Helping young people to stay safe online with the launch of YouTuber rating tool
Parents can now check out the YouTubers their children are watching online, using Natterhub’s handy Rate My YouTuber page.
Online-safety and media literacy company Natterhub has launched a webpage which helps parents to make informed decisions about the YouTubers their children watch, using guidance from young people.
As data from Ofcom’s 2019 report shows, YouTube remains a firm favourite among young people. 5-15 year olds are more likely to pick YouTube as their platform of choice over on-demand services such as Netflix.
YouTube recently announced additional protections for people under 18, including making wellbeing features more prominent, providing safeguards and updating default privacy settings.
Natterhub strives to make it as easy as possible to create a dialogue between parents and children; to encourage open conversations about online content, and recognise that spending time on YouTube can be a positive experience to help young people learn new things and relax.
After recognising a disparity between adult and young people’s understanding and knowledge of the internet, Natterhub established their Youth Board in April 2021. They invited young people to join as advisors, creating a panel of 20 board members aged 8-14 from across the UK. The board aims to help bridge the gap between parents and children's understanding and awareness of online content.
They asked the youth board to tell them about their favourite and most commonly watched YouTubers, which is how Rate My YouTuber was created. The page aims to support parents' understanding of content their children may be accessing, helping them to keep their children safe online.
Manjit Sareen, CEO of Natterhub, said, “We asked our Youth Board to work with us on this project because we know that children and young people are using the internet in a way which can be entirely different from how adults interact. We asked our team of wise heads on young shoulders to take on the role of caretaker to advise parents on what they needed to know about their favourite YouTubers.”
Parents can browse a range of useful information on the content of popular YouTubers, including the positives, what to watch out for, what age range they are suitable for, Natterhub notes and a star rating out of five. They can then use this information to decide whether or not the content is appropriate for their child. Natterhub are regularly updating their page to add as many YouTubers as possible.
Jaan, Youth Board member, said “I really enjoyed doing this exercise. It shows that not all YouTubers are bad and you can learn from them, but it is good for parents to know what to look out for.”
Caroline Allams, former teacher and Natterhub co-founder, added, “We know that online content can be overwhelming for parents to keep up with. Every family has their own boundaries and levels of comfort, so it is important that parents check out YouTubers themselves before giving permission to their child, but we wanted to offer a comforting overview for parents as a good starting point.”
Natterhub are also encouraging parents to get in touch via the web page if they would like any other YouTubers to be reviewed, and YouTubers to reach out if they would like their own content reviewed. Caroline and Manjit shared some top tips for parents:
- Watch and play with your child. They will enjoy sharing their online lives with you, and you will feel more informed.
- Identify what you feel is appropriate for your child and have conversations with them about why something is and isn’t suitable. Open and honest dialogue. Potential conversation starters.
- Children today live in a different world to the one parents grew up in. They will inevitably spend more time online, and will use YouTube for learning/relaxing/playing.
To view the Rate My Youtuber page, visit https://natterhub.com/rate-my-youtuber?utm_source=Referral&utm_medium=PressRelease&utm_campaign=RateMyYouTuber
