PARENTS AND KIDS AS FACEBOOK BUDDIES

Facebook Relationships: Natural for parents & teens
January 19, 2011 | Debbie Turner

http://www.onlinesocialmedia.net/20110119/facebook-relationships-natural-for-parents-teens/

The ever-growing Facebook is sometimes portrayed in a negative light and sometimes there has been the perception that teenagers who are using it are hooked on it and may also use it in rather a covert way, sometimes at the expense of good relationships with their parents.

However an article by Bernd Debusmann over on Reuters goes a long way to dispelling this idea by looking at results from a survey carried out by Kaplan Test Prep. It showed that perhaps contrary to popular opinion, around two-thirds of teenagers in America are happy to share social networking with their parents by having them as Facebook friends. However a note of caution is that 16% of those who have parents among their Facebook friends, only accept them as a prerequisite to signing up.

Not all teenagers are happy to accept their parents as Facebook friends either and 38% say that if their parents send them a friend request they ignore it. However executive director of Kaplan, Kristen Campbell said, “Facebook … continues to be the new frontier in the ever evolving relationship between parent and child,” and also points out that the majority of teens “are not hiding and that is positive.” It’s also noted that for many it opens lines of communication that did not previously exist and also allows teenagers to claim an amount of independence.

Campbell also describes using Facebook as a ‘natural step’ for those that have grown up as part of the Internet generation. Another article, this time by Bridget Tyler on KidGlue, also looks at these survey results and gives some good advice to parents out there that may be finding it hard to be a parent in the social networking age.

What are your thoughts on this and are you surprised by just how open most teenagers are? Where should parents draw the line at involvement in their teen’s social networking lives? Why not let us know by sending us your comments.

MY THOUGHTS

i feel so relieved i am so past teenage years.  my mom has a facebook account(and she doesn't know how to use the computer).  as a teenager i probably won't like to have my parents in my network.  but then, in retrospect, i doubt we would have been allowed to get into social networking sites. i doubt that very very much.

does social networking impact work

Does Social Networking Impact Work? Survey Reports


Social media sites are becoming some of the most heavily trafficked sites on the internet, including in the workplace, according to a recent poll. The survey, conducted by Right Management, gathered data from over 1,000 respondents concerning employee use of social networking sites during work hours.

While about half of the organizations reported blocking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, others have decided to use the social networking sites as a business tool. Organizations are using the sites to reach out to clients, potential customers, employees, and job seekers.

Overall, 18 percent of respondents reported that social networking on the job often interferes with productivity, while 41 percent said that it sometimes does.

The survey also found some interesting statistics comparing the following criteria:

•Company Size: 51% of workers at an organization with 10,000 or more employees responded that it seldom interferes, compared to 41% at smaller organizations.

•Department: 62% of IT professionals said it seldom interferes, compared to 30% of sales professionals who reported that it often interferes.

•Age: 47% of workers aged 35-44 said that it seldom interferes, compared to 35% of those 18-24.

Organizations need to keep up with the growing presence of social media sites. A recent poll by Manpower suggested that as many as 75 percent of employers do not have a formal policy concerning the use of social networking sites. There are social media policies available on HR.BLR.com (subscription or trial-membership required):

MY THOUGHTS

better include this in the policy manual. it can really affect productivity. i think i won't mind when people can still come-up with excellent work even if social networking sites are not barred. but that's rare. i'm pretty sure, excellent professionals won't have time to use facebook at work. they will be too busy producing results.