Stanford class to help parents be better Facebook friends with their kids

February 2, 2009 | Eric Eldon | Comments | |

Facebook for Parents isn’t just a class for parents who want to learn how to use Facebook, nor is it just a class on how to keep kids safe from creepy strangers who “friend” them on the site. It’s trying to go deeper, helping parents to understand how Facebook is reshaping their children’s lives. In the class, parents will learn how to talk with their kids about practical aspects of using the site, like the long-term risks of publishing embarrasing photos (college admissions counselors might see them one day), or the benefits of letting friends comment on drafts of class essays.

The class is also a research vehicle for BJ Fogg, whose Persuasive Technologies Lab at Stanford studies how software and hardware can affect people’s beliefs and behaviors. He and his sister (a mother of eight), Linda Fogg Phillips, will both teach the class and gather new information from parents about how Facebook is affecting them today. The class doesn’t start until February 19, but the duo is already hearing from parents with a situation they hadn’t thought of when they planned the course: Is there something wrong if your kid doesn’t use Facebook?

The class will go over what Fogg calls the “six levels of Facebook mastery,” from basic sign-up to building your own Facebook. It will also go over basic safety features (like not accepting friend requests from creepy strangers), and will cover the “81″ types of actions that, by Fogg’s count, are available for users to take on the site, and how important ones can dovetail with parenting.

Although the class is affiliated with and taking place at Stanford University, it isn’t for-credit, and it doesn’t appear in the syllabus. You sign up for it here, although Fogg tells me that the class is nearly full already. This isn’t the first time Fogg has used Facebook in the classroom. He previously co-taught a popular for-credit class for Stanford students on how to build Facebook apps — with some good results.

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About the Author, Eric Eldon

Eric currently covers digital media technology and business news, especially what's happening on social networks and their platforms. He also writes and edits stories about venture capital, and lots of other stuff, too. He started at VentureBeat in the spring of 2007, half a year or so after Matt Marshall left his reporting job at the San Jose Mercury News to found the site. Eric previously cofounded a startup called Writewith, that was building editorial software for newspapers and other groups of writers. The startup didn't work out, but he learned a lot.

  • Anti-parents on Facebook
    you've got to be joking. Parents don't need to be on Facebook to begin with.
  • Dan S
    I would consider an admissions officer who wants to see a high school student's Facebook a creepy stranger. Also, this could take place while the admissions person is watching tv and drinking beer with friends.
  • Good idea. Many of us adults could use a tutorial. Surveys suggest that parents are fairly clueless when it comes to social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook--and all the risks their kids take when online. Will definitely visit the site and include it in my next e-newsletter (www.schoolwisebooks.com.)
  • drdebiyohn
    I agree with the kids that parents do not need to be on FaceBook communicating with their child's social network. What I do think is important is that parents know the value of social networking and instead of being threatened by it, then they will be able to embrace the positive aspects of social networking.

    This is new to the parents generation but social networks such as LinkedIn are not to be ignored. There are many dangers in the world at large but there are may opportunities as well. Our kids are not going to live in isolation,so we must keep the communication open and the parent child relationship strong.

    For a free ebook Parenting College Students go to www.collegeworks101.com/ebook
  • Kristi P
    This class is a great idea. My mother joined facebook recently and really enjoys it. Initially she signed up to keep tabs on her kids but soon realized that many of her friends have a facebook and now enjoys communicating with them. She is signing up for the newsletter and encouraging her friends to do the same. These two seem like the perfect duo to teach the class.
  • They really make just about anything for you to take at class. What a joke
  • TG
    Rediculous!
    Nothing like Face-To-Face instead of Facebook.