MIDDLETOWN — Emerging software is granting parents more significant access to their children’s behavior on social networking sites.

Programs such as SafetyWeb or Checkpoint’s ZoneAlarm are designed to monitor daily social networks, alleviating parents of personally tracking their children’s online activity.

SocialShield is a leading cloud-based social network protection system. The company’s patent-pending technology alerts parents if certain words — including “suicide,” “drugs” or “sex” — appear on their child’s social networking page.

SocialShield also monitors photos. For example, parents are alerted if photos surface of their underage children at parties where alcohol is present.

Alerts are primarily sent via email, said Ken Ossen, the company’s director of communications.

“We’ll alert the parents if there’s any troubling behavior,” Ossen said. “We’ll say, by the way, your kid just said something about drinking and drugs or something like that. At least we can get (parents) to address it.”

Currently, parents do not need the child’s permission to sign up for SocialShield’s services. However, the email address and password used to log in to sites like Facebook are needed in order for SocialShield to monitor.

Michelle Proffitt’s 14-year-old son, Alex, is a student at Middletown’s Central Academy. He has a Facebook page, and Proffitt sees some value in SocialShield.

“I like that it’s there as an option,” she said. “I guess you trust your own child, but you more so want to see what their friends are doing — what’s going on in their inner circle.”

Not surprisingly, students are more resistant to the technology.

Brooke Baber, an 18-year-old senior at Edgewood High School, said kids might take offense if their parents began looking into SocialShield’s software.

“I don’t think most would be too happy about it,” she said. “I can see kids going as far as deleting their Facebook because they don’t want their parents finding stuff.”

SocialShield charges $9.95 a month or $96 a year per family for its services.

Ossen said the company, founded in 2009, will not share the number of customers it serves, but its clientele is “definitely growing” and is “well into the thousands.” Client bases are said to be particularly strong in Phoenix, Ariz., Seattle, Wash., and Chicago, Ill.

SocialShield is made up of approximately 35 employees, Ossen said.

“We let the parent do the parenting,” he said. “All we do is the hard work.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2871 or asedlak@coxohio.com.