International Safer Internet Day falls on February 7, 2. So it's the right time to introduce you to the Fakebook application - a social network simulator that will teach you and your children how to communicate safely on Facebook and other social networks. More than 2017 children have already used the app and the number is still growing. Fakebook was created as a project of the Center for the Prevention of Risky Virtual Communication at the Faculty of Education of the Palacký University in Olomouc with the support of the Police of the Czech Republic, which also uses the application.
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Social media = scarecrow of parents?
Today, we can't imagine everyday life without social networks - and the youngest users, who are just discovering the great possibilities of the online world, can see it the same way. In addition, children are very active in the environment of social networks - they use them to communicate with friends, establish friendships, share information, self-presentation, entertainment, but also for education. In the Czech Republic, the most widespread social networks include Facebook, Lidé.cz, Spolužáci.cz, Líbimseti.cz, and Google+. However, children also actively use a number of other social networks and services - e.g. Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp or Viber. Although entry into the world of social networks is restricted to the age of 13, most of these control mechanisms can be easily "bypassed". In practice, it is common for social networks to be massively used by users who do not meet the criteria for access to a given social network - including children. Children in the Internet environment share a large amount of personal and sensitive data, which enables their very precise identification. They often do not realize how important personal data is and how easily it can be misused. Social networks make it possible to easily, quickly and anonymously carry out cyberbullying, sexual attacks on children, cyberstalking, internet fraud or property crime.
Fakebook vs. Facebook
That is why the application was created Fakebook, which creates a safe offline environment of a fictitious social network for young Internet users and their parents, where they can practice basic communication skills associated with the safe use of social networks.
"Fakebook is designed to teach children how safe it is for them to handle their personal information that they provide to social networks, and it also evaluates their wrong and right solutions to crisis scenarios. In addition to the offline simulator, which is supposed to build the right habits in children in relation to online media, the Fakebook application also shows real cases of cyberbullying, cybergrooming and sexting that took place in the Czech Republic and abroad." says Kamil Kopecký, guarantor of the E-safety project. Fakebook contains a module that allows you to enter new profiles and use mental maps to establish new situations with the user - today it contains more than 20 possible risky situations that children may encounter in normal communication on the network.
The Fakebook application is used as part of the preventive activities of the E-Safety project, which has been spreading awareness not only among young but also adult Internet users for several years. The application is also used by the Police of the Czech Republic. Currently, the app has more than 3 downloads and 500 children have tested it face-to-face.
Also this year, Fakebook will be expanded with scenarios for young users. In cooperation with future educators, the creators of the application plan to create an even more detailed statistical module. The Vodafone Foundation financially supported the development of the Fakebook application and its content expansion. This cooperation followed the long-term support of the E-safety project by the Vodafone Foundation and the Vodafone company within the framework of digital parenting.
- Fakebook for Android you can download here
