“Mom, I want to be a blogger!” Help protect your child’s hobby
- by WONDERMOM
- Dec. 22, 2021
A report by global market research firm Morning Consults found that more than half of people aged 13 to 38 would like to become an influencer. Your child could be one of them! Here, Kaspersky security researcher David Jacoby talks about how to ensure your child’s blogging ambitions are safe, and the role you, as a parent, can play in this.
So how do you react when your child is insistent and says their dream is to be an influencer instead of an engineer or a teacher? blogger
Today’s children are surrounded by digital devices and services from birth, and many cannot imagine life without them. For the younger generation, blogging is not just a passing hobby, but an integral part of life, like smartphones or social media.
Creating, maintaining, and marketing a blog is a difficult task that requires a wide range of skills that could be useful in your future career. Writing will help your child explore their creativity and express themselves, give you valuable perspectives on your life, and bring you closer together. Your support will help them take the first step towards realizing their ambitions with confidence and security. Blogging is like taking off into space on a rocket. Your children create something new and share it with their audience without knowing what they will find or what the result will be. Before any space adventure, it’s important to check the security and reliability of all systems, and in this case, your child’s social media accounts.
Bloggers
Kaspersky has compiled the top tips for parents and their young bloggers to ensure they can safely enter the new and exciting world of blogging.
My account, my rules… sure! A social media account is a blogger’s main tool, where he spends most of his time uploading content, sharing it with subscribers, communicating with an audience, and expressing his point of view. She is the public face and most important asset of any budding influencer and could one day make her son his brand.
An account is like the control room of a rocket: it’s key to protecting your child and keeping your brand afloat from a potential influencer, so protection should be your top priority.
It is good practice to start with a password, which is the key to launching the rocket. The more advanced and reliable the key, the less chance there is of someone hacking into your child’s account. Nordpass publishes yearly rankings of the weakest, most popular, and easiest to crack passwords. We can all be reckless at times, so please take a moment with your child to review these grades and see if their passwords are in place. If so, change them as soon as possible.
Make sure to set up two-factor authentication for your child’s social media account. It is a reliable feature that makes access safer. Two-factor authentication is not a panacea for cybercriminal attacks, but it is a formidable barrier to anything trying to compromise a profile protected with it.
Choosing a Strong Password
Creating a strong password is not as difficult as it seems. It is important to note that it must be unique. Your child may be tempted to reuse an email or social media account password to make it easier to find, so spend some time helping them create a new one. For example, a secure option is to make the password personal. You can try the “History Algorithm” method. Based on using familiar phrases or words that make sense to you, not only helps you remember the password but also makes a powerful combination.
First, think of any phrase, song lyrics, a quote from a movie, or another familiar phrase. Then take the first letter of the first five words and add a special character between each letter. As a result, you have a set of icons that you can customize for each social network using the power of association. For example, for a Facebook password, you can add the word “blue” at the end, while for Twitter you can add “bird” and so on. If such passwords are difficult to remember (which is natural), you should use a password manager that will keep them safe and even generate new ones for you.
Privacy is your treasure
Your accounts allow your child to discuss topics that are important to them and express their opinions. The public is interested in following influencers who are willing to share some of their personal lives. But while this can help them feel connected and attract new subscribers, it can also compromise their security. For example, it’s fun to talk about what kind of dog they want to buy and ask their followers for opinions. Who wouldn’t want to take part in the selection of the puppies? But it wouldn’t be safe to geotag your home address in the photo with your child’s new pet.
Blogger
If your child wants to become a blogger, be sure to discuss privacy with them: what they can say and when it’s best not to share personal information. For example, it’s not a good idea to post scans and photos online, especially ID cards, tickets, and other documents. It’s also a good idea to keep geotags private and not share information about your location and travel plans (such as the date, time, or flight number). Consider setting up a mailbox. Check this box if your child intends to rate or promote items or receive gifts.
Remember, anything your child shares with subscribers is available to everyone. For example, some might take advantage of your child’s openness and try to steal card details or hack into their account after finding out their home address. While it’s important to stay vigilant, there is a reliable security solution that can protect your child throughout their online journey.
Keep strong, keep calm (or the haters will hate you!)
Becoming a blogger is like going on stage in front of a huge audience. The only difference is that an unlimited number of people from all over the world can enter and watch your space. It sounds a bit scary but exciting at the same time, right?
Blogging is essentially an opportunity for your child to showcase their talents and gain subscribers. In an ideal world, everyone would identify with your work and respond positively and encouragingly to every new post or video. Sounds like a scene from a perfect world, right? Unfortunately, this is not always the case in the real world. If your child has ambitions to become a blogger, it’s important to prepare them for negativity. Expert insight urges bloggers to dismiss mean or hurtful comments, upset, or more importantly, give up on their dream blogger
It is important to warn your child that trolls or attackers are only looking for a reaction, their main goal is to hurt or provoke emotions. The more attention bullies get, the more they will continue to write negative posts. To protect your child’s mental health, it’s a good idea to learn how to deal with negative comments: you can teach them to ignore troll posts, delete negative comments, or report abuse to moderators. It might also be a good idea to disable comments
Fortunately for many, blogging isn’t just a hobby, it’s a whole form of self-expression and an opportunity to meet like-minded people to discuss a variety of topics. This can make it a worthwhile activity in the face of any negativity. Running a channel not only helps your child develop creative skills, but also allows them to create something new. At the same time, it is important not to forget about security, which will help make this process a pleasant and exciting experience.