Blog Entry

Social Networking Safety

25 August, 2007

Social Networking sites are growing day by day!

Social Networking sites give people the ability to meet people and / or stay in touch with friends and relatives locally or around the world.

It is interesting how they started out as being sites where people with similar professions, hobbies, and interests might join forces and share in their experiences on line. Sometimes this would encourage a meeting in person.

Sites like Facebook, Myspace, Hi5 and Flikr have become very popular among teenagers who share common interests of music, video’s and the party scene. The origin of Facebook catered to College students.

The information that can be posted on these sites include:

Pictures
Videos
Personal information - Full Names, addresses or city location, Cell / home Phone Numbers, work places, meeting places, birthdates, schools attended, professional affiliations, club or group memberships

Social networking sites usually have methods of communication, like Chat, Blogging, or message boards.

Kids can use these social networking sites to express emotion, make new friends, keep in touch with old friends, and check out someone before they decide to meet.

Unfortunately, the information that children and young adults are posting on the Social Networking Sites can invite & make them vulnerable to predators.

What kids and parents may not realize is that Employers are using social networking sites to do an unofficial background check which can determine if the company will hire them, based on their language, personal behaviour & information posted.

Here are some basic rules that parents and children alike should adhere to when taking part in using these sites:

Make sure that children are following the age limit rules. Most sites require that you be at least 13 to take part in their sites
Make sure you go and check out the sites your children are taking part in. Look at the user agreements to see if the site is checked frequently or at all for negative content
Make sure that your children do not use their full name. First name only
Make sure that your children never set up a meeting with an online contact. This is where the predators prevail and the danger to your children is elevated to new levels
Most profiles allow you put your school in the personal information section, but we would caution you against putting any information like this on a site that could identify your child
Some social networking sites allow you to password protect your information and this feature should be used. Once you password protect your information, don't sent the password out in an email to your friends, if you do, you just bypassed your own security
Make sure any photographs that you are posting do not have identifiable marks like: Licence plates, street signs, or building names. You can edit your pictures before posting them on the site
Encourage your children not to use strong emotion on the web site as these are flags for predators
Parents should have access to the user ID and Passwords of the child and the parents should check the site profile regularly
Parents NEED to remove their child’s profile from the site, if the child does not follow the rules