Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are extremely popular with teens and have become an important part of their lives allowing opportunities for fun, self expression and creativity.
Most social networking sites set a minimum age requirement of 13. Whilst this is an individual family decision, remember that kids under 14 often lack the maturity to make smart responsible decisions.
The fundamentals of internet safety apply to social networking sites (never post personal information like phone number, email, address or hometown). Teens need to be cautious of strangers and not invite people into their world that they do not know. They should limit personal information that they post online. Other social network safety tips include:
- Use privacy settings to restrict who can access and post on your child’s site, to limit who can see and access their online profile. If this is not enabled, their online profile is available for the world to see.
- The privacy settings also ensure that your child has to approve people to be added to their “friend list”, guaranteeing that they only add people that they know, and reduce the likelihood of strangers latching on.
- Think about the information they are posting online. Are they happy for it to be seen by parents, teachers, prospective employers? Are they comfortable if the information is on the internet forever, because it cannot be taken back.
- Get them to think about the language they use and remind them that offensive, degrading language is never appropriate.
- Protect their friend’s privacy by never posting pictures of their friends without prior consent.
- Be comfortable with the images, videos and content that they are posting generally. Don’t do or say anything that they would not do offline.
- Consider the photos that they post of themselves. Ensure it is not something that could be altered by cyberbullies or predators.
- Tell you if anything has occurred that they are uncomfortable with. Most sites have links where you can report inappropriate behaviour, so don’t put up with anything suspicious.
Parents are encouraged to take an active role in their child’s social networking activity.
- Create your own account on the social networking site/s that your child is exploring. It is very difficult to offer insight and advice to your teen if you have never used social networking before.
- As part of granting permission for your child to participate on social networks you can insist that you have access to their profile. This can be achieved via you having your own account and becoming their ‘friend’, or by you having access to your child’s password and account information. This allows you to periodically review their activity, keep the lines of communication open and create a dialogue about the site that you can both engage in.
- Review your teen’s friends lists and remind them that only people that they know in real life should be their online friends.
- Talk to your child about bullying, name calling, sex talk, rumour spreading, and inappropriate images and the real world consequences this can have on themselves or their friends.
- Fully understand the sites privacy policies and parent sections, so you as a parent know your rights.
Embrace social networking yourself and discover the positive benefits of networking and catching up with long lost friends.