With the recent PEW Internet Survey released on May 21st, 2013, there were some new findings that should make parents happy and maybe not so thrilled at the same time.
We found out that some teens are finally waking-up to the fact that their online reputation is critical to their future. Another words, they are thinking twice before actually posting a picture or a debatable comment.
Here are some more key findings from the survey:
Teens are sharing more information about themselves on their social media profiles than they did when we last surveyed in 2006:
- 91% post a photo of themselves, up from 79% in 2006.
- 71% post their school name, up from 49%.
- 71% post the city or town where they live, up from 61%.
- 53% post their email address, up from 29%.
- 20% post their cell phone number, up from 2%.
60% of teen Facebook users set their Facebook profiles to private (friends only), and most report high levels of confidence in their ability to manage their settings.
- 56% of teen Facebook users say it’s “not difficult at all” to manage the privacy controls on their Facebook profile.
- 33% Facebook-using teens say it’s “not too difficult.”
- 8% of teen Facebook users say that managing their privacy controls is “somewhat difficult,” while less than 1% describe the process as “very difficult.”
What parents need to remember is that they also need to step up and become educated with cyber-life and social medias — including privacy and security issues as they concern social networking.
As parents post to their Facebook walls, or if they Twitter, they need to remember their children are watching them as they are watching their kids. They need to be the cyber-role-model just as much as they are a role model in real life.
It is worth the time to read the entire PEW Research Survey, especially the Focus Groups with the teens. You will find they are keenly aware of the adults that are watching them, which is a major improvement from years ago.
