1. Social Media

2. What is Social
Media?
Any website or app that is dedicated to content provided by its users, interaction (messaging, chat), content sharing (sharing videos, pictures or audio), and collaboration.
There are 100’s of different social media platforms, new ones are created regularly and they rise and fall in popularity. Even sites or apps that aren’t directly social media can connect with social media accounts. e.g. Facebook “Like” button on websites; sign in via facebook to sites or games.

3. What Social Media Sites Do Your Children Use?
Some of the colourful icons that the audience may or may not be familiar with.
What Social Media sites do your children use? If you don’t know you should find out. Talk to your children about the apps and websites that they and their friends use.

4. source: NSPCC
Anyone under 13 should not be on social media. This is due to US laws (Children under 13 cannot be targeted for advertising).
Children under the age of 13 signing up to these sites are lying about their age. That’s the first thing they do on social networks. If we are trying to educate our children about being honest a good “digital citizen” and good behaviour online and also warn them about people who may pose as someone they are not, it’s not a good start to let them lie about their age.
If a child signs up to a site and says that they are 18 years old they can expect to be treated like an 18 year old by other users of the site and by advertisers.
Research carried out by the London School of Economics for the European Commission, based on a survey of 25,000 young people - aged between nine and 16 - from across Europe.
It asked if they maintained a social networking profile.
In the UK, 43% of 9 to 12-year-olds answered yes, along with 88% of 13 to 16-year-olds.
The report also suggests that where parents do impose a strict policy on social networking, the majority of young people respect that guidance

5. What sites do teens use?
The big social networks are still popular with teenagers but recent research shows that teens are moving to instant messaging apps as they are more convenient and cheaper than text messaging.
What sites do the kids who use social media visit? Point out the growth in Instagram (16%-36%), Snapchat (0%-26%) and WhatsApp (0%-20%). The huge jump also shows that sites and apps can come from nowhere to be very popular.
20% of these 12-15yr children use WhatsApp which has a minimum age requirement of 16 (younger with parental consent). If you are happy to give consent to your under 16yr old child then you should know what the risks are and discuss them with your child. Talk with your child to find out what apps, sites they visit.

6. SOCIAL MEDIA IS GREAT!
The rest of the presentation talks about the risks of social media, at this point talk about the positive aspects of social media. With your children be positive about the benefits of the internet and take a balanced approach.

7. The potential risks of social media
Inappropriate content - Pornography, Self Harm, Pro Ana, Hate, Violence.
Communicating with /Friending Strangers. Grooming.
Sharing too much information. Harming “online reputation”. Sexting/Blackmail
Bullying
There are other risks for example, radicalization (ISIS and other radical groups regularly use social media to promote their cause and recruit new members).
According to recent report from NSPCC, ChildLine conducted 35,000 counselling sessions for low self-esteem between April 2014 and March The report blames “a constant onslaught from cyber-bullying, social media and the desire to copy celebrities,” as key reasons.

8. Inappropriate Content
12:30Tuesday 30 June 2015
A Derry man has spoken of his disgust after intercepting a social media video call to his child’s phone by a grown man conducting lewd acts.
The man said he wanted to alert other parents after his 12-year-old daughter was targeted by a man misusing the popular social networking App ooVoo.
More and more young children are using smartphones and apps in the digital age.
The man told the ‘Journal’ that his daughter’s classmates were also aware of the same man- using a certain name and using a profile pic of a young boy with a mobile phone- targeting other children locally over the internet.
A number of other parents across Derry have also previously expressed concerns about their children being exposed to sexual predators via social media over recent weeks.
Inappropriate content example. An adult using the app ooVoo to target children.
Child was 12 ooVoo age restriction is 13. The adult was posing as a young boy.
ooVoo is not the only app that can live stream video YouNow, Periscope, Meerkat and facebook(soon).

9. Grooming
Grooming example. This is a video on You Tube by a “you tuber” called Coby Persin. The video shows how easy it was for him to groom underage girls using facebook. The parents were in on it and never believed that their child would agree to meet up with a stranger they met online, but all the girls went behind their parents back to meet up with the stranger.

10. Sexting is illegal Sexting age: 13+
When children engage in sexting they’re creating an indecent image of a person under the age of 18 which, even if they take it themselves, is against the law. Distributing an indecent image of a child – e.g. sending it via text – is also illegal. It’s very unlikely that a child would be prosecuted for a first offence, but the police might want to investigate.
age: 13+
Sexting example. Snapchat photos self destruct after a set amount of time so became popular for sexting. The receiver can screenshot a snap to save it to their phone.
The boy, from the north of England, said he sent the image by Snapchat from his bedroom while flirting with a girl of the same age, who then shared it with others.
He was later told the incident was recorded on a police intelligence database as a crime of making and distributing an indecent image of a child
In some cases girls fall victim to what they call “snaking” – a boy befriends them, leads them on and asks for a picture only to distribute it among his friends, and beyond.
Teenagers, it seems, don’t use the word “sexting”, which the media favours, but refer instead to “nudes”, “nude selfies” or “dodgy pix”.

11. Bullying
It is a social site where users can ask other users questions, and responses are limited to 300 characters. The questions can be from a named user, or completely anonymously asked. It is unmoderated (unless a user reports something), and has no parental controls. A user gets a URL which they can use to populate other social media profiles. It has become a site for bullying
Bullying example. The reason that ask.fm has become seen as a bullying platform/app/site is the fact that content can be added anonymously. “Anonymous social” The site was originally based in Latvia but was purchased by a US company in 2014 (now based in Dublin) and has tried to clean up its act in regards to cyberbullying “The site has agreed to review user complaints within 24 hours and remove users that have been the subject of multiple complaints, in order to cut down on the bullying problem”. As a result of the clampdown on bullying ask.fm has actually lost popularity and new anonymous social apps have appeared.

12. “Anonymous Social”
Whisper, Secret, fleek, Yik Yak, Ask.fm, After school, Yeti. Secret (the fox icon) was used by people working in the tech industry to gossip and leak information. They aren’t necessarily designed to be a bullying or gossiping apps but because of their anonymous nature this is the sort of use that they generate.

13. Over-sharing
Children shouldn’t be sharing their full name, their address, their location, their movements, their routine. Disable location access on apps.

14. Facebook Facebook is an advertising company.
It uses ALL information entered (public or private) to sell targeted advertising.
Facebook can transfer or sublicense its rights over a user’s content to another company or organisation if needed.
It can use this information for any products and services it owns or runs now but can also use it for any future product or service.
Facebook’s license does not end upon the deactivation or deletion of a user’s account, content is only released from this license once all other users that have interacted with the content have also broken their ties with it.
Once you post on facebook it belongs to facebook, it can be impossible to remove content if it has been shared.

15. Facebook gets a report every time you visit a site with a Facebook “Like” button, even if you never click the button, are not a Facebook user, or are not logged in.
The Facebook App also collects information on every web page people visit while logged in, and from every app people have logged into using their Facebook details.

16. The potential problem with Facebook
Facebook wants as much information about you as possible to sell your info to advertisers. It actively encourages you to share
It will share your information with third parties.
It encourages users to share more, it can change its T+C’s and privacy settings at any time. It actively discourages deleting accounts.
There is the potential for children (and adults) to share too much information.
Once something is posted it becomes the property of Facebook, it is extremely difficult to regain control of your content.

18. Recommended Action for Facebook Users
Review your privacy settings, review them again when Facebook updates its T+C’s, Review them again when you install or re-install the app.
Only post content that you would be happy for anyone to see, even private posts can be copied, screenshot and re-posted somewhere else. etc
Presume that all content will be available to view by everyone in the world forever.
Don’t overshare information, it can leave you open to stalking, ID theft, could affect job prospects, insurance premiums, credit ratings etc
Agree with your child when they can join a social networking site and create their profile with them
Help them set privacy settings at the strongest level. Sites can change privacy settings so make sure you stay up to date with them.
Report people and inappropriate conversations to the site administrator via the ‘help’ or ‘report’ tab (if available) and always keep a copy of the conversation as evidence.
Teach your child how to block or ignore people on social networking sites and online games, and support them in knowing what they can do if someone makes them feel uncomfortable e.g. create a sentence with your child that they can use if they want to exit an uncomfortable conversation online
Set boundaries about which sites they can use and for how long. Try to do this when they first start using social networking sites, so they get used to it from a young age
Teach your child never to share any personal details – this includes their password, real name, address and their school
Use the site yourself – you or another trusted adult can become your child’s friend on Facebook or follower on Twitter
Explain that friends should be people they know – people they meet online may not be who they say they are. Talk to them about the risks involved with chatting to people they don’t know and sharing personal information with them
Stress that meeting up with people they know online can be dangerous and that they should only do so with your permission and if you are present. Report directly to CEOP if someone is trying to meet up with your child or if you think your child is in immediate danger
Set rules about what they should and shouldn’t post
Talk to your child about the fact that what they post can’t always be taken back, and even if it can, it may already have been shared. This applies to webcams too – teach them to only use webcams with people they know, and show them how to disable it.

21. Inappropriate Content
“When I had first started upon it, the very first question from the very first stranger was this – “Hi! ASL?” In case you are wondering what ASL means, it’s age, sex and location.”

22. Yik Yak – users post text-only Yaks of up to 200 characters
Yik Yak – users post text-only Yaks of up to 200 characters. The messages can be viewed by the 500 Yakkers who are closest to the person who wrote the Yak, as determined by GPS tracking. Users are exposed to – and contributing -sexually explicit content, abusive language and personal attacks. Although the posts are anonymous, kids start revealing personal information as they get more comfortable with other users.

23. Location Based Services
Do you want your child's’ location to be available to others?
Sharing photos online with LBS enabled lets anyone extract the location, date and time from the photographs metadata.
if you wouldn’t tell someone in person where you are you probably shouldn’t use Facebook to tell them.
Talk to your child about the use of location-based services. These services enable social networking users to report their physical location to other users by ‘checking in'. Some services let people report their friends' locations and have location-based functions turned on by default. Your child can review their settings and block this function or limit who sees their location-based information. Remind your child that allowing strangers to see where they are is risky behaviour.

24. Just when you thought you were getting somewhere….. decoy apps!!!!!
If you monitor your childs device and you see one of these then it could be sign that they are trying to hide something from you.

25. In 1986 when the round-the-clock service began children were mostly concerned about family planning problems and sexual abuse.
But today their confidence is being destroyed by a constant onslaught from cyber-bullying, social media and the desire to copy celebrities as they strive to achieve the ‘perfect’ image.
In there were 35,244 counselling sessions for low self-esteem, an increase of 9% from the previous year.
These latest figures from ChildLine reveal that girls are more likely to be affected by low self-esteem and unhappiness – it was their second highest concern and the fourth for boys.
"I used to go onto a lot of social media sites and socialise, but now that I don’t have access I feel really cut-off and isolated. I don’t really have many friends in real-life and spend a lot of time in my bedroom on my laptop. I don’t have much confidence in myself and I feel as if my life is really depressing." 14-year-old boy
Tellingly it also seems to strike with the start of secondary school and continues throughout teenage years, with more than half of contacts coming from year-olds contacting ChildLine to talk about the problem

26. What can you do to keep your children safe online?
Set appropriate parental controls on wifi hubs and devices. Set their privacy settings for them on websites/apps if appropriate.
Set age appropriate rules and boundaries around online usage and behaviour.
Advise children around the risks they may be exposed to.
Advise children about what to do if things go wrong.
Spend some time on this slide, this is the most important part of the presentation
There are 100s of practical things you can do to keep your children safe online.
If they are starting to use social media help your child set up their profile to make sure that they don't put too much personal information online. Help your child to create user names or IDs that do not communicate their gender, age, name or location and are not sexually provocative.
The rules and behaviours are going to be different at different ages (the child’s wishes, development and maturity should be taken into account), and should be reviewed from time to time. make sure your child knows what information they should and should not share or post online.
Ask them to tell you before they join new websites and before they post any personal information online, including their full name, address or school.
3. This presentation covered some of the risks. Ask your child if they know of any other risks.
4. The child should be reassured if things go wrong. The child should be made aware that they can report abuse or misuse of apps inside the app itself. This advice should be part of the wider conversation you have with your child about staying safe online. The NSPCC website has great advice on how to start a conversation about these things on their website. Which we will look at in a minute.

27. Resources

31.
Use the CBBC stay safe website together with you child as a conversation starter.

32.
If you need to report something to the police: Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command a branch of the National Crime Agency.