Is your kid on Facebook?

Facebook has become a popular tool of social connection for people from all walks of lives. Daily Post reporter Hinerongonui Kingi talks to a Rotorua mother who has safely introduced her son to the  website.

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FACEBOOK is not just for  adults - Rotorua parents are helping their children stay in touch with family and join in  the social networking action.
For Rotorua's Andrea Colledge, creating a Facebook page for her 9-year old son wasn't something she was too keen on at first.
One year later, however, she is more than pleased with the  website and how it has helped her son maintain regular contact with his family and friends.
"I was quite against him getting an account but was talked around when I realised how beneficial it would be to him being able to be kept in the loop with his dad's family and sharing his latest pictures with them," she says.
"He loves using it to keep in contact with his dad and extended family in Auckland and it is the main reason he has a Facebook page."
It all started after Keenan Butler received a laptop from his grandmother as  an early Christmas present last year.
"We decided Facebook was a lot easier to use than emails and the present kind of pushed us more to give him his own page," Andrea says.
"He also started using my Facebook page to keep in touch with his family so it was about time he had his own."
He also received a camera to upload photos from his father which he has happily used to his advantage.
The protective mother says Facebook is a good way for her son to share his excitment and experiences with his family but recommends parents take control of their children's safety while using internet access.
"It teaches them good computer skills and is fast becoming the way of the future but it's important parents monitor their children's activity, especially if they're  under 10 years old," she says.
In the hopes of restricting cyber danger, Andrea says she works hard to keep her son's page private.
"He's got strict privacy settings and can't see any adults' walls except a select few who are extremely kid-friendly. I keep a good eye on his account and he knows if any rules are broken [e.g. adding "friends" without my permission] I'll delete the page.
"Hopefully it helps him realise it's a privilege that you earn and so far we haven't had any issues."
The only problem they've encountered was when her son misspelt a word and an "indecent" page popped up, she says.
"It ended up being a good thing though because when I changed the settings so that could not happen again, I could explain to him why he could and could not do certain things on the internet."
Waiariki Institute of Technology social networking expert Narissa Bayler lectures in multimedia and web development and contemporary technology  and says Facebook is a great socialising tool which offers a great opportunity to keep in touch with people.
She says it's a good, safe tool to use for entertainment purposes and to keep updated and it's a good way of sharing pictures and memories.
"It's good for everyone to use and if children are going to use it, it's a good idea if parents helped teach them how it works," Narissa says.
"I made my daughter a Facebook page and I know others who have done the same.
"I spoke to her about all the information she should and should not put down and not to just click anyone as her friend. I also taught her to always protect her log-on account details."
She says her daughter has access to her page which works well.
"She can see everything I have on my page and I can see hers, so I lead by example and make sure I am putting moderate material on the page at all times."

Keenan currently has 22 "friends" on his Facebook web page, most of them family members and a few close friends.
"I'm very happy that I have a page and can keep up to date with everything my family are doing," he says.
He said the most memorable  moments caught on Facebook was at the beginning of the year when he was able to keep updated with a fundraiser his father was involved in for the Auckland Starship Hospital and breaking a Guinness World Record. The fundraiser involved a 100-hour cricket game which streamed worldwide.
Keenansaid  he was excited to  be apart of the event despite being in another city. 
Andrea says her son is excited to be able to upload photos and share them with his family. "When his father moved into a new house, he posted photos up almost immediately and Keenan was so happy to still be apart of it all."
She says her son spends more of his computer hours on his class Wiki and other educational sites than on Facebook and his good behaviour contributed to her deciding he could have a Facebook page.
"I've made it so his account is almost invisible, you shouldn't be able to find him if you type his name in," she says. "It's all about keeping your kids safe."
The mother-of-four set up a safe page to which she, Keenan's father and his grandmother have access at all times and hopes it will teach him to become more responsible when he's older and more aware of potential internet dangers.
"I figured better to start him young under my harsh rules and be taught how to use it safely than to brickwall him and have him make his own secret account in a few years anyway," Andrea says.
"I imagine my 4-year-old madam will have to be 20 before she's allowed a page," she adds.
The Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities says you need to be 13 to have an account on Facebook, something Andrea says she was unaware of. She had no problems setting up the page.
"His page is monitored on a regular basis and we haven't had any problems so far."
She realises that when he gets older she'll have less control over his internet usage.
"Obviously there comes a point when you can't control everything as much as you want to and that's when you have to just trust them and hope you have taught them everything they need to know," she says.
"We have a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old too. We quickly learned it was better to be their 'friend' on Facebook than to get the 'ignore' button and not have a clue what they were up to.
"You can only prepare them for the future - you can't live it for them."
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KEEPING CHILD-SAFE ON FACEBOOK:

Facebook requires individuals to be at least 13 years old before they can create an account.

Teach  your children  about internet safety. Remind them to:

Never share their password with anyone.

Understand their privacy settings.

Report people who  violate  Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Block anyone who  might be sending unwanted content.

Accept "friend" requests safely.