P2

Social Media Questionnaire

Question 1: What do you think are the positive effects of Facebook and Instagram?

Question 2: What do you think are the negative effects of Facebook and Instagram?

Question 3: Have you ever had any bad experiences with social media in general?

Question 4: If Yes, what bad experiences have you had?

Person 1

Answer 1: "It allows people to contact each other and organise events".

Answer 2: "Bullying and harassment online are the two biggest negative effects of social media".

Answer 3: "No".

Answer 4: N/A

Person 2

Answer 1: "The positive effects are the ability to allow people to connect with anyone around the world e.g. friends and family".

Answer 2: "It opens another gateway for people to be able to bully each other".

Answer 3: "No".

Answer 4: N/A

Person 3

Answer 1: "It gives people an opportunity to get in contact with people they might ot have been able to talk to before hand. It also gives people a chance to see what their friends and family are up to without having to directly ask them".

Answer 2: "It unfortunately gives people a huge change to harass other people and bring negativity to the website".

Answer 3: "Yes".

Answer 4: "I was a victim of cyber bullying at one point and it wasn't the best situation. I had to get off the website for quite some time before going back on there".

Pros of Facebook

Your child decides who to share with. Your child can choose who they would like to share their status updates, photos or check-ins with.

A place to share thoughts, causes and ideas. Your child can interact with kids with similar interests and ideas across the world. They can join groups and support fan pages.

It can enhance social skills. Facebook allows kids to keep up with current friends and make new ones. When used in the right way, social media can increase a child's self-esteem and help them feel less isolated, as if they can belong to a group.

Cons of Facebook

Privacy is a major concern for most Facebook users, and it's really important to understand the site's privacy settings and set them accordingly. Hackers are able to access and sometimes misuse someones personal information.

Freedom of expression? Other kids on Facebook could misuse that freedom and post offensive or inappropriate content, which your kids will see! And this leads us to the next point.

Pros of Instagram

One of the greatest features of Instagram is its privacy settings. This ensures that outside users, people who are not following you, have to request your permission to see your photos. This helps ward off strangers and potential offenders who could possibly cause harm through their comments.

When used safely, Instagram can be a positive, self-reinforcing application. Likes and comments on a picture can help boost a child's self-esteem and make them more likely to maintain friendships. It is also just one more way for children to keep in touch with long-distance friends and feel like the photographed events in their life are important and worthy.

These days, many social media apps have found ways to seamlessly combine. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook especially have a very intertwined and transparent relationship. Being aware of these interconnections can help a parent or guardian stay up to date on what a child is doing and how they are using Instagram through other social media apps.

Cons of Instagram

Although the ability to tag a location can come in handy for businesses and those in charge of travel destinations, it can be dangerous for minors. Location tags make it incredibly easy for a follower to find out exactly where and when a picture was posted. As harmless as a location tag may seem to a child, predators and those with bad intentions can use them in the worst of ways.

The rise of the quick photo sharing app SnapChat has prompted other mobile applications to follow suit. Instagram now has a direct photo messaging feature that allows friends to Instagram private photos to one another. This is a prime spot for sexting because it is a fairly new feature that many parents do not yet know about.

Hashtags are extremely useful for people looking to draw more followers to their site. However, a user who is not private can attract negative comments or explicit followers by choosing the wrong hashtag.