‘Facebook’ for children offers e-safety ‘bubble’

A new platform dubbed ‘Facebook for seven-year-olds’ has been launched to help make social media safer for children. The age limit on using sites like Facebook may be 13, but research shows that four out of five primary school-age children admit to using social media at least once a day. Determined to give parents and teachers the tools to deal with this growing trend, former police sergeant and e-safety expert Henry Platten took matters into his own hands, developing a safe social media platform that young children can use. Go Bubble from eCadets puts an end to unwanted friend requests, dubious content and the potential for cyber-bullying. Mr Platten says it allows children to take advantage of the best bits of social media without any of the negative aspects. With Go Bubble children can chat online with school friends, share jokes, pictures or videos and learn about different cultures by making new friends of the same age from around the world. “We need to accept that our kids love social media and will use it no matter what the age limit is, so my view is, don’t ban them, just provide them with a safe alternative that has all of the up sides but none of the down sides,” said Mr Platten, founder of the award-winning eCadets pupil-led online safety education programme. “Go Bubble is that safe alternative.” Greater Manchester Police is a headline partner in Go Bubble and Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, the national lead for social media and digital engagement, said: “Young people use social media to talk to each other and it’s really important they’re able to do so in a safe environment. “As a social network, Go Bubble is just that, a bubble where children are given all the fun of social media, in complete safety. We look forward to using it to support our education work with under-13s.” Mr Platten says Go Bubble is safe because it puts the child’s school at the centre of its social media network. The school signs up its pupils, with parental approval, and children can safely talk to children in their own class, school, or even with children the same age in schools around the world. All posts are automatically moderated through the system’s safety features, ensuring any inappropriate video, images, text, audio or emojis, are removed before going live. There is also a ‘live’ moderation team that reviews any flagged messages. And it has been awarded a PEGI 3 rating – the safest age rating available from the governing body (Pan European Gaming Information). Schools are already using the platform to help children collaborate on school projects, learn about new cultures, develop penpals, teach children about safe social media use and send parents messages via the site. The web and app version of Go Bubble is available free to schools. Outside of school, parents and children can access Go Bubble via the web for free or have the option of downloading the app onto their tablet, laptop or mobile device for a small annual fee.