Social Media Training for Kids (and parents too!)

As a father, I am constantly reminded of the fact that the world we live in is not a world we can control.

When it comes to my profession interacting social media, of trying to be a thought leader, and to ethically use technology to create a better tomorrow… I need to always keep in mind that somewhere in the world is a troubled mind waiting to use the same tools to do the wrong thing.

In looking at the trends of the past decade, many adults have found themselves behind the curve when trying to educate themselves on how ‘world wide web’ works. This means that our children are learning lessons that are entirely wrong, completely out-of-date, or impractical in nature.

We have to keep in mind that regardless of what we know about the web as adults, is dwarfed by what we know about the world and how to prosper in it.

A life example with my son: when my son was born ten years ago, one of the first things I did was purchase his name as a domain.com (just like my own BarryHurd.com site) – I knew that it would be valuable for him ‘one day’ and that a hundred dollars today would be priceless by the time he was a young adult. Even ten years ago, the problem of internet fraud and identity theft had a healthy marketplace for the criminal mind.

In 2011 our children are left untrained and unsupervised, often creating a perfect storm for when they try to enter the real world and are brutalized by someone with the wrong motivations. Identity theft is one of the most profitable criminal endeavors, cyber-bullying is on the nightly news, and adult-oriented content is freely available on any computer.

Hopefully this post reminds you to talk to people you care about: your children, friends, family, and co-workers. If you understand social media and you understand some of the risks -  take a moment of your time and share the following videos and help do your own little part of being a social media trainer for kids.

Check out these videos

1- US President on Facebook
2- Once Posted You Lose It
3- Girl Talk vs. Cyber Predator
4- Read Your Kids Blog
5- Think Before You Post
6- New Warning About Facebook Scams
7- Do You Really Know Who You Are Talking To?
8- Child Identity Theft
9- PhotoDNA: the next chapter in protecting children online

If you have any resources to share regarding this important social media training topic, please leave a comment below.