Practical tips for parents and guardians.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA & CHILDREN’S SAFETY 101:
Practical Tips for Parents and Guardians
Chad Richards
Director of Social Marketing
Firebelly
@chadrichards

2. What age
is appropriate for kids
to use social media?

7. Recently rebranded as a “Social Entertainment” site
Minimum age to join: 13 (down from 14)
Profiles of users aged 13-15 are set to “Private”
Users aged 16+ have privacy options
Easy to create fake accounts
29,000 registered sex offender
profiles have been found (so far) and deleted.

8. “If anyone has a duty to protect young kids, it’s
parents, not Myspace.” - U.S. Judge

10. Real-time conversations in 140 characters or less
No minimum age requirement to join
Anyone can follow a non-Private account
Public @-replies can be sent to anyone
Private DMs can only be sent to people
mutually following each other.
Any account can be set to “Private”
Easy to create fake accounts

12. Minimum age to join: 13
“Friend acceptance” must be mutual
Privacy options are constantly changing
Any account can be set to private
More difficult to create fake accounts
Facebook will NOT delete accounts of kids
13+ for parents

13. Facebook & Kids
(& Teens)

14. The Children’s Online Privacy
Protection Act (COPPA) states
that anyone under the age of 13 is not
allowed to sign up for websites, like
Facebook, which collect information
on users...

15. A survey by Consumer Reports found
that kids are lying about their ages
to join the site.
Facebook ignores the law.
• 7.5 million users were under 13
• 5+ million were 10 and under

16. Risks

17. “The most common risk young
people face on Facebook is not
advances from a stranger or
pedophile, but rather peer
harassment and aggression -
cyber bullying - in other words
hurtful, harassing, or defamatory
behavior.”

18. Cyber bullying

19. 50% of adolescents and teens have been bullied online
1 in 10 tell a parent if they have been a cyber bully victim
Fewer than 1 in 5 cyber bullying incidents are reported
to law enforcement
10% have had damaging photos taken of them and shared
online without their permission
Girls are more likely than boys to be involved in
cyber bullying
33% have experienced cyberthreats online.

20. Cyber Safety Stats

21. 68% of teens admit accepting a friend request from
someone they didn’t know
85% of parents admit to looking at their children’s profiles
weekly
40% of parents have been given their children’s usernames
and passwords
90% of parents of girls are friends with them
82% of parents of boys are friends with them
59% of parents worry about privacy compared to
only 6% of teens.

22. Cyber Safety Tips

23. “We strongly recommend that
minors 13 years of age or older ask
their parents for permission
before sending any information
about themselves to anyone over
the Internet and we encourage
parents to teach their children
about safe Internet use
practices.”
- Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook

24. CHILDREN should...
Familiarize themselves with the ever-changing
privacy and account settings
Block people who send unwanted content
Only accept friend requests from
people they know personally
Think before they post

25. CHILDREN should not...
Include the following in their profiles:
1. Location (especially address)
2. Phone number
3. Full name
4. Email address
5. School name
6. Full birthdate

26. Test profile privacy with the new View As... button

28. CHILDREN should not...
Post any photos or status updates
they wouldn’t want
1. their mother
2. a teacher or principal
3. a judge
4. or (future) employer
to see.

29. PARENTS should...
Talk to their kids about the risks
of being on Facebook
Monitor what their kids are posting
on their Facebook pages
Consider getting their kids’
usernames and passwords
“Friend” their children*

30. *Should you “friend” your child?
No matter how old your child is, here are some
guidelines for being a good online friend:
1. Be a role model
2. Don’t post on their Wall too frequently - it will
embarrass them and may create the sense that you are
“lurking”
3. Don’t scold - don’t argue publicly. Send a private
message, or better yet, talk to them about it offline
4. Don’t try to “friend” your teen’s friends

31. Cool Tools

35. Facebook Safety
Advisory Board

37. Resources

38. Facebook Family Safety Center
http://www.facebook.com/help/safety
Facebook Security Center
http://www.facebook.com/security
Report an underage child
http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=underage

39. Find & Download this Presentation Online
http://slidesha.re/ohionational