Non-profit organization Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) partnered with nine tech companies including Facebook, Microsoft and Google to build A Platform for Good. The newly launched online resource provides teens, parents and teachers the tools to raise awareness about efficient online safety practices.
"At Facebook, nothing is more important than the safety of the people who use our service," The Facebook Safety team wrote. "We believe that helping families teach teens digital citizenship skills is a critical and essential part of providing a safe and secure experience online."
A recent Pew study shows most American teens are already pro-active about what they share on social networks. Nearly 50% of survey participants decided against posting content online because of safety concerns. Teens regularly use privacy settings, selective friending and message controls.
"The strongest impetus was to change the conversation from fear-based to [an] evidence-based and positive outlook," CEO of FOSI Stephen Balkam tells Mashable.
On A Platform for Good, teens can find out additional ways to stay safe as well as find out about tools for social good. Teens can discover and use resources such as activism platform Change.org, Idealist for global volunteer opportunities and DoSomething.org, a vehicle for social change for teenagers.
Users can also find polls for parents, videos for teachers and sweepstakes for teens. Security experts will regularly contribute helpful posts to the website's blog. The platform is open for sharing personal stories, talking about online activism and promoting ideas to enhance the education system.
The website pulls in detailed content about online safety and security to one place. In addition, there are tools designed to use for the classroom. Teachers can implement student research projects, performances or educational workshops with the help of A Platform for Good. Families can also download contracts to discuss and stick with progressive online use.
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