|PIC1|You become like the people you hang out with: That was the motivating philosophy behind the creation of a new Christian youth social networking site, Streetbrand Magazine Community.

The online forum is being launched by Streetbrand, an online Christian youth culture magazine featuring music, movie and book reviews, interviews, fashion articles, and Bible studies.

Streetbrand editors hope the new Magazine Community will provide a wholesome and Christian online space for its Christian teen readers.

The creators say the launch of the Magazine Community reflects their concern that sites like MySpace and Facebook may lead teens to hang out with negative people. Just last week MySpace announced that it has identified and removed 90,000 sex offenders from its website.

The Streetbrand Community is designed to be an online Christian youth fellowship hall where the magazine’s young readers can share testimonies, videos, photos, advice, and just general chit-chat.

Still in BETA stages, the structure and format of the new Streetbrand Christian teen social network is similar to other popular social networking sites. As with MySpace, visitors can find old friends, request to become friends with others, create their own online photo albums that can be shared with others, join special-interest groups or create their own, listen to Christian music, watch and embed Christian videos, and sound off in the Streetbrand group discussions.

Just as MySpace has encouraged secular musicians to share their music on the site, Streetbrand is inviting Christian musicians to sign up for Christian musician accounts. This is in keeping with the youth magazine’s heavy emphasis on the Christian music scene. A musician’s account will allow Christian singers and bands to let potential buyers sample their music online.

On the web: community.streetbrand.com/home.php