Thursday 12 August 2010
ClickCEOP Status Update
“An excellent response” in a few weeks as thousands of young people now protected in Facebook with the new ClickCEOP application
- 55,000+ downloads of the ClickCEOP app
- 20,000+ people getting regular online safety updates in Facebook
- 5,000+ people have accessed help, advice and support from CEOP via the new app
Since its launch on 12 July 2010, the ClickCEOP application in Facebook has been downloaded over 55,000 times which will give users a direct link to advice, help and the ability to report a problem to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre if they are worried about someone’s behaviour towards them online.
A host of child protection groups, organisations and popular fan sites – including Chelsea Football Club, The Football Association, Diana Vickers, the X-Factor, Beatbullying and the NSPCC - have got behind the initiative and helped spread the word about the new online safety application by adding the application to their profiles or sharing the link to the application with their fans through their Facebook status updates.
The application – which comes in three parts: ‘adding the app’; ‘sharing the badge’ and ‘bookmarking to app’ enables the user to access to the app, share the app with their friends via their newsfeeds and places a visible icon of the app in plain view so that their friends – and others viewing their profile - can see they are protected online.
This has lead to an additional 5,000 unique visits from the Facebook environment to CEOP’s help, advice and support pages on a range of online safety issues, which in turn has lead to over 211 reports to CEOP directly (1) - see notes), who deal with issues concerning grooming and suspicious behaviour online.
From the 5,000+ visits from Facebook into the ClickCEOP landing page, 13% have gone on to get help about cyberbullying which has subsequently lead to an increase in referrals to the charity Beatbulling and their Cybermentors support programme.
Visits to the ClickCEOP profile in Facebook, since its launch on 12 July, have been in excess of 100,000 and over 20,000 people have ‘liked ClickCEOP’ which means that regular status updates will appear in their newsfeeds, keeping users up to speed with online safety advice and information including access to CEOP’s first ‘Online Safety Surgery’ held online, within the wall, on Wednesday 21 July. The Surgery, hosted by a ClickCEOP Advisor, was aimed specifically for parents who had concerns about how to keep their child safe online over the summer holidays and generated over 200 comments and discussion threads within one hour.
Jim Gamble, Chief Executive of the CEOP Centre;
“The response to this campaign has been excellent so far. The sheer numbers of people who have engaged with the app - including the volume of positive comments received via the wall - has shown that this move as been extremely well received by parents and young people alike”
“We are grateful to all those who have downloaded the app and shared the app with their online networks – and similarly grateful for the support of all our partners and the virtual ‘army’ of tens of thousands of CEOP volunteers who are sharing the CickCEOP app with young people at their schools, youth groups and online networks. Together we really can make a difference to the safety of young people online”.
Emma-Jane Cross, Chief Executive Officer, Beatbullying;
“It is promising to see that the app has had such a clear impact within a relatively short space of time. In addition to the impressive download figures, Beatbullying has seen an uplift in the amount of young people seeking help from us in dealing with cyber bullying.
“This is vital, as we know that where we are able to educate, as we do via our in-school programmes and our CyberMentors peer mentoring site, and intervene early, young people can be protected from bullying both off and online.”
Joanna Shields, Facebook’s Vice President for EMEA said:
“It’s great news that so many users have interacted with ClickCEOP by downloading the application or by liking their Page.
“There is no single answer to making the internet safer but CEOP have taken a great step forward by setting up their ClickCEOP page. It now means that they can have an ongoing dialogue with thousands of Facebook users, educating them about how to stay safe online in a place and language they are familiar with. I look forward to continuing our successful relationship with CEOP.”
Notes to editors
1) The four weeks prior to the ClickCEOP application launch in Facebook (14/6 – 11/7) saw 28 reports from the Facebook safety pages.
2) The CEOP Centre works in both online and offline environments to protect children from sexual exploitation. Full information on all areas of work as well as online safety messages and access to online reporting can be found at www.ceop.police.uk
3) The ClickCEOP application can be accessed at: http://applications.facebook.com/clickceop
4) The ClickCEOP Facebook page can be accessed at: http://www.facebook.com/clickceop
Press office contacts:
- CEOP Communications Team: 0870 000 3434
- BeatBullying Communications: 0781 400 4963
- Facebook Communications: 020 7260 2700
