E-Safety Newsletter for Parents/Carers
May 2016
Welcome to our May 2016 e-Safety Newsletter. Please continue to check out our dedicated e-Safety Page under the Parent/Carer tab on our website – www.tces.org.uk for the very latest news and up to date technology.
This month we are focusing on Ask.fm and Instagram
Ask.fm – what you need to know
What is Ask.fm? - Ask.fm is an online question-and-answer site. Users can ask questions and respond to them, either by text or by posting videos, and they can do this anonymously. In some circumstances, the site's anonymity can enable online bullying.
What are the age restrictions? - Ask.fm doesn't ask for age verification, although it does give users the option to add their date of birth to their profile. A user's age doesn't appear on their profile.
As part of its Terms of Service, the site asks that all users must be aged 13 or over. This is because American legislation says that websites collecting information from children must get permission from their parents: it's why many popular websites have over-13 age limits, so they don't have to comply with the legislation.
How does 'following' work? - Ask.fm is similar to twitter in the sense that you can choose to follow someone. Unlike twitter, though, you can't find out who is following you - only the total number of your followers.
Are there privacy settings? - All profiles and posts on Ask.fm are open and can be searched via a search engine like Google or through the site's own search function.
The default setting is to allow anonymous questions butto avoid risk of online bullying, you can turn this off:
To do this:
· log in
· go to 'settings' in the top right-hand corner
· choose 'privacy' from the menu
· under the heading 'privacy settings for questions' select the option 'do not allow anonymous questions'
· save your settings
Ask.fm has a 'stream' where recent questions and answers are shared with the community. To remove this:
· log in
· go to settings in the right-hand corner
· choose 'privacy' from the menu
· check the 'do not show my answers on stream' option
How do I report on Ask.fm? - You can report a post or a profile. Each profile has a 'report' button at the top, as does each question-and-answer post. You will be asked to give a reason:
· spam or scam
· hate speech
· violence
· pornographic content
How do I block someone? - It's possible to block someone from asking you a question even if you don't know who they are. There's a 'block' button on the right-hand side of each question. You will be asked to give a reason:
· I just don't want to receive questions from this user
· rude or harassing questions
· spam
It's important to remember that while blocked users can't ask you questions or like your answers, they can still follow you and view the answers you post.
How can I disable my account? - You can leave Ask.fm. This means that nobody will be able to find your Ask.fm profile via search engines or the site's own community search:
· log in
· click on settings in the top right-hand corner of the page
· choose 'profile' from the menu
· click the link at the bottom right-hand corner of the page to take you to the 'disable account' page
· On the new page, confirm that you want your Ask.fm profile to be closed and no longer searchable
How do I unconnect Ask.fm from my facebook account? - If you have signed up to Ask.fm through facebook or are connected through the Ask.fm facebook app, the questions and answers posted on your Ask.fm profile are posted to your facebook profile.
If you want to remove the Ask.fm app from your facebook profile:
· log in to facebook
· click the padlock icon in the top right hand corner of the page
· choose 'see more settings' from the menu
· select 'apps' from the navigation bar on the right-hand side of the page
· Next to each app is an 'X'. Click on the 'X' to remove the app.
· A window will appear asking you to confirm removal of the app.You are also given the option to delete all your Ask.fm activity from your Facebook profile. It is advisable to do this if you have concerns about or have been upset by content questions and answers posted on your profile. Click the ‘Remove’ button to confirm these changes.
Instagram – what are the issues?
Instagram is a simple photo app with a huge and growing following, especially among young people. It's used to capture special moments and then to carry on conversations using filters, comments, captions, emoticons, hashtags, and links alongside the photos. It's a way of talking about things and sharing interests. It runs on the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch as well as Android phones and tablets.
What is Instagram? - Instagram is an app that allows you to take a picture directly or import one from the album on your phone. You can then choose to apply filters and other photo-enhancing tools to customize the image. After that, you add a caption. Then you hit Next and choose how you want to share the photo – with your Instagram followers, or outside the app, via email, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media services.
If your kids are using Instagram, the best way for you to learn about it is to ask them how it works. Children are often glad to teach their parents about their favorite tech tools, and it's a great way to learn about the app itself and also how they interact with their friends in social media. That will depend on their own preferences and how their friends behave, but here's some general information about using and staying safe in Instagram:
Responsible photo-sharing
· You control your privacy. By default, photos you share in Instagram can be seen by anyone, but you can change that. Tap the Profile button on the bottom left. Then, either select the gear button in the upper right corner or Edit Your Profile and scroll down to see if 'Photos Are Private' is turned on or off. (Android users, tap Profile and Edit your profile. Be sure 'Photos are Private' is checked.) If you update or reinstall the software, make sure your settings are still the way you want them.
· Privacy can't be perfect. Even if your photos are private, your profile is public (anyone can see your profile photo, username and bio). You can add up to 10 lines of text about yourself, so you may want to talk about your children about what's appropriate here.
· Respect other people’s privacy. If someone else is in a photo you post, make sure that person's OK with your sharing or tagging them in it.
· Your posting has impact. Think about how a photo you post affects others – whether they're in the photo or not. Sometimes it’s the friends not in the photo who can be hurt (because they weren’t included).
· Think about your location-sharing. The 'Add to your Photo Map' feature gives you the option of adding a location to a photo. It's turned off by default, but it’s 'sticky' – so, once turned on, it stays on until you turn it off. You can always turn it back on but, for each picture you share, think about whether you really want people to know where you snapped it.
· Sharing beyond Instagram. By default, you're sharing your photos only on Instagram but, after cropping and enhancing, you have the option to share a photo more widely by clicking on email, Facebook, twitter, etc., then Share. If you do share elsewhere, be aware of the privacy settings on that service. For example, unless your twitter profile is private, your image will be shared to everyone by default. Facebook's default setting is to share Instagram photos to friends only. But after you share a photo on Facebook, you can change that setting in Facebook by selecting it and changing the audience.
How you represent yourself
· Your photos represent you. That probably seems obvious, but remember they can keep on representing you well into the future, because content posted online or with phones is pretty impossible to take back. So it's a good idea to think about how photos you post now will reflect on you down the line. If you think a photo might hurt a job prospect, damage a relationship or upset your grandmother, consider not sharing it.
· Manage your profile. Your photos appear in the Photos of You section of your profile. They can be visible to anyone unless your account is private. Others can tag you in photos they take but, if you don't like a photo, you can hide it from your profile or untag yourself (it'll still be visible on Instagram but not associated with your screen name and not in your profile). If you don't want photos to appear in Photos of You automatically, you can prevent that by turning off 'Add Automatically' by clicking on the Gear button and choosing 'Add Manually.' (Android users, tap the Photos Of You tab, then the three small squares.)
· Consider the whole photo. The background of a photo could indicate where the picture was taken or what the people in it were doing at the time. Is that information you want to convey?
· Your photos could show up anywhere. Remember that anything digital can be copied and shared by others. So even if you limit the audience, be careful not to share anything that could be a problem if someone were to pass it around.
As Always Stay Safe
Lesley - E-Safety Officer & CEOP Ambassador
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