Social Media Security & Kids

Last week I was called upon by Megan Fleetwood, a reporter with KWTX in Waco, to offer up some comments about social media security and safety. In this case it was specifically regarding the safety of kids on social sites.

Unfortunately, the story is no longer available on their web site. I’m looking for another source.

Background
This particular piece revolved around a school bus driver who thought a dog belonging to one of the students on his route had been found by one of his neighbors. The neighbor was about to take the dog to the animal shelter. Concerned for the pet’s safety, he contacted the 13-year-old female student via a Facebook message asking if the dog in question was hers. Apparently, when she didn’t respond, went to her house and knocked on the door.

The concern here is (as spoken in the story): “When is it appropriate for an adult to contact a child on the internet?” I’m sure opinions vary. In this case, the school district leadership is convinced the driver’s intentions were honorable. Still, the incident did raise a bit of concern for school district – and it should.

Kids are on social media. It’s part of their culture and embedded into their lives in a way even the most social media-savvy adults I know don’t fully comprehend. Because it’s such a part of how they interact with others, it’s essential we teach them about online safety when they are young much like my parents taught me not to talk to strangers or look both ways before crossing the street.

School Is Teaching Kids
Apparently, the school district spent some time during the course of the last year teaching kids about online safety. That is excellent. Although I believe parents should be ultimately responsible for monitoring their kids’ online activities, it is an excellent idea for schools to help by offering some instruction. This may offer the chance for the kids themselves to look out for each other and help each other succeed in keeping not only their personal information, but their persons safe.

Social Media Policies for Employers
From what I gather of the superintendent’s comments, the school district does not have a social media policy for its employees. I firmly believe all organizations should have a social media policy, and this goes double for schools. I don’t think social media policies for school need to be draconian to the degree that social media contact between school personnel and students are cut off totally. There are some excellent and legitimate uses for social media contact, especially between students and teachers. However, there should be some guidelines to help prevent a situation like the one in this story; to help keep “honest people honest.”

Social media can be a great tool to help schools communicate. For example, I have a friend whose highschoolers are involved in Theatre Arts. The teachers have a Twitter account which they use to let parents know what’s going on when students are on field trips and traveling to competitions. Certainly a Facebook fan page for a teacher’s class would be of great help with communication of lessons and such between the teacher and students and parents. I know many teachers who use email lists for this type of communication – perhaps it would be more efficient to post message to social media sites.

Some Points to Ponder
During the interview I did with Megan we discussed a number of points about how to help kids make good decisions when it comes to their social media activities. Here are a few:

• It is mainly the responsibility of parents to teach their kids how to be safe online. Some parents are overwhelmed by this because they don’t understand social. If this is the case with you, concentrate on the basics like, “Don’t talk to Strangers,” “Treat others as you want to be treated,” “Don’t spread gossip.” Teach them not to share their personal information such as address, phone number, pictures, etc. with those not personally known to them.
• Foster a relationship with your kids that encourages them to let you know when something untoward happens. Often times communication between parents and kids is the best tool to keep them safe. Of course, when they become teens and think they know everything this gets tougher, so you have to start early.
• Anyone can figure out how to send a message to anyone else. That’s how spam works. Getting emails from strangers is nothing new. Teach your kids to ignore and delete messages from people they don’t know.
• It’s not a bad idea to put the family computer in the living room with the T.V. and other entertainment items. This way, you parents can keep an eye on what the kids are doing online.
• Check your kids’ social media accounts from time to time. Not only should you check the security/privacy settings on their accounts, you should check to see who they are interacting with and how they interact. Cyberbullying and such can be cut off if parents are involved in monitoring their kids’ online activities. You kids may complain about you “invading their privacy” but in the end they will appreciate that you care.
• If you are technically savvy enough, you can install various filters and limit your kids’ time online. This way you can help prevent them from Facebook-ing or MySpace-ing at all hours of the night.
• Kids need to understand that online is pretty much “forever.” Once something is posted and indexed by search engines it’s nearly impossible to get rid of and it can pop back up during searches for who knows how long. Younger kids talking smack and older kids posting pictures of themselves acting the fool at parties may be all fun now, but they can come back to haunt them later. Though this point probably applies more to older kids and young adults who may be soon entering the workforce, it’s important that kids learn early on about the basics of online reputation management.

Please check out the tips I gave in my last TV interview in my article “Social Media Safety & Security.”

How about you? What tips do you have regarding keeping kids safe online? Please feel free to share them in the comments.

Tagged as: facebook, security, social media, twitter