Gahanna Parents Learn Possible Facebook Pitfalls

Some parents said on Monday night that they were concerned about the social networking site Facebook because of some postings and feared for their children's safety.

A Facebook 101 course was presented at Lincoln High School to educate parents about Facebook in hopes of keeping the site as private as possible, 10TV's Andy Hirsch reported.

"I'm totally clueless when it comes to Facebook," said Rhonda Clemmons, a parent.  "My daughter's on Facebook every evening."

Kevin Dengel, the course instructor, stressed some of the most things parents can do, like reviewing their children's privacy settings on a regular basis, ensuring custom lists do not exclude parents from seeing certain portions on their children's page and double-checking the "View As" option, which lets a user type in a name and shows how the person can view their page.

"I think a lot of parents are scared by the whole idea of social media," Dengel said.   "They hear a lot of bad stuff.  It's that digital footprint that's going to be with them forever, and if you don't help monitor it now they can be in a world of hurt forever."

Clemmons said that she wants to learn more about Facebook before she creates her own page, but she would keep a closer eye on her daughter's account.

"She's definitely going to give me some resistance," Clemmons said.  "She'll get over it."

Administrators said that they were already planning a follow-up to the course.

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