Revamped Facebook Safety Center: Teach Your Users Well

Facebook, the wildly popular social networking platform, continued to see its user base skyrocket last year, but it was also stung by a near-constant barrage of criticism from privacy advocates that many of its security policies were too lax.

The targeted advice sections offer tips for users: In the teenager section, for example, Facebook urges teens not to give out passwords to anyone and to customize their privacy settings. In the section for parents, Facebook offers four categories of advice on how to help their children accept friends, how to block potential cyberbullies, how to report abusive behavior to Facebook administrators and how to improve their use of privacy settings.

For law enforcement officials, Facebook's new advice section provides details on how to contact Facebook if an officer finds a suspected sex criminal or other offender, as well as how to report suspected terrorist activity.

The Safety Center overhaul, according to Facebook, is the first major project it's completed with its global Safety Advisory Board, which Facebook launched in December 2009.

"There's no single answer to making the Internet or Facebook safer," said Elliot Schrage, vice president of Global Communications and Public Policy at Facebook, in a statement. "That's why we're introducing new tools and advice for parents, educators and teens. We want our approach for improving safety to be as simple, easy and effective as our approach to improving Facebook's user experience."

The Safety Advisory Board includes Facebook and a range of watchdog and advocacy groups, such as Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, WiredSafety, The Family Online Safety Institute and Childnet International.

"Our Safety Advisory Board has been a tremendous resource in developing this next generation of safety resources and offering us ideas for new initiatives," Schrage added. "Going forward, you'll see even more powerful -- and simpler -- safety innovations coming from Facebook."