U.K. Social Networks Required to Advertise 999 Service

A new policy in the U.K. will force social networks to promote a service which encourages children to call the police if they are being targeted by online predators. This is a new step in the move toward making social networking sites safer for children. Early in May Anthony posted that social networks may be used by gangs to recruit your children.

This news comes on the heels of a report released yesterday which states that more than a quarter of eight to 11-year-olds who are online in the UK have a profile on a social network. Personally, I didn’t find the research that surprising considering the proliferation of social networks such as Imbee and Club Penguin.

The report also suggested that social networks begin to explore tools that verify users ages as currently there are no systems in place. The U.K. government has been one of the leading advocates of implementing policies to protect children online. Over the coming months and years I would expect to see a continuation of this as more users spend more time socializing via the web.

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.