Blogging and acceptable behaviour on social networking sites

Over 200 students at Tenbury High School have taken part in discussions to come up with a set of guidelines for using social networking and blogging sites in school.

Please read them and think about what they imply – we hope that if the ideas come from students rather than from adults, there is a better chance that they will remember them (at least some of the time!).

At the bottom of this post there is the possibility of commenting on what we have been doing – please feel free to join in the debate.

Student ideas for acceptable use of online networking resources:

• Anything that you put on the internet can be seen by anyone else who can get on the internet (including adults!)
• Remember that this applies to:
• personal details
• postings about what you have done
• where you go and what you do
• photos about you and your friends
• the language you use
• what you say about others
• Things that you post on the net can be there forever – even if you try to delete them!
• Use private messaging for private comments – do not use publicly visible comments
• Using offensive language directed at others can be hurtful and will result in punishments
• People who are trying to insult you are just trying to show off – ignore them, or report the abuse
• Websites have tools to let you report problems - use them!
• Take responsibility for what you write – be prepared to defend or explain what you have written
• Use sensible login details and keep your password safe
• Be yourself – don’t pretend to be other people (it’s creepy!)
• Think how you would feel if you were cyberbullied
• Don’t just copy stuff of the internet and pass it off as your own.
• Report abusive comments and things that you don’t think ought to be there
• Treat people with respect. Do not use postings or comments to harm people or groups
• Don’t abuse the system that you are using

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