Our team knows that monitoring your business and personal social media can be a tough task, and we do our best to help our friends and fans do it with style and ease. We get to be pros at attending training, webinars and bookmarking our favorite sites to keep us up to snuff with social media best practices and new technology. However, when it comes to managing the social media your kids are on, is a whole other ball of sticky wax!
Recently, our co-founder Deanna Miller was asked by our good friend and a host of SCV Today, Mike Bjorkman (also Owner/Broker of HomeSmartNCG) to chat with their audience about the best ways to protect our kids from the issues with face with social media. Having just been asked to present to Single Mothers Outreach about some of these hot topics, Deanna was thrilled to chat about how she manages the use of mobile devices at home and the recommendations she makes to our clients.
VentureBeat did a study that illustrated that nearly 30% of all parents surveyed never check their kids' social media or they do it very rarely, and while it might not appear to be a big deal, knowing what and whom your kids are engaging with on their mobile devices can be a lifesaver!
Deanna encourages parents to think about the following, and put together a Family Social Media Strategy that starts with some tips.
- Have a Discussion About Social Media – Taking the time to talk about the various apps and how they are to be used by your child or teen is the best place to start. When you open a dialogue up with your kids, then they know you mean business and that their smartphone is a privilege, not a right.
- Develop a Family Contract – Put it in writing! When your kids know they have a stake in the wins and losses in terms they are a part of structuring, then they see there's an ROI to be measured and maintained. That is right; we said ROI! Your relationship with your child is just like a business if you think about it. Your family is putting in the hard work to see everyone succeed, and without all the parts of your family working toward one goal then there will likely be struggling failures.
- Create a Backup Strategy – If part of your plan is the loss of the device for a period, think about having a “Pay As You Go” phone as a back-up if you need to contact your kiddo. Engage with teachers, friends, and neighbors to assist with the strategy or better yet, work with other close friends and families to create a network that works together for a common goal – Social Media Safety!
If you have questions, about the strategy or want to add tips of your own to the one we have posted above, e-mail us at [email protected] or download our mobile application.