Facebook seems to have more of an interest these days in keeping its users, particularly children and teens, safe from social networking dangers such as cyberbullying and child predators.
In April a revamped Safety Center appeared on Facebook, with targeted safety information for parents, educators, teens, and law enforcement.
After the Facebook-related deaths of 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall in March and 18-year-old Nona Belomisoff in May, parents breathed a collective sigh of relief last week (albeit a cautious one) when Facebook’s chief security officer Joel Sullivan announced that a new Safety Page on the site will “regularly post dynamic content to complement the resources in the expanded Safety Center.”
Facebook’s Safety Page includes short videos and links about digital citizenship, bullying, and other topics related to internet safety. Information is given in small, easy-to-digest doses and is promised to continue evolving, making the Safety Page a must-bookmark site if you or your children are using social networking sites.
I think it’s great that Facebook is taking measures to support parents in teaching and protecting their kids in a digital and sometimes dangerous world. Facebook is making it easier for us parents to access Internet safety information, but remember that they cannot send Joel Sullivan to every one of our houses to help our kids process it. We need to be the ones to start the conversation with our children, tweens, and teens.
