Social networking site Facebook has given in to months and months of pressure and launched its own panic button.To start with Facebook wasn’t keen on having a form of “panic button”saying it highlighted and made something out of a problem that wasn’t currently an issue for their site.
Several months of negotiation between Facebook and CEOP (The Governments law enforcement agency given role of tracking down online sex offenders) has resulted in the social networking site publishing its own form of panic button application today. Facebook has managed to avoid the “panic button” since November when CEOP called for social networking sites to install an online safety feature with the likes of MySpace doing so. Facebook has the largest number of users with 400 million active accounts and is the last social networking site to introduce this from of safety feature.
Facebook is targeting its users aged between 13-18 years with the new “panic button” application. The site is hoping that youngsters install the application off their own backs or are encouraged to do so by a parent or guardian.
The new application comes as reassurance for parents and young users alike. Although the number one social networking site will promote its “panic button”, which in reality is a link to CEOP’s online advice and reporting page. Facebook has clearly stated that the “panic button” is not a default application and has to be added by the user.
Time will tell if the “panic button” does help keep younger Facebook users safer, many industry insiders say it will not make a difference due to how online sex offenders operate, they do not operate like traditional sex offenders, instead they chose to go down the relationship building route, meaning the youngster in question is even less likely to report them.
