Answer:
Social media networking sites are seen as being very ‘cool’ by children and they may be pressured by their friends into joining them.
The sites don’t actually present any threats that don’t already exist elsewhere online. The danger is that the threats exist in a new online environment you or your child may not be familiar with.
As with most potential online dangers, the problems can start if your child doesn’t look after their personal information properly. The risks you need to be aware of are:
- cyberbullying (bullying using digital technology)
- invasion of privacy
- identity theft
- your child seeing offensive images and messages
- the presence of strangers who may be there to ‘groom’ other members
