Despite fears that the growing popularity of social networking sites may make youths more vulnerable to online threats, a new survey shows that the majority of teens limit their online profile data.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project reported that two-thirds of teens with blogs or social networking profiles have restricted access to their profiles in some way, such as by requiring passwords or making them available only to a pre-approved list of friends.

According to the survey of American teens aged 12 to 17, 82 percent of profile-owning teens provide their first name and 79 percent include a photo of themselves. But just 29 percent of teens include their last names and only 2 percent post their cell phone numbers.

"The results of this study show that teens are becoming more careful about risks," said John Carroll, professor of Information Sciences and Technology.

Carroll said the risks of being online, such as being contacted by people trying to get personal information, are not diminished.

"We can expect that there will always be new scams, but people are smarter now about the Internet," he said.

The survey found that 55 percent of online teens use social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook. Of these, 26 percent visit the site once per day, while 22 percent visit several times a day, according to the survey.

Eighty-four percent of teens with online profiles have posted a message or comment to a friend's profile, page or "wall," while 33 percent have given winks, pokes, "e-props" or kudos to friends, the survey found.

"The research I've done is showing that teens use [social-networking sites] to keep up with friends. It's more time-efficient than writing letters or e-mails, and it lets them be creative," said Elizabeth Mazur, associate professor of psychology at Penn State Greater Allegheny.

Melanie Overton (sophomore-psychology) said she uses her Facebook account for pictures and to stay in touch with friends. She said she tries to limit the amount of information she provides on her profile.

"I don't put my phone number or schedule or anything like that," she said.

Overton said many of her friends do provide this information.

"They just don't think about it," she said. "It's kind of scary to think about how much information people could have access to."

Mazur said she thinks that teens today are much safer online now than they used to be.

"Older teens, especially, realize the dangers that are out there," she said.