Back to School: Safety over Social Media

It used to be so much simpler going back to school in the old days -especially if you went some Catholic school where you had to follow the strictest of policies and all you needed was a uniform, books covered in brown paper and clean sparkling shoes. I don't know how Sister Madeline would react to Selena Gomez's, "Dream out Loud" clothing line and cell phones adorned with sparkling accessories which form an integral part of going to "back-to-school" for kids nowadays.

However, other than fashion do' and don'ts, social media experts say your children need to follow the rules of engagement in this area as well. And this applies not only to students but also their teachers.

"Teachers should attempt to use social networking as part of the educational process. Whether they know it or not, kids are engaged in informal learning through their use of social networking, so why not use the same technology for formal learning? And while you're at it, incorporate digital citizenship and media literacy into your teaching," says Larry Magid co-director of ConnectSafely.org, the nonprofit Web site which has lots of other advice on the safe and productive use of social media and technology.

Also, ConnectSafely co-director Anne Collier further states in Social media literacy: The new Internet safety, that media literacy and critical thinking "is protective against manipulation and harm." Magid seconds the notion that encouraging kids to learn and employ good digital citizenship helps protect all young people, because "behaving aggressively online more than doubles the risk of being victimized."

Some great information for youth who use social-networking services like MySpace and Facebook is provided by Hemanshu Nigam, chief security officer at News Corp. and MySpace at Online Safety and Back to School advice.

Here are just a few "don't do's" he talks about:

- Don't say you're older than you are. It violates our Terms of Service, and we've built safety and privacy features to help you that work best when we know how old you really are.

- Don't post anything you wouldn't want the world to know.

- Don't get together with someone you "meet" online unless you're certain of their identity.

- Don't get hooked by a phishing scam.

On how to conducts one's self over social media networks Magid advises yonung people to:

- Post with respect: photos are a great way to share wonderful experiences. If you're posting a photo of you and your friends, put yourself in your friends' shoes and ask would your friends want that photo to be public to everyone. If yes, then you're uploading photos with respect.

- Comment with kindness: compliments are like smiles, they're contagious. When you comment on a profile, share a kind word, others will too.

- Update with empathy: sharing updates lets us tell people what we think. When you give an opinion on your status updates, show empathy towards your friends and help them see the world with understanding eyes.

Christopher Burgess in his post Back to School Safety Tips: Social Media, Device Security, Malware further speaks about the issue of privacy concerns for young people. "As much as one wants to be social, let's keep some social media do's and don'ts in mind. Educate your student in being prudent in adding new "friends" to their social networks." He writes, that since your kids wouldn't "invite their whole class and pull out the family photo albums, the last year's online-exchanges, etc, so why be in a hurry to allow those same folks to see into one's social network pages, online photo albums, notes and stream of thoughts by the act of 'friending.'" Makes absolute sense!

Educators also need to ensure that students sign up for the various online networks associated with their educational level and ensure all the privacy settings begin at "opt-out" then selectively "opt-in" for those which you need or desire to access, asserts Burgess. In addition, teachers should advise students to be cautious about "over sharing of activities and locations since with respect to the use of location based services (Foursquare, GoWalla, and Facebook Places) be circumspect in posting about where one is or might be." And parents could also learn a thing or two when it comes to carpools and the pick-up and drop-off of younger students.

Since when did things get so complicated? Nonetheless, it is important that we live with the times and educate our children about social media along with everything else they need to learn. There we were, three best friends standing in Sister Madeline's office waiting to be reprimanded because I made a face at someone and my friend was wearing a pin with Tom Cruise's face on it. Little did she know, she will have much bigger problems to deal with!

Photo Credit: Jessica Barro