By Antigone Davis, Global Head of Safety and Karuna Nain, Global Policy Programs Manager
Today we’re excited to launch our Youth Portal, a central place for teens that includes:
- Education: Information on how to get the most out of products like Pages, Groups, Events, and Profile, while staying safe. Plus, information on the types of data Facebook collects and how we use it
- Peer Voices: First person accounts from teens around the world about how they are using technology in new and creative ways
- Ways to control your experience: Tips on things like security, reporting content, and deciding who can see what you share
- Advice: What to do if you need a social media break, and some guidelines for how to get the most out of the internet
The portal is available in 60 languages at facebook.com/safety/youth.
We’re also exploring new ways to bring these tips directly to teens on Facebook. Earlier this month we started showing tips for teens in News Feed, like how to control who sees what on your profile, and links to the Bullying Prevention Hub.
Our ongoing work with teens
As we build products that reach teens around the world, we are also:
- Talking with teens: To build the portal we spoke with groups of teens in the UK, Italy, the US and Brazil. We also got input at events like our Safer Internet Day workshops in São Paulo, the #WeMatter youth forum in Canada, and our Global Safety Network summits. We’re holding more roundtables over the next several months to keep learning from young people about how they use Facebook.
- Expanding our Safety Advisory Board: We recently welcomed Project Rockit — and organization dedicated to tackling bullying in school communities — to our Safety Advisory Board.
- Seeking advice from others: We’re working with policymakers, privacy experts, other companies and user experience designers to give teens the tools and information they need. This work builds on our existing programs with Skuola.net, Diana Award, Childnet, SaferNet, Learning Links Foundation.