Privacy on Facebook for your children
Your children may be constantly asking if they can set up a facebook account so they can connect with their friends online. No doubt many of you have regularly heard the plea "but all my friends have a facebook account"! But how safe is Facebook and how can you keep them safe? If you opt to allow your child have a Facebook account there are a number of ways in which you can keep an eye on their Facebook activity. The need for such supervision will obviously depend on the age and maturity of the child. We have set out below a couple of the ways you can monitor Facebook and have also provided some information on how to implement privacy setting to ensure maximum privacy for your child. Set up a Facebook account for yourself so that you can become a ‘Friend’ of theirs. One way to monitor your child's Facebook activity is to become a 'Friend' of your child on Facebook. This allows you to see quite a lot of what they are doing. Including seeing what photos they are tagged in, what applications they are using on Facebook and their general comments. It does not, on the other hand, allow you to see what Private Messages they send or receive from any other friend. While a younger teenager might be happy to have a parent as a 'Friend' on Facebook, for older teenagers it is not 'cool' to be seen by peers to have a parent as a 'Friend' ! Set up their account using your e-mail address Another way you can monitor your teenager's Facebook account at the initial stages is to set up their account using your email address. By choosing the appropriate settings within Facebook, Facebook will send an e-mail every time somebody sends a message, tags a photo, sends a friend request or comments on your teenager’s profile. However, your child may learn to turn off these e-mail settings so you may need to keep an eye on on the settings page from time to time. As they mature you may not feel the need to monitor the account so closely and you can change the e-mail notification address at a later date so that the updates are sent to the teenager's email address. To check/amend the settings for e-mail updates, click on the arrow in the top right hand corner and a menu will drop down. Select 'Account Settings'. Select 'Notifications'. Make sure Email Frequency - the box highlighted in red - is unticked. This allows you to modify the Notifications you get. Select all boxes to make sure you keep on top of all updates/messages. Privacy Setting and Information - Changing the privacy settings: One of the most important ways to protect your teenager on Facebook is to ensure all the necessary Privacy Settings are in place so as to ensure that personal information cannot be openly viewed or that your child cannot be contacted by strangers. Settings included are: who can message them, who can see their D.O.B., who can see photos they are tagged in and much more. To implement Privacy Settings -click on the arrow in the top right hand corner and a menu will drop down. Select 'Privacy Settings'. The 'Privacy Settings' page shows whether you share with Public, Friends Only or Custom Settings. Whereas 'Custom' settings used to allow you to make information such as their birthday - which is required to register - be invisible to everyone. Sure why would their 'Friends' not know their birthday? This is no longer the case and as such the best setting is 'Friends' If you click on the 'Edit Settings' beside How You Connect you will get a screen allowing you to choose whether Everyone, Friends of Friends or Friends can look up, send friend request and contact your child The settings in the image above means that people CAN: Find them on Facebook Send them a Friend Request While those they don't know CAN'T: Send unwanted messages If you click on the 'Edit Settings' beside Timeline & Tagging you will get a screen allowing you to choose whether Everyone, Friends of Friends or Friends can post on their page, see what was posted on their page The settings in the image above means that Friends CAN: Post on their timeline See what has been posted on their timeline While those they don't know CAN'T: See any posts on your childs page - this only takes effect from when you apply these settings.

If you agree to set up a Facebook account for your child, it is important to

• discuss with them at the outset the type of information they will be sharing on their Facebook page, the implications of the information they share and the dangers of Facebook (or any online community).
• you should discuss and agree the nature of personal information which will be displayed, e.g. will you allow them display their phone number, address, religious beliefs? This sort of information is something their ‘friends’ should already know and would not normally be shared on Facebook.
• If they are uploading photographs, do you want them to agree with you in advance what photos will be uploaded - you might not be happy for example for them to upload some family photos or photos which do not represent your child in a favourable light.
• It is also important to discuss with them the nature of the comments or posts they may make on their own page or on other 'friends' facebook pages - similar to mobile phone etiquette, posts should not be offensive, bullying in nature etc.
• It is also a good idea to instruct your child not to send 'Friend Requests' to people he/she does not know.
• Be open with your child that you will be monitoring their account.

Other articles dealing with safety settings online:

• Safety on Youtube