How to help kids and teens stay safe on Facebook

Here’s a list of tools parents can use to keep their kids safe on Facebook.

Parental controls on Facebook. (REUTERS)

Facebook has become a cesspool of almost everything negative happening on social media. It is however the biggest social networking platform with over 2 billion monthly users.

Facebook has an age limit of 13 for setting up an account on the platform. The company also offers options and controls over privacy and sharing of information on Facebook. Users have control over their profile information, posts, photos, and even friend requests. All these features can be found under the settings menu on Facebook.

If you have a kid on Facebook, here are a few ways how you can keep their profile safe.

How to get started

Tap on the drop down menu and select settings from the tab.

iPhone and Android users can select the hamburger icon on the Facebook app.

After this select 'Privacy' from the list of options.

Profile information, photos and videos

Facebook lets users decide who can view their profile information, photos, posts and more. For each section parents can select 'Sharing with' and choose 'friends' from the list. One can also change the settings for individual section like education, personal details, and albums. Facebook also gives the option for all information to be visible to either public or only the user.

Search controls

Facebook's search tool lets users find people on the platform and even outside of it. Parents can control who sends friend requests by changing the settings to 'Friends of friends'. Parents can also select 'friends' for finding their kids' profile using email address and phone number. To prevent others from finding your kid's profile outside of Facebook, simply select no from the menu.

Report, block

If parents find any suspicious activity on Facebook from unknown users, they can choose to report that account. Facebook will review the reported activity and take actions accordingly. One can also choose to block that account on Facebook.