Parents who’ve conscientiously denied their tweens access to Facebook (which technically requires users be 13 or older) may not realize their children may be finding other pseudo-social networks—most prominent among them being the photo-sharing site Instagram. According to a recent survey by Experian Hitwise, Instagram’s popularity shot up more than 17,000 percent between July 2011 and July 2012, with much of that growth ostensibly coming from teens. While Instagram also requires its users be 13 or older and has safeguards in place to keep younger users out, it doesn’t stop many teens. While the site is used predominantly to swap photos, it also contains a social networking component, which allows user to post and respond to comments. That component opens the door to cyberbullying and other unwelcome elements. One mother said she hopes to keep her 12-year-old daughter out of Facebook until high school, but allowed her to have an Instagram account. “In the last week, she has been indirectly contacted by what appears to be a predatorial pedophile (posed as a radio contest) to which girls send their photos. She also experienced the middle school drama I was trying to avoid by the lack of a Facebook account.” (CNET)