Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Children Rush to Join Social Network Sites
According to research by Ofcom, two and a half million children aged between 8 and 17 have made profiles on social networking sites. It also found that a quarter of eight to 11-year-old children in the UK have created profiles on a social network site, despite many sites, including Bebo, Myspace and Facebook, having an age requirement of between 13 and 14 years old to join.
Ofcom’s research surveyed 5,000 adults and 3,000 children in an attempt to find out more about the impact social networking sites have on people’s lives in the UK. It found that 43% of children said their parents set no rules for use of social networks, indicating that parents need to have more knowledge of their children's online habits. Ofcom’s Robin Thicke said that the findings provide a much-needed wake-up call to parents. He said: “Parents who are allowing their children to go online without supervision and support... need to recognise that their children are potentially at risk.”
The Home Office has been working with Myspace, Bebo and other social networking firms to produce a set of safety, privacy and best practice guidelines. It is thought that the Home Office guidelines will suggest that social networking sites look at age verification technologies, as well as give users more information on privacy settings, and more warnings about the possible consequences of posting their personal details.
Bebo’s chief safety officer Dr Rachel O'Connell said that the site is happy to work alongside the Home Office to better protect their users. She said, “We're working with the regulatory bodies. It's critical to our business that we adhere to these guidelines.” A spokesperson from Myspace also indicated that safety was key; they said that their site “proactively ensures that profiles of 14 and 15-year-olds are automatically made private so that users are protected from adults they don't already know in the offline world.”
While Ofcom admitted that they had no legal authority over social networks, Mr Blake said: “Ofcom's approach is very much to encourage industry to do the right thing.”
Source:
BBC
The Times
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