At National Online Safety, we provide multi-award-winning online safety education for the whole school community. It’s our mission to make the internet a safer place for children. We believe that when children go online to learn, communicate or play, they should be able to do so safely. That’s why we provide schools all over the world with the knowledge they need in order to tackle new and evolving online risks.
Friends and Followers
Whether they're called 'connections', 'friends' or 'followers', the number of people who we're linked to online is seen as something of a status symbol in digital circles. What are the risks of having a large network? Our short explainer video brings you the essentials.
What are friends and followers?
What makes social media actually ‘social’ are the connections users make with other users on the platforms.
Every social networking site handles these connections differently, calling them ‘connections’, ‘friends’ and ‘followers’, among others. Having friends and followers is how we find out what other people say and do.
Your friends and followers are much more likely to see your online content than those outside of your network, which is why it’s important to be mindful of who you connect with and what you share.
On some platforms, if two accounts follow each other, this may allow additional communication channels such as private messaging.
For more information on the associated risks and online safety tips for parents and carers, watch our explainer video, available to those with a National Online Safety membership.
