Social media for kids does not need to be a horror story.
We have all heard the scary tales that some parents have in their minds of children going online and having a wonderful time on sites like Facebook and Twitter. The reality is that sometimes children get themselves into situations that are anything but safe, and instead find themselves communicating with people that are older than them, or just plain inappropriate.
The world of social media for kids does not have to be like that, and there are plenty of sites and services that are completely safe and actually made for kids to use without fear of getting into bad situations.
Secure passwords are the number one answer to safety.
Before you start getting into any of that, however, it is worthwhile remembering that being careful with passwords is one of the very bets ways to keep your child safe online and especially at social media for kids sites. While it can be a very safe world out there, having secure passwords that you have copies of makes all the difference when you want to keep an eye on things and generally make sure that your child is staying safe online. So as soon as you set up any account for your child online, make sure you keep records of any passwords or usernames that are used on the social networking sites.
3 safe social media for kids sites.
ScuttlePad is one of the safest online social media for kids sites that we have ever come across. It is really for the age range of 6-10 year olds, but this means that it is also very safe. This site is completely monitored all of the time and the best thing about it is the way that children interact with each other. A set of preapproved phrases are the only way that children can really communicate on ScuttlePad, so it is inherently very safe form of social media for kids because you know the kind of things they will be talking about. Photos are checked before they are uploaded, so there is another level of safety there, and we feel that this is the perfect starting point for any parent who wants to get their child into networking.
Everloop is a slightly different deal. This site is made for teenage children, and as such it is basically a little more grown up than something like ScuttlePad. It is still very safe territory though, as parents monitor much of what is done here. First of all, parents have to approve the child’s account before they can join, which means that you have compete control over the parameters of the account, so you know what the child will be experiencing or perhaps more importantly what they will be allowed to experience. Parents also have to approve the joining of groups and so on, as well as the posting of photos and videos. However, and this is what makes Everloop slightly more grown up, the site allows children to post status messages without having an account. This is one social media for kids site to be careful with, but a lot of fun for a teenager. And a great social media for kids resource.
Giant Hello is the last social media for kids site that we will look at in this article. It is pretty much like Facebook and feels like real social media for kids. Youngsters respond very positively to it. There is a lot more freedom here once an account has been set up. But children can only talk to people they have personally invited as friends. This adds a lot of safety when online and makes parents feel a whole lot better about this particular social media for kids site. Be aware though, that there is some sexual and violent content (mild) in the games on the site.
Social media for kids is great fun, but make sure that whatever site you use you ensure that you have full control over the accounts.