How to be a Good Digital Citizen

This article provides you with valuable tips on how to be a good digital citizen – how to manage your online reputation, how to be a cyberbuddy and how to keep up to date with changes in privacy settings online.

What is a good digital citizen?
Webiket.com defines a good digital citizen as an individual who recognises the dangers and opportunities of the social web; one who uses best practice to protect themselves from Internet identity theft, cyberbullying and cybercrime. They are also advocates for a safer Internet and practice being a cyberbuddy.

While it is not possible to guarantee your Internet safety completely, you can take steps to help protect yourself online.

1. Manage your online reputation

Review your personal privacy on social media sites and take the following actions:

• Choose privacy settings that allow only friends to view your status updates or posts.
• Don’t over-share, as it gives a prospective cyberbully an insight into your personal life, your weekly routines, where you live, work and who you socialise with.
• Don’t share emotions which tell the cyberbully how you feel. For example if you feel lonely, you might, unbeknown to yourself, invite attention from a cyberstalker who will befriend you and take advantage of your vulnerable state.
• Don’t share explicit views on controversial issues, which might spur another person to attack you for your opinion. While the Internet is a place of free speech, you need to consider how much of your views you want to share. The Internet is a haven for trolls who get satisfaction out of attacking other people based on how they look or their personal opinions.
• You are what you post, so review carefully everything you share, like, comment upon, retweet or Pin. Remember, people will be making judgments on you based on the content you share.

2. Be a cyberbuddy

We all need our buddies in the real world, right? Well the same thing is true online. We need our friends to watch out for us, to stand up for us and to tell us if we are doing something wrong. So how can you be a cyberbuddy?

• Stand up and speak out, against incidences of cyber bullying. Do not be a bystander and watch from the cyber sidelines as your friend or somebody that you know is being cybr bullied and certainly don’t ever join the cyber bully.
• Act as a youth mentor in your school, youth club, sports club or online.
• If you know somebody is being cyberbullied and is too afraid to say anything, then you should tell a trusted adult who can help and support you and your friend.

3. Stay informed

The social web is changing every single day and social networking sites keep amending their rules and their settings – there is so much to learn and to keep up with. Here are some top tips on how to stay informed to help you to continue to be a good digital citizen.

• Subscribe to blogs around Internet safety and cyberbullying which will give you access to free information that gets sent straight to your email inbox.
• Follow brands and people on social media who understand Internet safety and cyberbullying. You can also ask them questions if you have anything you want to know more about.

We salute you for reading and downloading this eBook on how to be a good digital citizen! If you found this useful then why not be a cyberbuddy and share it with your friends.