It follows you around like a looming shadow for years; it’s a stalker’s paradise and it’s a sexual predator’s playground. It is also a procrastinator’s dream come true and has quickly become the latest fad among teens and young adults.

MySpace.com is a social-networking site and, like any other such site, it is potentially dangerous if not used cautiously. As with Facebook and other similar sites, people create MySpace accounts to find and make friends, share photos and music and spill their deepest, most personal thoughts.

However, most people aren’t even aware of the ways in which outside observers can use the information that members reveal in their profiles. Parents, for the most part, are confident that their children are using MySpace responsibly because they have talked to them about the threat of identity thieves or sexual predators. Warnings on the MySpace site, as well as commercial messages and school discussions, all provide good advice and safety tips on how to remain as unidentifiable on MySpace as possible.

Sexual predators can use the site to find everything from your name and age to the school you attend and your favorite food. Privacy options make it more difficult for people to see personal information and allow users to select what information viewers can see, but they are not foolproof. Recently, as many as seven girls between the ages of 12 and 16 in Connecticut were sexually assaulted by men in their twenties who met them through MySpace.com pretending to be teenagers.

Regardless of the 14-year-old age requirement, kids lie about their age and easily get accounts on the site. If parents are aware of their children’s online activities and talking to them about their decisions, however, they can reduce the risk of their children being sexual prey or victims of identity theft.

A new threat, though, is slowly creeping its way to the forefront of the employment industry and bringing up a new concern with MySpace. Many users are not aware that employers are gradually discovering MySpace and using it in background checks of prospective employees.

Whenever users post a blog, upload a picture or disclose any information about their lives via the site, they are creating a shadow of their past that could haunt them for decades to come. Employers can search the site and use the information to determine what kind of person their job applicant is.

Employers can see that an applicant was a party animal in high school, even if it was ten years past, or that he/she posted revealing or scandalous pictures from college frat parties. Obviously, this can be detrimental to his/her job hunt. References to illegal activities or even suicidal thoughts could be cause enough to be denied a job.

Consider trying to join the CIA or some other intelligence agency with classified information anywhere down the road. Now consider the extensive process a person must go through to get security clearance in such a place. Even if an employee has a clean slate with the law, having a MySpace with references to doing drugs or to underage drinking, to vandalism or any other illegal acts could be sufficient reason to be refused clearance.

Think about what kind of trouble you might get in if your parents or teachers saw your MySpace. If punishment or a reproachful conversation would result, the contents of your MySpace could be the very thing to destroy certain job prospects in the future.

Beyond these threats, bullies have discovered MySpace as a new, more efficient way to emotionally scar enemies and damage reputations. Moreover, students have made accounts for several teachers on MySpace, mocking their personalities and lifestyles.

Here are some of the ways to reduce the risks of MySpace:

Reveal as little as possible. Do not give information that could be used to identify yourself, including your full name, phone numbers, school name or address.

Use privacy options. The privacy settings are there for a reason. Though they are options, do not consider them optional and use them to mask your identity as much as possible.

Be mindful of your posts. Do not post things that could be brought up later to hurt you. Keep your MySpace clean and PG-rated.

Destroy the evidence. Even if you are checking out of the hotel, you might as well leave it clean. It is very difficult to delete information from the web once it is out and the site is responsible for deciding whether to remove it. If you decide to give up MySpace though, change the information on it and erase anything that could affect future job prospects if you do decide to put such things on it.

In addition to these, MySpace has developed software to review members’ profiles and identify users under 14 based on the information they provide about themselves. Though it is not perfect, it is a start and helps catch underage users.

Remember that MySpace will not just go away because you stop logging in, and consider that when you post information. Know that employers will use MySpace more and more as word gets out about it. Most importantly, be careful what you reveal and to whom you reveal it. After all, you wouldn’t want some stupid teenage rant to result in you missing the job opportunity of a lifetime.