Safer social networking
Social networking describes a variety of services like Facebook, YouTube, World of Warcraft, Moshi Monsters and MySpace. All of these services enable direct interaction between individuals. Users can post information about themselves, display photos, tell people what they’ve been up to, chat and play games. Social networking forms a part of the social identity of many teens.
While social networking offers many benefits, there are risks. Sometimes children can forget who they are communicating with online and who might see the information they post. It can be easier for children and teens to say and do things online that they might not do offline. It can also be easier to talk to strangers online than it is offline, and they may confide too much in people they don’t know well.
It is important that children understand the risks associated with disclosing information about themselves online and know how to manage both their privacy and online ‘friends’.
A recent addition to social networking services are location based services which enable users to report their physical location to others via their mobile phone. This is an increasingly popular function in services like Foursquare and Facebook. Using this function, users can use mobiles to physically locate friends and others from social networking sites. Individuals can ‘check-in’ from a location to let others know their whereabouts.
On some social networking services the location based functions are turned on by default. To manage these services, encourage your child to review their social networking settings to block the function or to limit who sees their location based information. You may also like to contact your mobile phone company for assistance with blocking internet, Bluetooth and GPS functionality on their child’s mobile phone to limit their ability to notify others of their whereabouts.
Issues and complaints when using a social networking site
Video – parents talk about social networking and managing risks with children
Tips for safer social networking
Online social networking: Could what you’re doing online be illegal?
The Australian Government's
Easy Guide to Socialising Online provides information on how internet users can protect themselves and their information when using social networking sites, search engines and online games.