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The headline 55 per cent total may strike you as being on the low side and this is, in fact, the Pew perspective: 'There is a widespread notion that every American teenager is using social networks, and that they're plastering personal information over their profiles for anyone and everyone to read,' says Pew's Amanda Lenhart. 'These findings add nuance to that story - not every teenager is using a social networking website, and of those that do, more than half of them have in some way restricted access to their profile.'

Unsurprisingly, the main goals are either to keep in touch with friends or make new mates, and boys lead the way when it comes to flirting online.

'Both boys and girls rely on social networks to keep

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close tabs on their current friends, but older boys are much more likely to use them to meet new friends and flirt in the comfort of an online environment,' says Mary Madden. 'Older boys are really the ones taking advantage of the true 'networking' features afforded by the sites.'

Specifically, 91 per cent of all social networking teenagers say they use the sites to stay in touch with friends they see frequently, while 82 per cent use the sites to stay in touch with friends they rarely see in person. Just under half of those networking, 49 per cent, use the sites to make new friends.

As far as concerns regarding meeting strangers online, only 17 per cent of all social networking teens say they use the sites to flirt, and boys are twice as likely to flirt as girls - 29 per cent report this compared with 13 per cent of girls. Note, however, that 66 per cent of teens who have created a profile say that their profile is not visible to all internet users.

The Pew survey was conducted between 23 October and 19 November 2006 and contains a margin of error in the overall sample of plus or minus three percentage points, Pew states.

The Pew Internet Project (http://www.pewinternet.org) is a non-profit initiative of the Pew Research Center, which investigates the impact of the Internet on social life.