An IT Manager in South Wales has set up a ‘safer’ social networking site for children. For many parents worried about the dangers of their children and teenagers on social networking sites it sounds like a good idea. The site is exclusively for under-18s and works alongside schools and youth clubs who log in to the site and verify the users identity before they’re allowed to use the website.
CEOP must’ve thought there was something in the idea as they asked the creators to drop the lower age limit – it was initially going to be restricted to 14 years and above, the same as sites like Facebook and Bebo – saying they wanted to encourage children to join the site rather than lie about their age and join other social networks.
Age verification and social networking
Age verification on social networks is a BIG DEAL. Australia’s Daily Telegraph recently revealed that Facebook admitted to the Federal Parliament’s cyber-safety committee that it is removing about 20,000 underage users a week from the social network. The statistic sent many of the world’s media into a frenzy reviving the debate on how age verification should be handled online and questioning how we’re supposed to keep children safe.
But I think the likelihood of mainstream success for the site is rather bleak for a number of reasons:
- It’s extremely localised and one of the joys of social network is keeping in touch with friends outside of your daily circle
- It sounds extremely restrictive. Young people have to access via a youth club? They need to be signed in by a CRB checked adult before they can continue? Sorry, our digital youth are unlikely to tolerate this
Specialist youth networks aren’t the answer
The issue of child safety online is an important one and something Tempero has been involved in helping problem-solve for years through our involvement with CEOP, the IWF and a number of other organisations.
But the solution, while more complex and costly, is probably to better police where our young people spend time online rather than restrict their movements to somewhere easier for us to watch over them.
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