secret code, allowing kids access to the Webkinz World website.)
- 17. Games
- 18. Miniclip (Website with a variety of free online games.)
- 19. Taylor Swift (Country-pop singer)
- 20. Hotmail
- 21. Norton Safety Minder (The small software that is part of Symantec’s OnlineFamily.Norton service. It is installed on each child’s monitored computer and actively informs the child upon log-in that their parents are monitoring their online activities.)
- 22. Club Penguin (A massively multiplayer online game where kids use cartoon penguins as avatars.)
- 23. Addicting games (Website with a variety of free online games.)
- 24.+Google.com
- 24.+MySpace.com
- 26. Boom Boom Pow (Black Eyed Peas’ hit song.)
- 27. Hannah Montana (Disney Channel’s hit series where the main character is played by Miley Cyrus.)
- 28. Boobs
- 29. Twilight (Vampire-romance novel by Stephenie Meyer, which has become a hit movie.)
- 30. Lady Gaga (American recording artist responsible for hits like “Just Dance” and “Poker Face.”)
- 31. Yahoo.com
- 32. Yahoo Mail
- 33. Walmart
- 34. Craigslist
- 35. Amazon
- 36. Mapquest
- 37. Runescape (A massively multiplayer online role-playing game.)
- 38. MSN
- 39. Facebook Login
- 40. Poker Face (Hit pop song by American recording artist Lady Gaga.)
- 41. Lil Wayne (American Grammy Award-winning rapper)
- 42. Disney Channel
- 43. Google Earth
- 44. Weather
- 45. Megan Fox (American actress and star of the Transformers film.)
- 46. Target
- 47. Jonas Brothers (American pop boy band)
- 48. Pokemon (Nintendo media franchise that includes video games, trading cards, toys, books, etc.)
- 49.+Dictionary
- 49.+Eminem (American rapper, record producer and actor)
- 49.+Facebook.com
- 49.+Halo (First-person shooter video game)
- 53. The Climb (Hit song by Miley Cyrus)
- 54. Poptropica (Virtual world for kids where they can play games and communicate with other kids.)
- 55. Selena Gomez (Actress and singer who plays Alex Russon on Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place.)
- 56. Twitter (Micro-blogging service that allows users to send a read “tweets,” which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters.)
- 57.+Google maps
- 57.+New Moon (The second book in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series.)
- 57.+Right Round (Hit song by rapper Flo Rida)
- 60. www.youtube.com
- 61. Hoedown throwdown (Hit song by Miley Cyrus)
- 62. MySpace layouts (Various websites offer layouts that MySpace users can download to customize their MySpace profiles.)
- 63. I’m on a Boat (Song by The Lonely Islands, featuring R&B singer T-Pain.)
- 64. Don’t Trust Me (Hit song by the band 3Oh!3)
- 65. Funny
- 65. Soulja Boy (Various YouTube videos that parody Soulja Boy’s “Crank That” video.)
- 67. Hotmail.com
- 68. Photobucket (Website that offers image hosting and free photo and video sharing.)
- 69. Demi Lovato (Actress and singer-songwriter best known for her role as Mitchie Torres in the television movie Camp Rock and Sonny Monroe in Sonny With A Chance.)
- 70. Family Guy (Animated TV sitcom that airs on Fox.)
- 71. Music
- 72.+Britney Spears (Hit singer and entertainer)
- 72.+Pussy
- 72.+Thriller (Michael Jackson’s hit 1983 song)
- 72.+Transformers 2 (Action film based on cartoon series and released in theaters in June 2009.)
- 76. Cartoon Network
- 77. Boom Boom Pow Black Eyed Peas (Black Eyed Peas’ hit song.)
- 78. Beyonce (R&B singer, songwriter, record producer and actress)
- 78. Harry Potter (Main character and title of J.K. Rowling’s series of novels and films.)
- 78. Utube
- 81. Girls
- 82. Best Buy
- 83. Gummy Bear Song (Dance song by German composer Christian Schneider. It was released online with a 30-second video clip, which has spread virally worldwide.)
- 84. New Moon Trailer (Movie trailer for the second film in the Twilight series.)
- 85. Disney
- 86. Naked girls
- 87. Hulu (Free online video service that streams TV shows and movies.)
- 88. Naked
- 89.+iTunes (Apple’s digital media player)
- 89.+Norton Online Family (Beta name for Symantec’s OnlineFamily.Norton family safety service)
- 89.+Nude
- 89.+Playboy
- 93. Gmail.com
- 93. Swine flu
- 93. XXX
- 96. Chris Brown (Singer best known for hits like “Forever” and “With You.”)
- 96. Black Eyed Peas (Hip hop/pop group comprised of will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, and Fergie)
- 98. Ask.com
- 99. Nigahiga (Comedic Hawaiian troop whose videos have become a hit on YouTube and other sites.)
- 100.+Kiss Me Thru the Phone (Hit song by hip-hot artist Soulja Boy.)
- 100.+You Belong With Me (Hit song by artist Taylor Swift.)
Methodology
Between February 2009 and July 2009, Symantec tracked a total of 3.5 million searches that were submitted by users of their OnlineFamily.Norton service. The list of search terms was ranked from those submitted most frequently to those submitted the least. In order to be included in the list of kids’ top search terms, a search term had to have been submitted at least 50 times by registered users of OnlineFamily.Norton.
*Aggregate search terms collected on an anonymous basis through OnlineFamily.Norton. Search terms cannot be associated by Symantec with a specific child, adult, or user account. All personal account information is kept completely separate from the monitoring and reporting functionalities of OnlineFamily.Norton.
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