Social Media Safety

Yesterday, Facebook announced the creation of a Social Media Advisory Board.

As a father and social media evangelist and practitioner, reading that post this morning made me think of the following things.

- It’s about time! Friend and fellow social media evangelist Betsy McKinnon Dupre and I have been talking about this for months. Is there a trusted resource out there for both parents and children to turn to when you have questions? Well, sort of. Facebook looks like it will lead us down this path, but how objective can it be? Thoughts?

- Another friend (and savvy social media gal herself) Libby Delana had similar ideas. What if this was approached from two angles? Teach the parents and caregivers one curriculum, and the kids another one. The kids program would teach the following:

• How social media can empower, give you a voice to talk, speak, get your emotions out
• How social media can help build your personal brand- heck, used effectively and creatively, it might get you into the college of your choice
• How authoring a blog can teach you how to write and communicate effectively. (Social Media isn’t just about tweets and updates- it’s about relationships and content)
• And, of course, Social Media Safety…..

- This topic literally has no end. As technology evolves, internet safety may be called social media safety, or mobile safety or something else. Imagine what your 13 year-old daughter will be able to do with her mobile phone just 10 years from now.

- Could/Would this be a new curriculum in schools five years from now?

- Maybe my wife was right, I should add this to Dialogue’s list of services?….  :-)