Social Networking

Social Networking

Tweeting, blogging and status updates from every corner of the globe at every minute of the day. Adults, teenagers, celebrities and even world leaders are doing it! What is this social networking revolution that has taken the world by storm?

Social networks provide a fun, interactive way to bestow content to the internet and keep in touch with your family and friends. The social networking giant Facebook have just announced they have over 500 million users world-wide and 26 million in the UK alone.

With the growing popularity of social networking come more opportunities for cybercriminals. ‘Users should be particularly vigilant about privacy when it comes to using social networks’, says Mark James, Security Specialist for ESET UK. If a stranger stopped you in the street, asked for your full name and address then asked you to pose for a risqué photo would you do it? Of course not, but the alarming thing is creating personal profiles filled with personal information along with photographs and videos leaves users vulnerable to identity theft, cyber-bullying or worse cyber-stalking and grooming. So how can parents make sure they know what their teens are up to, and most importantly how do you keep them safe?

Useful tips

• Help your child set up their account. Ensure you both find out how to use the safety tools and privacy settings and make sure your child’s profile is set to private which will only allow their friends to view the profile.
• Set clear rules and boundaries for appropriate social networking behaviour and explain the importance of privacy while using the internet. Never give out personal information like your address, city, location and school name.
• Teach your child how to screen friend requests. Do you know this person, if not why are they requesting to be your friend? It’s ok to say no and reject any requests you are unsure of.
• Set up your own account and link up with your child as a friend this way you can monitor your childs’ account and activity from an unthreatening distance and make it clear that any use of inappropriate activity will result in loss of the privilege.

For more information and resources for children of all ages click here

To report a crime contact your local police immediately or click here for more information