Facebook's ClickCEOP app: such welcome news

On 12th July, Facebook and CEOP announced that they had finally reached a compromise, and the ClickCEOP app was released, along with a new ClickCEOP Page on Facebook which, when "liked" by users, aims to help raise the profile of online safety. The page will look at topics that teenagers care about, such as celebrities, music and exams, and will link these subjects to questions about online safety. The ClickCEOP Page yesterday held its first 'surgery': a one hour live chat session attracting over 100 postings from parents and others concerned about child safety issues.

To make users aware of the existence of the new button, which they will have to consciously add to their profiles,  Facebook will be running an online awareness campaign targeting members. The campaign will include an automatic advert-message appearing on every homepage of users aged between 13 to 18 inviting them to add the application.  When installed, the app adds itself as a tab to your profile.

Although only time will tell how effectively it is being used, it seems to be an excellent gateway to any of the problems which might be facing (particularly young) online users.  The opening page takes you through to a portal offering help on cyberbullying, hacking, viruses, mobile problems and harmful content, with links thru to Beatbullying's Cyber Mentors, Childline, mobile providers, the IWF, NSPCC, GetNetWise and of course CEOP itself.

Users are reminded at each step what is, and is not, appropriate to report to each of the authorities, and that if they have a problem with their Facebook account, they should go instead to the Facebook Report Page.

During the great debate between Facebook and CEOP, we expressed some concern over whether a 'panic button' displayed on each page would be a good idea, chiefly because we felt that users woud misreport content to CEOP and so CEOP would be drowning in issues it cannot directly act on and potentially missing time-crucial grooming complaints.

This, however, seems to be a really good solution, and we hope that the app gets out to all young people, through Facebook, educational programmes, youth media and peer-to-peer 'sharing'.   Let's hope it's given the light of publicity it deserves.

P.S.  Have you turned your phone settings to 'only me' yet? Just saying ...