Stay up-to-date with social media
As you’ll know, social media moves fast. So getting up to speed with all the trends and privacy settings of the different platforms your teen’s using can be a bit overwhelming.
In this guide, we’ll run through how you can stay up-to-date with social media trends, as well as privacy tips for the platforms that teens are using.
Staying up to date with new trends
Check the eSafety Guide
The eSafety Guide is your go-to resource for learning about all the latest apps, games and social media platforms, including what they’re used for and how to protect your information. You can also sign up to their newsletter to keep on top of online issues and trends.
Chat with your teen
Often the best (and most knowledgeable) people to talk with about social media are your kids. Just ask them which apps and platforms they use, and why they use them. Start with:
‘Why do you like using it?’
‘I’m keen to know how it all works. Can you show me how to use it?’
‘Do you use it to follow friends, or is it more about connecting with people around the world?’
‘Can we take a look at the privacy settings? I’m happy for you to use the platform, but I just want to make sure you’re staying safe.’
‘What kind of information or articles do you share?’
Talk to teachers
Teachers are also a great resource. Talk to them about what students are using, or ask them to have an expert come and chat to the school community. Some local area youth liaison police officers are also available to come and talk to your school or community about current e-safety trends.
Connect with parents
Get together with other parents to talk about what platforms their teens are using and how they’re using them. You could also jump online to ReachOut’s Parents Discussion Forum to connect with others.
Educate yourself
You could check out (and follow) sites such as Mumbrella, B&T, The Verge and Mashable, which often cover news and insights about social media trends. It’s likely that your favourite news publications have sections that cover social media and technology trends, too.
It might sound simple, but you could always search on Google for things like ‘popular social media platforms Australia’ or ‘top social media trends teens’. Chances are you’ll find what you’re looking for.
Staying up to date with privacy settings
With each new platform comes a new space and new set of guidelines for you and your teen to get familiar with. Remember, it’s common for platforms to reset your settings when they make an update to their privacy policy or management tool.
With this in mind, make sure you’re chatting to your teen about their settings, helping them to manage their own accounts, and regularly checking that their desired settings are still in place. For all platforms, it’s generally recommended to reset your password every 6-8 weeks.
TikTok
You can choose to make your account private, which allows you to approve or deny followers and restrict your uploaded content to followers only.
Even if you have a private account, your profile information will be visible to all users. Make sure you do not include personal information in your profile.
Enabling Restricted Mode will limit the appearance of content that may not be appropriate for all audiences.
Find out more about TikTok’s privacy settings.
Choose to have a public or private account. If your account is set to private, only people you approve will be able to see your content. Here’s how to make your profile private.
Instagram adds images to a location map. This means that your location will be visible to all of your followers on a map linked to your profile if you select 'include image location' when making a post. It's recommended that you turn this function off by going into the settings on your smartphone and disabling location access for Instagram.
Keep your details to a minimum if you have a public account. The only information you must provide publicly is your username, which means it’s fairly simple to keep your other details private.
Find out more about Instagram’s privacy settings.
Snapchat
Keep up to date with settings on their easy to use support centre.
Like Facebook, you can limit the audience who sees your snaps and who can send you snaps.
You can block users or report inappropriate content. There’s a misconception that Snapchat is used only to send inappropriate and illegal content. This platform is easily moderated by reporting content that doesn’t fit the community guidelines.
Find out more about Snapchat’s privacy settings.
Youtube
Get tips on how to protect your identity on YouTube.
You can turn Restricted Mode on to help screen out potentially mature content.
Choose whether your videos are public, private or unlisted by changing your video privacy settings.
You can choose to turn comments on, pause them, or turn them off. It’s worth thinking about how you want to monitor comments.
It’s recommended to keep your account secured through 2-Step Verification.
Find more resources, tools and tips in YouTube’s Safety Center.
Discord
Check out Discord’s blocking and privacy settings to learn how to control the messages you receive, stop people from contacting you, and adjust ‘friend request’ settings.
Read Discord’s four steps to a safer account to learn how to secure your account, adjust your privacy and safety settings, follow safe account practices, and how to block other users when needed.
Visit Discord’s Parent Hub to learn more about helping your teen stay safer on the platform.
Find out more on Discord’s Privacy Hub.
Twitch
You can control who sees your content and personal information. Read up on Twitch’s Privacy Choices to keep your account as safe and secure as possible.
5Get up to speed with Twitch’s tips on how to protect your account.
Learn how to get help if you think your Twitch account has been hacked.
By default, WhatsApp sets your privacy settings to allow any user to see your profile photo, read receipts and when you’re online. They also allow your contacts to see your status updates, about information and when you were last seen. Find out how to change these privacy settings.
Follow these account security tips to better secure your WhatsApp account.
Get up to date with how WhatsApp’s security features work.
Learn more about how end-to-end encryption works.
Facebook changes its privacy settings regularly, but you can keep up to date on the Facebook Help Centre.
Explore the privacy and safety section and get familiar with the settings.
Ensure posts you make are set to send to ‘friends only’. If you want to change who can see a post after you have sent it, you can.
Set your image settings so that any tagged pictures or posts need to be approved first.
Make sure all your profile information (like email addresses and phone numbers) is set to ‘only me’.
Use the ‘privacy check up’ to easily access basic privacy settings on Facebook.
Did you find what you needed?
I need to know more - Read our fact sheet about social media.