Overview of collaborative and social networking

There are several types of sites where people collaborate or communicate socially. The following definitions may be useful:

• A wiki is a Web site that allows anyone visiting to contribute (add, edit, or remove) content. Wikipedia, for example, is a virtual encyclopedia built by user’s providing information in their areas of expertise. Because of the ease of collaboration, wikis are often used when developing group projects, or sharing information collaboratively.
• A Blog is an online journal (short for weB LOG) that may be entirely private, may be open to select friends or family, or available to the general public. You can usually make settings so that visitors to your blog may or may not be allowed to comment on your entries.
• A social networking site allows people to build and maintain an online Web page and create networks of people they are somehow connected to –their friends, work associates, other members with similar interests, and so on. Most social networking sites also host blogs and have social networking functions that people allow people to view information about others and contact friends.

Here are some other safety tips.

1. Maintain anonymity to protect your identity. Don’t include your full name, phone number, where you work, or detailed location information in your profile or during early communications with potential dates. Stop communicating with anyone who presses you for this type of information.
2. Use the e-mail system provided by the dating service rather than your own e-mail address to maintain your privacy.
3. Be smart about choosing profile pictures. Make sure your photos reflect what you want to say about yourself. Provocative pictures may attract the wrong people. Make sure that your images do not contain identifying information such as nearby landmarks or a T-shirt with your school or company logo.
4. Check to see if a potential date has a good reputation among other daters on the service.
5. Be realistic. Read the profiles of others with skepticism. As you correspond or talk on the phone, ask questions, seek direct answers, and note any inconsistencies. Look for danger signs such as a display of anger, an attempt to control you, disrespectful comments, or any physically threatening or otherwise unwelcome behavior.
6. If a person becomes abusive, report it and block that person from contacting you again using the dating site settings.
7. When you decide to meet, create a safe environment. Keep first dates short, and agree to meet in a public place during a busy time of day, Make sure somebody knows where you’re going. If your date doesn’t look like his or her photo, walk away and report that person to the dating service.
8. If a date asks you for a loan or any financial information, no matter how sad the hard luck story, it is virtually always a scam and you should report it.

Formal dating sites are not the only places that people meet, and teaching online dating safety is particularly critical to protecting teens. Teens are becoming active online daters from as early as 14 years of age.

Eleven safety tips for blogging

1. Make sure the blogging site you use has clear privacy and security policies, and outlines how the site will respond to reports of abuse. The site should also offer site monitors and tools to help protect your safety, such as a way to control who has permission to see your blog, the ability to block harassing users and to turn on or off comments.

2. Read the Terms and Conditions of the blog site. Even some of the most popular blog and social networking sites have clauses that give the service the right to use anything you post in any way they choose. Choose a service that respects your right to your own content and your privacy.

3. If a blog is not set to be private, anyone can visit and comment on what the blogger is saying or posting. Most blog sites default blog posts to being publicly viewable and you have to change the setting to make your blog private. Think carefully about how public you want your blog to be. The more personal or identifiable the information you share, the fewer people you should share it with. If you choose to make your blog public, only disclose what you want anyone on the Internet to know.

4. Periodically review who has access to your site and make changes if necessary. Friends change over time and once trusted people may become less trusted.

5. Keep identifying details to yourself and close friends.

• Don't use your real name on your site (or anyone else's real name, either). Create a nickname or screen name that doesn't attract the wrong kind of attention or allow someone to find you.
• Don't give information that puts you on the map. Don't mention such details as your address, school, where you work, even your town name (especially if it's a small town).
• Don't reveal any information that gives away your age such as your birth date or year of graduation.

6. On blogs that are set to be viewable by the general public be smart about the photos you post. Consider

• What's in the background? Does the photo show your house number, a street sign, a license plate, or landmark?
• Did you caption your photos with full names or other identifying details?
• What's printed on your shirt? Don’t post photos that show the name of your school, sports team, or club.
• Who's in the picture? If it shows friends or family members, you may be putting them at risk, too.

• Can someone tell your economic status from the photo? This may be an enticement for offline crime.
• Be careful about sharing your feelings if your blog is public. You can express  feelings in your blog in various ways. The poems you select, the music you list, the pictures you post all tell a lot about who you are and how you feel. This allows a predator who's on the hunt to find opportunities to prey on your vulnerability. Whether what you reveal is greed, sadness, or anger there is always a scam or exploit that can be tailored to take advantage of it.

7. Check out what your friends write about you in their blogs. They may be giving out your address or real name, indicate the school you both go to or perhaps they have a photo of you on their site with a caption indicating who you are. Any of these actions may enable someone to find you. Check the comments friends leave on your blog to make sure they don't give away personal details.

8. Be very cautious about meeting someone you only know through blogging in person. Keep first meetings short, and agree to meet in a public place during a busy time of day. Make sure somebody knows where you’re going and bring a cell phone. If the person you are to meet doesn’t look like his or her photo or is different from what they claimed to be (for example older or of a different gender), walk away.

9. If there's a problem on your blog or on a blog that includes information about you, report it immediately. No one has the right to threaten or upset you. If anyone (even someone you know) behaves threateningly or asks lots of personal questions, report the problem. If you're a minor, talk to an adult you trust. Every service should make it easy to report abuse; if your blogging service doesn't, consider switching providers.

10. Talk to your family about the kinds of information they are willing to make public and what they’d rather keep private. Posting information about others is not okay—in comments, photos, and so on—unless they agree to share that information. When asking permission to share, make clear who can see your site.

11. Before changing your settings to be more public, it is your obligation to again seek permission from anyone you may expose. If they are not comfortable with additional exposure, remove any content about them from your site.

Information safety videos
These videos are excellent overall safety videos. You can find more videos on the Ad Council’s site and on the Missingkids.org site. Both sites also have Spanish language versions.