1- Create a Facebook account for yourself. If you want to protect your child on Facebook, you must be on the site yourself.
2- Require your child to be your Facebook friend. This allows you to see all activity on her page. You can see who she is friends with and the types of comments are being left for her. This will nip a lot of bullying on Facebook right away. Kids are generally smart enough not to leave comments that parents are going to read.
3- Insist on knowing your child's password for Facebook and make sure he understands that you will use it to sign into his account on occasion. This is necessary to check for bullying by private message. While most activity on Facebook is viewable by all your friends, private messages are not.
2- Require your child to be your Facebook friend. This allows you to see all activity on her page. You can see who she is friends with and the types of comments are being left for her. This will nip a lot of bullying on Facebook right away. Kids are generally smart enough not to leave comments that parents are going to read.
3- Insist on knowing your child's password for Facebook and make sure he understands that you will use it to sign into his account on occasion. This is necessary to check for bullying by private message. While most activity on Facebook is viewable by all your friends, private messages are not.
4- Search for bullying groups on Facebook. Type in "groups" in the search box at the top of the Facebook homepage. That takes you to the Groups homepage. From there you can search the groups for your child's full name. It has become a trend on Facebook for kids to set up "I Hate So-and-So" groups that are used to bully a child.
5- Immediately report any groups or messages that appear to be bullying your child on Facebook. Click on the group name and then scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Click on the "Report Group" icon.
6- Report a single person's bad behavior by clicking on "Report This Person" on that person's profile screen. Since you must be friends to see the person's profile page, you must be signed into your child's account to do this. But don't worry; the reporting is done anonymously, and no one will ever know your child was the one to report bad behavior.
Tip
*Children under the age of 13 are not allowed to have a Facebook account. Do not allow your child to lie about her age to gain access; it violates the terms of use.
5- Immediately report any groups or messages that appear to be bullying your child on Facebook. Click on the group name and then scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Click on the "Report Group" icon.
6- Report a single person's bad behavior by clicking on "Report This Person" on that person's profile screen. Since you must be friends to see the person's profile page, you must be signed into your child's account to do this. But don't worry; the reporting is done anonymously, and no one will ever know your child was the one to report bad behavior.
Tip
*Children under the age of 13 are not allowed to have a Facebook account. Do not allow your child to lie about her age to gain access; it violates the terms of use.
