Facebook’s new web feature to safeguard youngsters from online threats has been hailed as a major success by child safety experts.
The ClickCEOP safety button has finally been fitted onto Facebook pages following a long-running consultation between the police agency that focuses on child protection online: the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre and Facebook.
The information link offers online safety advice to young people and has received an excellent response so far with more than 55,000 downloads in just a few weeks.
More than 20,000 people are now getting regular online safety updates in Facebook, related to the issue of personal internet safety; and more than 5,000 young people have already accessed help, advice and support from CEOP via the new information and help link, which is also being described in various quarters as an online ‘panic button’.
Since its launch on July 12 this year, the button is giving youngsters a direct link to advice about internet safety from the country’s child protection experts; and also the opportunity to report any problems direct to the police if they are worried about strange or unwanted behaviour.
A number of child protection groups, various private and public organisations and also popular fan sites – including Chelsea Football Club, The Football Association, the X-Factor, Beatbullying and the NSPCC to name just a few, are also getting behind the initiative and helping to spread the word about the CEOP link.
Their sites have been adding the application to their profiles or sharing the link to the application with their fans through their Facebook status updates.
Jim Gamble, Chief Executive of CEOP, says:
“The response to this campaign has been excellent so far. The sheer numbers of people who have engaged with the app, including the volume of positive comments received, has shown that this move has been extremely well received by parents and young people alike.
“We are grateful to all those who have downloaded the app and shared the app with their online networks; and similarly grateful for the support of all our partners and the virtual army of tens of thousands of CEOP volunteers who are sharing the CickCEOP app with young people at their schools, youth groups and online networks.
“Together we really can make a difference to the safety of young people online”.
CEOP has been advising all social network websites to adopt its safety button so children can get immediate assistance if suspicious activity occurs.
Emma-Jane Cross, Chief Executive Officer of children’s charity Beatbullying, says:
“It is promising to see that the app has had such a clear impact within a relatively short space of time. In addition to the impressive download figures, Beatbullying has seen an uplift in the amount of young people seeking help from us in dealing with cyber bullying.
“This is vital, as we know that where we are able to educate, as we do via our in-school programmes and our CyberMentors peer mentoring site, and intervene early, young people can be protected from bullying both off and online.”
The installation of the safety advice link follows a number of high profile cases involving people targeting youngsters online.
Joanna Shields, Facebook’s Vice President for EMEA – Europe, Middle East and Africa – agrees the new safety feature has proved a success:
“It’s great news that so many users have interacted with ClickCEOP by downloading the application or by linking their page.
“There is no single answer to making the internet safer but CEOP have taken a great step forward by setting up their ClickCEOP page.”
The CEOP Centre works in both online and offline environments to protect children from abuse.
