Friday Evening last Young People at Three Ways Community Centre Newry were taken on an entertaining and tip-filled practical journey through the risky modern world of digital and social media.
Wayne Denner, self-confessed ‘Digital Ninja’, set up Ireland’s first social network platform in the early noughties – before Facebook or Twitter existed. With over 18 years experience he has worked around the globe delivering his “Online Reputation Matters Programme,” most recently as a guest of the Dubai Education Authority to over 160,000 young people, parents and adults who work with them.
The eSafety session focused on the impact social media usage can have on wellbeing, education, employability and life opportunities and was funded by Education Authority Southern Region – Youth Engagement Funding.
Wayne, an expert speaker, author and regular media commentator speaks about the impact, risks and benefits which Social Media has on their future and how they can use it to their advantage for employability and future opportunities:
“Most people don’t realise that 90% of recruiters will look you up online when you apply for a job and half of them will screen you out of the running based on what they find. It’s the same for students applying for uni, people applying to emigrate, and that’s before we even touch on the issues for young people around cyber bullying and staying safe online.”
Wayne also helps businesses stay ahead of the online risk management game with the co-creation of an app “RepSelfie”. Built on the foundation of educating face-to-face, the app will enable people to improve their online reputations (thus keeping the reputations of their employers safe) by identifying where they are posing threats in their social media posts and erasing them.
As a father of two boys himself, Wayne knows only too well how difficult it can be for parents to keep on top of the constantly changing worlds of digital and social media.
He added: “69% of young people have witnessed someone being cyberbullied’ (Ditch the Label 2015) and no doubt that figure continues to rise as our children live more and more of their lives online. But there are ways they can keep protect their privacy and get the best of what the internet has to offer, with help and advice from people like myself.”
His work prompted Wayne to write a book, now available on Amazon, entitled ‘The Students Guide to an Epic Online Reputation… and Parents Too’ which is used by educators and health professionals across the youth sector in Ireland, US, Canada and UAE.
