A Parent's Guide to Facebook

The social network Facebook enjoys a fast-growing popularity. Many young people sign up in order to share information, pictures, videos and opinions, and to send emails and interact instantly through chats. Facebook is appealing as a quick and easy way to communicate with friends, and a platform for expressing one’s feelings or opinions on daily events.

Many individuals regard Facebook as the safest social network. With most sites, anyone may sign up under a preferred name or nickname. In order to have a Facebook account, young people should have a valid college email and younger students must be invited to join. Due to stricter sign-up rules, Facebook members can be traced and identified. Access to a member’s profile is limited to members of the same supported network.

Despite its safety features, Facebook can be potentially dangerous for youngsters. Teens may add strangers to their friends’ lists, allowing access to personal information. Some of these strangers may turn out to be sexual predators, having joined the network by hiding their age and other details. Chatting with unfamiliar people is even more unsafe. Another danger lurking behind a child’s profile is the risk of online bullying, such as spreading rumors, posting or forwarding private messages or sending threats.

There are several things a parent could do in order to prevent risky online behavior. The first step is to create one’s own Facebook profile. This is the best way to inform oneself of the technology and features of the social network. Parents should approach their children directly and ask about their use of the online community. Being Facebook members themselves, parents can take advantage of the “search” function and discover the existence of the teen’s account. (They, however, will be unable to access the information inside before the child adds them to the friends’ list.) In addition, the Internet browser’s history can be a great tool, helping parents to follow their youngsters’ online activity.

Once the existence of a Facebook account is established, an honest and sincere talk is awaiting. Adults should explain all safety issues related to the sharing of private details and adding strangers as friends. Children need to realize that information such as their full name, address, or the name of their school helps strangers to locate them. They should be thought to never agree to encounters with people they met online.

In addition, it is important that children are comfortable with all written content and pictures posted by them. They should know that people such as college admission officers, teachers, and coaches may use the Internet to gather information.

Children must be encouraged to share their online experiences, reporting contacts initiated by strangers, sexually charged banter, messages containing sexual content, threats, and cases of online bullying.

A code of rules must be agreed on and strictly adhered to. Rules, however, depend on the age of children, their level of responsibility, and social maturity. Some youngsters might need to reveal their Facebook password to the parent, together with the amount of time spent on the computer. For less mature or younger children, parents should also monitor their profile on an ongoing basis. They may use the privacy settings to restrict access, review the friends’ list, as well as the contents of their profiles. Finally, the family computer should be kept in an open area where supervision is possible.