1. SPECIALIST COMMUNICATION CHANNEL
A specialist communication channel is a site or chat resource which allows you to
communicate with others, for example:

Facebook

Blogger

E-mail

Twitter
These channels are useful because you can communicate with people all around the
world and meet new people out of your ‘friendship circle’. Some of these sites are
also used for advertisement purposes for things such as businesses, companies and
also charities; lots of people will see these advertisements a lot of people use
communication channels daily, it’s a normal part of their day-to-day lives. It also
saves money as the sites are free, whereas sending letters isn’t.
Using a blog for our set task means that more people would be able to access and
view it than if it was an article in a newspaper.
There are several ways to stay safe on the communication channels:
On Facebook, you can access your Privacy Settings where you can change your
settings so only certain people can view your profile, posts, photos etc.
Cyber bullying is common among these social networking websites, which is why
there are settings on them to allow you to ‘block’ someone, meaning that they can
no longer contact you through the site.

2. When you meet new people online, it can be difficult to tell who they really are as it
is too easy for people to set up fake profiles and pretend to be someone they’re not.
If you ever arrange to meet up with someone you’ve met over the internet, bring a
responsible adult with you as they may not turn out to be who they said they were.
You should also think about the passwords you choose to use for your accounts.
Don’t use anything obvious such as ‘1234’ or your name; a strong password
contains a mixture of upper and lower case letters AND numbers. Don’t use the
same password for multiple accounts as it would be easier for someone to hack all of
your accounts instead of just one. It would not be wise to write down your password
as people can find it and access your account.
Never give out any personal information because again, you never know who you’re
talking to. Giving out this kind of information is irresponsible and sometimes
dangerous. Personal information includes your:

Home address

Home number

Mobile number

Full name
Ensure that you have antivirus software on your computer so anything you
download that may contain a virus will not break your PC, laptop etc. Do not open
attachments in emails or messages from people you don’t know, they could contain
a virus.