Safe Social Networking For Children

With frequent news stories about the safety of online communities it is more important than ever that some simple internet security guidelines are followed. Radiowaves, the revolutionary school podcasting site, have an extremely comprehensive online safety guide and offer advice on how to ensure young people make the most of their safe social network. Radiowaves is dedicated to creating safe online collaborative communities for children to publish and interact within. Radiowaves has been designed specifically for educational establishments, allowing pupils the freedom to create and publish stories within this safe space. All Radiowaves staff hold current CRB checks and all members are approved before given access to the site. Lucy Cook, Business Development Coordinator from Radiowaves, the school internet radio network, said, “Radiowaves is designed as a safe online space and so we take internet security extremely seriously. The main piece of advice that we give to all Radiowaves users is that they should avoid using their real, full name as a username. It is also best that students don’t use their full, real name in any audio or video stories that they record for the site. Similarly, uploading pictures of them should also be discouraged as we want to try and avoid anyone being instantly recognisable through the site.” Another key piece of advice that Radiowaves gives is that users should refrain from sharing or passing on personal information online. This includes not only e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and other personal information but also details of the user’s school and where they will be at certain times of day. Radiowaves also deter any user from agreeing to meet a fellow podcaster or Radiowaves user offline unless they have an adult with them. Whilst the site has careful security a user should never agree to meet another podcaster unless it is completely safe to do so, with an adult present. Radiowaves also operates a strict policy when it comes to content posted by users on the site. Ms Cook added, “We encourage feedback and comments on the items posted on Radiowaves but in order to ensure no cases of ‘cyber-bullying’ and to ensure the safety of all users we ask that comments are kept polite and that no swearing or abusive comments are posted. Ours is a safe social network and all users should be respectful and should avoid the use of bad or threatening language on the site at all times. Radiowaves staff monitor comments to ensure that nothing inappropriate is being posted. ” For more information on Radiowaves, the school blogging site, please visit their website at www.radiowaves.co.uk About Radiowaves Radiowaves is a safe website for 5-19 year olds to share videos, podcasts and blogs, connect with others and report on their world.

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