This was a presentation I created to teach parents how to move into the age of parenting in a connected world and to better understand the world in which their kids were so comfortable residing.

1. Parenting in a Connected World

4. Let’s Talk
• What are your concerns about Social
Networking?
• What are your concerns re: your kids on the
Internet?
• How many have Facebook accounts right now?
• Do you see any benefits to Social Networking?

5. The New World Our Kids Are Growing into…
• Newspapers
• Cell phones as the mobile command center
• News via RSS feeds of their favorite bloggers
• YouTube
• Twitter
• “Friending” people online
• Arranging social get together’s via Facebook
invitations

6. Why did Social Networking become
so popular with our kids?
• More parents working
• Less freedom
• More structured days
• Information available rapid fire

7. Purpose of this Seminar
• To help you understand the world in which
your kids are maturing
• To think about the benefits and challenges
this presents
• How to ramp up your own skills to become
a citizen of this new world

8. What We’ll Learn
• Facebook as a diary or private space
• Why you should have a Facebook account
• Mechanics of setting one up
• Life skills kids will learn on facebook
• Facebook – Part of your toolbox for
parenting

9. What Parents Don’t Know
From Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that tracks children’s use of media
Parents Teens
49% thought child was over 13 when 14% of teens agreed
first began using Internet unsupervised
23% said kids log onto Facebook more 51% of teens agreed
than once/day
4% thought they checked it more 22% of teens said they did
than 10X/day

10. Wow
• Parents thought only 4% of teens had done
“sexting”; 13% of teens admitted having done
that
• 39% of teens had posted something they later
regretted and 28% had shared personal
information that they normally wouldn’t have
shared publically

11. Facebook as a
“private room”
Looking at your child’s Facebook account
is not intruding on their privacy
 Strangers don’t enter a kid’s room. On Facebook kids can interact
with strangers
 In a bedroom, acts are not observable by hundreds of people; on
Facebook your child’s acts are widely observable
 What goes on in a bedroom is not recorded online, potentially
forever. On Facebook, it is.
If you view Facebook as a “Private Room”,
you will make mistakes in parenting.

12. Advantages of being on Facebook
• Understand the attraction
• Offer corrective suggestions as they will
most likely misuse it
• Become fluent in the language they speak
and how they are communicating with their
peers
• Join the “new world”

13. Disadvantages of Facebook
• Can become a magnet for your child
- Setting limits is critical
• Can be used to arrange or RSVP to parties
without your knowledge
• Through targeted advertising, your teen can be
exposed to alcohol advertising before they are of
age.

14. Alcohol Promotion on Facebook
• The explosion of alcohol-related content on Facebook has recently
been studied in a ground-breaking report recently published in
the Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice.
• Authors found more than 2,200 Facebook Events associated with the
five top-selling beer brands
• An additional 2,200 events associated with the five top-selling spirits
brands.

15. More Facts
• Entering the term "alcohol" in the Facebook search engine, brought up more
than 58,000 Groups
• 5,000+ total Groups for the top-selling beer brands.
• Paid alcohol ads on Facebook are relatively few, compared with thousands
of alcohol-related Pages, Applications, Events and Groups that are
forwarded and shared among users.
• This amounts to free "viral" advertising that is not subject to Facebook's
guidelines for alcohol advertising – and is accessible to users under 21.
One More Reason to be on Facebook!

16. How to set up a Facebook account
• Simply go to http://www.facebook.com and sign up!
• Name
• Email
• Password
• Birth Date

17. Next Steps
• Friend suggestions
• Email as a conduit for linking
• Schools as conduits for linking

18. Definition of a “Friend” on Facebook
• A real friend
• Family member
• Co worker
• Classmate
• Acquaintances

19. How do they find Friends?
• Your email address
• Your school (s)
• Your employer

20. How can you find friends?
• Friend Finder
• Classmate Search
• Co worker Search
• Name Search

21. Benefits of Facebook
• A window into the younger generation
• Connect with others without restrictions of time or
space
• Rekindle long lost friendships and relationships
• Gain the knowledge and experience to be a
citizen of the new world

22. The Wall and News Feed
• “What’s on your mind?” box
• It is a one to many
communication
• Who sees your wall posts

23. Instant Chat
• Pop-up chat tool
• This is an example of one to one
communication

24. Email
Old School New School
You send an email using Use Facebook’s
Outlook or Gmail or yahoo email to send email
Required to check email Since you are
frequently for answer already on
Facebook anyway,
no need to check
email
This is one-to-one communication

25. Facebook Publisher
This is how you post content.
• Photos
• links to interesting web content
• a video
• events you’d like to share
• Tagging
Through your privacy settings you
determine who sees this content.

26. The Paradigm Shift
• Today’s world is all about collaboration and
sharing
• No more top down organizations
• Organizations sink or swim based on
conversations that are being held in social
networking sites like Facebook, My Space
and Twitter

27. Privacy Controls
Worcester Polytechnic Institute Study
• 55 – 90% of all users hadn’t taken
advantage of the privacy controls to limit
access to their information

28. How privacy controls work
• On Facebook, you can choose for each category
of information, who gets to see info you post
 Friends only
 Friends of friends
 Everyone
 Custom (you decide EXACTLY who)

29. Privacy Categories

30. “Friending”
• When you receive or send a friend request, you may
 Accept it
 Ignore it
 Send a message to clarify identity
 Block someone
If you ignore a friend request or block someone, that
person is NOT notified that this occurred.

31. Next Steps
• Establish your own Facebook account
• Insist that your child “friend” you
• Do not post to his/her account unless given
permission
• Sit down with your child to discuss appropriate
privacy settings and check them frequently
• Be sure to discuss inappropriate postings you
see by your child or by their friends and why you
feel this way

32. Tips
• Be open – encourage them to come to you if they
encounter a problem online
• Talk with them. Find out how they are using
Facebook.
• Make sure they understand the privacy settings
and tell them to NEVER share their passwords
with friends (talk about hacking)

33. Why Facebook Is Good for our Kids
According to a 2008 MacArthur Foundation study
on social networking sites, kids develop
• Leadership Skills
• Social Confidence
• Collaboration Skills
• Relationship Skills
• Increased media literacy skills - always evolving
• Identity Skills
• Support for kids with unique interests

34. Typical Home Page

36. Pop-up For Messages

37. Birthday Page

38. News Feed

39. Social Networking
….is here to stay. Consider Facebook just
one more thing you need to learn about in
order to be an effective parent.
And once you learn it, be prepared to stay
current as Facebook is always shaking
things up!

40. iParentnetwork as another tool
• Connect with other parents
• Learn about blogs, RSS feeds, Twitter
• Parenting experts
• Social bookmarking
• Stay informed
• Get support and Give support
• http://www.iparentnetwork.org