The Social Tattoo

By Kelly Williams-Richardson

We are a society learning to deal with the good and the bad of social media, adapting to 24-7 connectivity and trying to keep our kids safer. But do we really understand our responsibilities when it comes to sharing our lives online? Are we doing enough to protect ourselves and our children?
The Social Tattoo explores the consideration tha

• Language: English
• Publisher: Book Printing UK
• Release date: Feb 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781911596745

Book preview

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The Social Tattoo

A Parent’s Guide to Social Media

Practical Tips & Conversation For

PARENTS OF KIDS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

The Social Club logo

Kelly Williams-Richardson

The Social Tattoo: A Parent’s Guide to Social Media

Copyright © Kelly Williams 2018 All Rights Reserved

The rights of Kelly Williams to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part may be reproduced, adapted, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the author or publisher.

Spiderwize

Remus House

Coltsfoot Drive

Woodston

Peterborough

PE2 9BF

www.spiderwize.com

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-911596-74-5

Butterfly

For my Mom and Dad, you have always been there, showing me the way, you are my inspiration and my heart and for Steve and Nikki.

To my beautiful three girls: Georgia, Amelia & Sienna, you teach me something new every day and make my world magical, just like your Daddy.

Steve, thank you for always supporting me, and making me believe I can do it! and to the Richardson’s who put family first.

I love you all.

Preface

Hi, I’m Kelly, mother of three daughters, founder of The Social Club Limited and author of The Social Tattoo. As a social media specialist, I am regularly invited into schools to discuss with parents the growing concern of children and social media. In every school, whether primary or secondary, state or private, I came across the same issues. Should children be on social media and from what age? How should we monitor children’s activity and keep them safe? How should we support them and respond when things go wrong online? In short, how do we prevent our children from getting a ‘Social Tattoo’?

The idea of The Social Tattoo is the essence of this book. It is the stark truth that whoever you are and whatever your age, everything you share online or via social media will be permanently ‘inked’ onto your online profile. There are no guarantees that an ill-considered post, inappropriate image or rude emoticon can ever be permanently erased from your digital profile. The best you can hope for is that it will fade over time. You may delete it in an effort to laser it away, but the scar will always be there, visible for those that want to find it.

You might think this far-fetched, but consider YouTube stars Jack Maynard and Zoella, as well as rapper, Stormzy, who have all been in trouble because of ill-judged or offensive comments made on social media earlier in their careers. In Maynard’s case, the 23-year-old was caught in a media storm for joking about rape in a series of tweets he had made – and since deleted - when he was sixteen.

And our children’s social media profile won’t just be of concern if they want to be famous. Increasingly, their digital identity will be one of the first things future employers and university admissions offices will check.

Our children have been nicknamed ‘The Linkster Generation’ because of their constant connection to social media. They are digital natives, comfortable with technology and adept at communicating through it. I recently saw a three-year- old in a coffee shop, taking photos and changing filters on Snapchat. It was impressive that she could navigate around an iPhone before she had even learned to read.

Many parents, however, do not feel like digital natives. Whilst we might be on Facebook, we are also aware of a steady stream of evolving networks and cutting-edge apps we haven’t even heard of – but our children can access. It can feel overwhelming trying to keep up with technological developments and all too easy to bury our heads in the sand. We may not feel as confident around social media as our children and therefore feel unsure about guiding and safeguarding our children on it.

If this describes you, then The Social Tattoo has been written with you in mind. It’s a book by a parent, for parents who need help in navigating the uncharted seas of social media. Social media provides ordinary children (and adults) with huge power: armed with an iPad, the world can be their stage, an iPhone can be their very own soapbox from which to share their views, likes and dislikes. However, with this power comes a big responsibility that needs to be handled carefully, especially at a time when young opinions, thoughts and feelings are still developing. Using common sense and following some ground rules, social media can be an incredible force for good and it is our responsibility, as parents, to ensure that our children’s social experiences stay positive, safe and enriching.

As a society, learning to deal with the good, the bad and the ugly of social media and 24-7 connectivity, we need to be savvy about keeping our kids safe and teach them how to leave a positive digital footprint. In The Social Tattoo, we look at how to keep our children’s accounts private, ways of shadowing the accounts of younger children and strategies to keep up the