Two little known facts among most parents are: first, that you can now access the Internet on a mobile, and second, there’s a new breed of Internet service that is as much about uploading, sharing and linking to other content as it is about downloading and viewing. This new and more creative use of the web is a high profile manifestation of what is known as social networking. In the mobile environment, it makes camera phones come to life by allowing for the instant upload and sharing of pictures and videos.  Our Look at Me service, which could be described as a social networking site, even pays a fee to the creator of a movie each time someone else watches it.

No wonder kids love it. For them the Internet has become integral to their social life. Now their online world is mobile too. Inexperienced in life but streets ahead of their parents in realizing the creative and social possibilities of mobiles, some kids may, nevertheless, find themselves in trouble.

The risks they face are not - so far as we know - new or unique to the social networking phenomenon. They may however be exacerbated. Inappropriate, extreme and misleading content can not only be found and consumed but now created and distributed more easily than ever. Inappropriate, hurtful and dangerous communication can be facilitated and exhibited in front of classmates or the world. Such communication can take place anywhere - away from the supervision of parents.

Here at O2 we have already taken steps to reduce the risk of inappropriate online contact, to insist where we can, on content classification and age-based access control, and to offer parents the option of restricting Internet access on their child’s mobile. These capabilities and processes all apply to social networking sites.

All uploads to Look At Me are checked by a human moderator before being published. They are looking for signs of inappropriate contact, and will not publish content that is classified as 18, according to the industry framework published by the IMCB. Access to social networking sites that we do not control is not available when ‘Parental control’ is turned on.

None of these controls can take the place of informed parental supervision. Yet parents generally don’t know much about social networking or the risks associated with the Internet on mobiles. In fact most parents don’t know what social networking is, and don’t know that you can do it on the Internet which is available on mobiles.

Our biggest challenge therefore is to offer parents the expert support they need in order to provide that supervision. So this month we’ve started on a journey that will see the development of our own network of experts in child protection and mobiles. We’ve been working with Childnet International to start out on this journey. Across the country, in workshops with our customer services staff, they have brilliantly articulated the knowledge gaps between parents and children, when it comes to the online world. We are now committed to distributing Childnet’s independently written Checklist for parents in our stores from this autumn onwards.

We want to develop the right level of expertise at the front line of our customer services and retail operations. By embedding child protection knowledge into our business, O2 will be able to help our customers, both parents and children, by offering real, practical, useful and honest advice about mobiles and the internet.

Jonny Shipp is head of content standards and policy at O2.