In my previous post, I provided suggestions for talking to your kids about social media. Now let’s discuss security and privacy options for social media and what to look for with your kids.

There’s a dizzy array of privacy, security, and customization options for social media sites and apps to help protect you—and your kids. But often you need go on a journey to find and enable those options, and it can be difficult to identify where to begin and what needs to be done.

I had originally planned to write a post that included very specific site-by-site instructions to privacy settings. Unfortunately, those settings and options change frequently. So instead I’m offering a few ideas for actions you should take and settings and options that you should look out for.

Be involved in the set-up process

There are decisions in the set-up process that can affect security and privacy. So let your kids know that, when they’re ready, you’d like to be involved when they set up apps and sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. If your kids have accounts already set up, ask for a tour and take a look at privacy and account settings together.

During the set-up, look for the settings section and any options for privacy. Sometimes the settings are not easy to find and you often have to do some research.

Consider restricting who can view your kid’s posts and accounts

Discuss with your kids the option of setting their accounts to private. Both Instagram and Twitter have the private account option. If the account is set to public, everyone can see the content and also follow the account. Setting the account to private provides some control over who can view your kid’s posts. Snapchat has a setting for who can send snaps. Facebook’s privacy options have two sections, including who can see posts and who can contact you.

Have a conversation about adding friends and followers

Talk about adding contacts, friends, and followers and come up with some guidelines on who to add and not add. There are also settings that help with this process. A Facebook setting that I like is that is I only get friend requests from friends of friends. This option made a big difference in the number of random Facebook friend requests that I receive.

Do an annual check-up of privacy settings

Set up a regular time once a year to review settings with your kids. October is a great time for the annual check-up, since it’s National Cyber Security Awareness month. Review each social media account, check the settings sections, and look for privacy options. I’d also recommend that you do an internet search on your child’s name to see if anything appears and also search on your child’s account within a site like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Share your ideas

Those are a few of my ideas. Now I’d like to hear from you. What social media security and privacy options are important to you? And do you have any ideas that I overlooked? Please take a moment to add a comment below. For additional resources for children and cybersecurity, the Department of Homeland Security has wonderful resources for parents and teachers located at http://www.dhs.gov/publication/stopthinkconnect-student-resources

Did you miss my previous post?

Read “Preparing your kids for back to school? It’s a great time to talk about social media” at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/preparing-your-kids-back-school-its-great-time-talk-social-strater

Jeff Strater is a social media manager. His academic background includes a master’s degree in college student counseling and student affairs with an emphasis on the psychosocial development of young adults. Thoughts included in this posting do not reflect the opinions of his employer.