Tag Archives: Social Networking

Safer Internet Day 2012

This Tuesday may well be just another day, but it is a day that we feel important to acknowledge…

Safer Internet Day is organised by Insafe each year in February to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world.

This year, Safer Internet Day (SID) will take place on Tuesday 7 February 2012 and will be centred around the theme Connecting generations and educating each other, with the slogan: “Discover the digital world together… safely!”

About Connecting Generations

This topic looks at the reach of the online world across all generations and cultures and encourages families to work together to stay safe online. Whether you are 5, 40 or 75 years old, whether you use the internet once a month or several times a day – each person has something different to bring to the table that can help shape our online experiences and our understanding of online competences and safety. We all have a role to play in ensuring that every child is safe online.

Today our offline and online worlds are strongly connected, from families communicating via webcam with relatives and friends abroad to children doing their homework online. The online world is a unique arena where people of all ages can learn together and from each other, especially regarding online safety. Tech savvy youngsters can teach their elders how to use new technologies, while grandparents can draw on their life experiences to advise younger generations on how to stay safe online, as they discover the digital world together.

How to take part?

Visit saferinternetday.org for more information and to download SID promotional materials and resources.

Skype you soon!

We all love Skype. One of my best friends lives in Australia, and realistically, we’re not the world’s best “email-buddies”. But the combination of Skype and Facebook work really well for us when it comes to keeping in touch.  A quick update here, a couple of picture comments there, the odd “like” and every couple of weeks a good old computer-face to computer-face Skype natter.  So whilst logging in on Skype the other day to catch up with my suntanned friend, I was greeted with a lovely message from a “Vanda [insert random numbers here]” saying “Hey! I was flicking through the directory and I don’t know you, but I thought you looked like a good person to talk to, add me!” Despite the fact that I was hugely complimented that I “looked like a good person to talk to” and that adding Vanda would take my Skype friend total to nine (!), Vanda was promptly ignored.

If you’re on Skype, or if you’re part of the 500 million people on Facebook, then I’m sure you’ve experienced the same. Every so often, there’s a new “Friend” request in your box, you have the moment of “who could it be!” excitement and on opening it up, you haven’t got a clue.

Having grown up with slogans such as “Say NO to strangers” and “Stranger Danger”, it seems to make clear sense that should someone wish to befriend us that we don’t know, aka stranger, we reject their very kind offer. So why is it we have a generation today that may be happy to accept Vanda’s offers of friendship?

We need to understand our young people today are a generation who are not ‘adjusting’ to social-media like many others are, they are in fact the children of social-media. Where we have had to learn, they have been born into it. I know 2 year olds who can operate an iphone, and I’m sure you’ve seen the recent “I’m a PC” adverts featuring a four and half year old uploading pictures and another with an eight year old creating a photo-movie. Using social-media has become literal child’s-play.

And it’s not just computer access, mobile technology and networking is on the up. 28% of 18-24 years olds check Facebook on their mobile before they even get out of bed in the morning. Young people now have more access to the internet than ever before with the rise of the smartphone.   

Facebook has a clear policy that under 18’s are given a recommended default security setting. However this setting allows everyone (yes everyone) to see their photos and posts, their biography and their family and relationship status. Bearing in mind all someone under the age of 13 (Facebook is for 13 years old and over) needs to do is to slightly amend their date of birth, it’s very easy for a young person’s world to be opened up to unknown eyes and online strangers.

At Young Scot, we’re passionate about new technology and new digital media; in fact we have a whole team dedicated to it. We understand communication is evolving and it’s so important to keep at the forefront of it.  Social networking offers new engagement opportunities (anything that can get 500,000,000 users from every country, culture, religion and age group (over 13) in 6 years can’t be all bad) but at the same time, safety is paramount to this. While 70% of Facebook users are under 30, the message of “Say Ignore to Strangers” needs to be reiterated time and time again. Using the code created by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, we have a clear “Zip It, Block It and Flag It” approach:

Zip It: think about what you say and post – don’t put up anything you wouldn’t show to your mum, dad or carer

Block It: Block any nasty posts or people you don’t know

Flag It: Flag up any problems or concerns immediately with a trusted adult or organisation

With so many great Internet Safety resources now available, access to advice and support has never been so easy. Isis Forensics have just released a free mobile application to help children and young people identify adults posing as children on chat rooms or social networking sites. Glow has a wealth of information, links and resource to encourage responsible use of the internet (check out our Young Scot group page here!) and organisations such as CEOP and Save the Children have hard-hitting awareness campaigns, resource and tools such as the CEOP ‘Report Abuse’ button on various social networking sites. However the message of privacy and “Say No” still needs to be reiterated on every level.  Social Networking and media is there to enhance lives, open healthy doors of opportunity and communication and add to friendships and partnerships. In a word, it’s there to be enjoyed. All we ask is that it’s enjoyed safely, and this is the message that we need to keep in front of our Young People.

Facebook site offers advice to prevent cyber-bullying

1. Only accept friends you know

In order to prevent harassment from strangers, only accept friend requests from people you know and report any messages or profiles that look suspicious. Facebook is based on a real name culture, and fake profiles are regularly disabled when they’re reported to us. Only confirmed friends can post to your Walls or contact you via Facebook Chat, so if you’re worried that someone will make inappropriate posts or send offensive messages, you should ignore that person’s request.

2. Stop abusive behaviour

A block prevents someone from viewing your profile. If you receive inappropriate or abusive communication, you can block the person by listing his or her name in the “Blocking People” box at the bottom of the privacy page. In addition to blocking, if you receive abusive messages on your wall or via Facebook chat, you can remove the offender from your friend list.

3. Report trouble directly to Facebook

You can report an abusive user by clicking the “Report/Block person” link that appears at the bottom of that person’s profile. Additionally, if you are informed of inappropriate behavior on the part of someone you have already blocked, ask a friend to report that person on your behalf. Reports are confidential and the person being reported does not know that they have been reported. After a report is submitted, Facebook will investigate the issue and make a determination as to whether or not the content should remain on the site based on its terms of use. A Facebook administrator looks into each report thoroughly in order to decide the appropriate course of action.

4. Keep your information private

Restrict your privacy settings on Facebook so that certain people can’t access information like your Wall, photos, or profile. You can also customize your privacy settings if you feel uncomfortable about being found in searches or having your profile viewed publicly. Privacy on Facebook is controlled primarily from the privacy settings page, which can be accessed from the settings link at the top of any Facebook page.

5. Don’t react to bullies – block, report or delete them

Rather than responding to a bully directly via inbox, a Wall post, or Facebook Chat, you can delete offensive posts from your Wall or messages from your Inbox and then use the “Blocking” or “Reporting” functions to resolve the issue safely.

To delete an offensive Wall post, hover over the post in question, click the “Remove” button that appears, and select “Delete” in the dialogue box.

To delete a message from Inbox, simply click the “Delete” button at the top of the message. Because only confirmed friends can post to a Wall or send a message through Chat, users who don’t like the posts and Chat messages they’re receiving should consider removing the people responsible from their friends list.