1. Is BravoMe free?
1. Absolutely!  Every aspect of BravoMe from our cool features to our digital classroom network is free.  One day we might add possibilities like enlarging your Hyperdrive or buying music, but that’s what your 'Pocket Change' feature will be for!
   
   
2. What ages can use BravoMe?
1. BravoMe is open to students ages 8-17.  But BravoMe isn’t just for the students!  Teachers and Parents of all ages are free (and encouraged) to join and get involved in the digital classroom approach to online connectivity! 
   
   
3. How do I get my school added?
1. If you click our SCHOOLS tab and do not see your school listed in our records, no worries!  Schools can be added by any teacher or staff member with an official school email address.  There are several ways to add your school to our system.  But first, you will need a BravoMe account.  Simply complete the Teacher Registration Form and when it asks for your school, select “Other, Please Specify.”  That box then turns into a text box where you can enter your school.  A BravoMe representative will receive your registration, verify your school and add it to our database.
   
   
4. I am a teacher, how do I sign up?
1. As a teacher, you can start the ball rolling right now.  All you need to do is click on the ‘Teachers’ tab and find the ‘click here’ button near the bottom.  Locate your school, sign up with your school email address and you’re good to go! From here, you can update your profile or go right into signing your students up for your very own virtual classroom!
   
   
5. I am a student, how do I sign up?
1. As a student – you first need to have your teacher add you to BravoMe.  That means that your teacher has to sign up first, and then sign you up.  If you’re 13 or older, then you can proceed to play around the site, make new friends, share pictures and videos and lots of cool stuff.  If you’re under 13 years old, you’re going to need to get your parent to create an account, too.
2. Click here for a document that students or parents can print and take to the teacher explaining how BravoMe works.
   
   
6. I am a parent, how do I sign up?
1. Parents have a unique role on BravoMe.  They are connected with us to communicate with teachers and other parents, and of course, to interact with their children in our digital world.   Parents can sign up at any time by clicking the PARENTS tab and following the buttons to register.  They can interact with parents only until they are added by their child.
   
   
7. There’s all this negative talk about MySpace.  How are you different?
1. MySpace, Facebook and social networking sites get bad reputations concerning pre-teens because of the simple fact that those sites aren’t designed for them.  BravoMe is a site designed completely around the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act that concerns itself with the privacy of children under 13.
2. We don’t consider ourselves a social networking site, but rather a digital classroom.  BravoMe is designed with the school in mind first – from the teachers having students in their classes, to notes being sent home to parents, and everything in between.
3. These days, it’s nearly impossible to verify if someone is under the age of 18 online.  That’s where the teachers come into play through our service.  That way, we know that our users belong to a school, and aren’t adults posing as teenagers.
   
   
8. As a teacher, who can see my profile?
1. Teachers have the unique ability to connect with students, other teachers and parents.  Teachers are automatically linked with other teachers of the same school (their “colleagues”), with the children in their classes and with those children’s parents.  Teachers may also search for friends from other schools that they know from their past, meet at conferences or share common interests and may request to become their “PenPal.”
   
   
9. As a parent, who can see my profile?
1. Since BravoMe was designed with a school campus and classroom in mind, Parents are automatically connected to their own children and their child’s teachers.  Parents may also search for other parents and become “PenPals” with them.  However, parents aren’t able to view other students’ profiles (other than their own children) and vice versa.
   
   
10. As a student, who can see my profile?
1. Students are automatically linked to other students in their classes, their teachers, and their parents.  Students can request that other students in their school become their “Buddy” or students at other schools to become their “PenPals”.  Adults that are not your parents or your teachers may never see your profile.
   
   
11. What is a PenPal?
1. A PenPal is a friend, acquaintance or buddy who is at another school and belongs to another network.  You cannot start having PenPals until your school Handshakes with another school.  The teacher at your school who joined BravoMe is the one who can make handshakes.   Once Handshakes are made, and you find someone who you want to be your PenPal, you must send them a request and wait for them to confirm you.  After all, you don’t just want strangers to be able to access your Bravo Page!  Once they confirm you, you can see each other’s pictures, jump on each other’s stage and learn more about each other – it’s that easy!
   
   
12. What is a Classmate?
1. Once a teacher signs students up, they are automatically linked as Classmates (since they have the same teacher, they are in the same class!).  Classmates have access to each other’s Bravo Pages.
   
   
13. What is a Buddy?
1. A buddy is a friend.  You make these by hanging out with them, laughing together and playing together.  They are different from your Classmates lists because they don’t necessarily have to be in your classes, but they are still a part of your school.  Buddies that don’t go to your school are called PenPals. 
   
   
14. What is a Colleague (Teachers only)?
1. A Colleague is another teacher that belongs to your school.  By joining the same network, you are automatically linked together and can begin to share ideas, assignments and other fun stuff. 
   
   
15. What does it mean that I get two pages with BravoMe?
1. Simple.  You get two pages.  One of these pages is just yours and it’s called your Personal or Private Page.  When you log into BravoMe, it opens to this page.  Here you will have access to your Command Center, be kept up to date with your RSS News feeds, and be able to make changes to your account and other page. 
   This other page is called your Bravo Page.  This is the page that all your Buddies, PenPals, Classmates, Colleagues, etc. can see.  You can personalize this page to your liking by changing the background, adding pictures of yourself, keeping an online journal, having buddies leave messages for you and showing off your creativity on your very own stage!
   
   
16. What are your cool features?
1. Cool is all in the eye of the beholder!  There is something cool for everyone at BravoMe.com.  Some people love the way they can click on someone’s favorite items and see all the people who share that in common.  Others think it is pretty cool to be able to share messaging.
   
   
17. I am a teacher, what can I do with my class here?
1. As a teacher, this is an excellent way to extend your classroom into the digital world.  We’ve tried make it easy for you to perform every day tasks by incorporating them into the way that your students can interact with each other.  Some ideas to help with your class flow are:

                                                              i.      Partner with a teacher at another school and assign your students PenPals with whom they can pass notes.  No more waiting for the snail mail to bring them all at once.  Let your kids really get to know their PenPals!

                                                            ii.      Assign writing assignments and have your students submit their work to you digitally! No more – “My dog ate it” excuses!

                                                          iii.      Post Bulletins directly to your students’ Private Pages updating them with homework that is due, upcoming tests and quizzes, or reminding them all to bring an apple for your birthday.

                                                          iv.      Teachers will also be able to interact with their students’ parents to keep them informed with what is going on with their child.

                                                            v.      Plus, much more!

18. What is an RSS Feed?
1. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.”  Simply put, this is a neat online tool that grabs headlines from all of your favorite news sources and displays them on your Private Page.  If you see an interesting headline, click on it and you can read the whole story. 
   
   
19. What is the Stage?
1. The Stage is the ultimate in creative expression.  Here you can show off movies that you make or star in, or you just plain like and make you laugh.  Your friends can “Jump” on your stage and show off their content as well!  The stage can include photos, too!
   
   
20. What are Groups?
1. Groups are buddies, classmates or teachers hanging out together online.  You can create groups for common interests like: “Donkey Kong Rules!,” groups for clubs in your school like: “5^th Grade Student Council” or just groups that serve no purpose but get your friends together like: “I miss Pluto.”  Be creative and connect!
   
   
21. What are Shout-Outs?
1. Shout-Outs are messages that you can leave on friends' Bravo Pages or they can leave on yours.    Maybe you want to say “Happy Birthday” or “Wanna go Fishing sometime?”  Whatever it is, it’s always funnier when everyone can read it. 
   
   
22. How do I change (customize) the look of my Bravo Page?
1. This is both easy and fun!  Your options are endless, literally. 
   Do the following:

-      Log into your BravoMe account.

-      Click EDIT MY Bravo Page.

-      Two choices:

-          Choose Your Design Template

-          Write Your CSS Code

-      “Write Your CSS” can be tricky.  CSS is a bunch of commands that allows you to change the look of your page.  For now, we have a basic editor located at www.planetbravo.com/css that will give you code for your page.  Just answer the questions, copy the code, paste it into your page, and you’re done.

23. How do I change (customize) the look of my private page?
1. At this time, you cannot change the look of your Private Page, however, you can move RSS feeds around or change how many there are.  We are constantly working to make this feature more accessible.
   
   
24. Can I post anything at all to BravoMe.com?
1. As long as you own the picture, movie, words, or sounds that you choose to upload to BravoMe.com, you can post it!  Like everyone, we are governed by Copyright Law.  If you have permission from the owner(s) to post their material, you may also do that.
   
   
25. What is the HyperDrive?
1. The HyperDrive is your own portable Hard Drive.  You can store small files and then access them from anywhere.  No need to email yourself anything.  Just upload a file, and then access it from another computer later.
   
   
26. What is the Bulletin Board?
1. The Bulletin Board is used by Teachers.  Teachers post messages to all students and it appears on the students’ Bulletin Boards.  The messages can range from test announcements, to homework notices.
   
   
27. Is this site really safe?
1. As you know, the web is a wide-open space. But not on BravoMe.com.  Since memberships start with teachers who must be verified through their one-of-a-kind school given email address, new members are only added through trusted adults.  Parents are only added to the students through students (who, as we just stated, were added by teachers). 
2. As you can see, we’ve taken many precautions to ensure that our users get a trusted environment.
3. Try for yourself.  Go to BravoMe.com without being logged in.  You won’t get far; you cannot see any profiles.  The only way anyone has access around the site is with a secure BravoMe account that was issued by a teacher.
   
   
28. What about Parent memberships? Anyone can pretend to be a parent and sign up.
1. True, but did you notice that these “other” parents cannot access any school member’s profile until they are added by their own child?  This is a key element to the security of our network. 
   
   
29. I lost my password, now what?
1. In the event that a registered teacher, parent, or student 13 years of age or older loses his/her password, he/she will can answer a security question and receive the opportunity to reset the password.  In the event a Child (under 13) loses his/her password, he/she can either have the registered parent or teacher reset his/her password or request one him/herself if he/she has provided a valid email address.

Student:

1. If I decline a buddy or remove them from my list, will they find out?
1. Nope.  You just won’t appear on their friends list. They may get suspicious, though, if you suddenly disappear from their list.
   
   
2. How do I report cyberbullying (being teased by others on BravoMe)?
1. Every Bravo Page has a WARNING button.  This allows you to report inappropriate behavior to the school’s BravoMe administrator.  In other words, it sends a message to the teacher who oversees BravoMe.

Parents:

1. How do I access my child’s page?
1. In order to be linked to your child and your child’s school, your child must invite you.  On his or her private page (in the Command Center), there is an ADD PARENT link.  This link will allow the parent to join through email.  It is very easy.
   
   
2. I’m a parent, why can’t I see my child’s friends?
1. It’s part of our security system.  You will not be able to see the profiles of your children’s friends.  It’s for everyone’s protection.  However, if you look into the parental controls, you can change settings to receive their messages, too.

Teachers:

1. My school isn’t on your list, what do I do?
1. If you click our SCHOOLS tab and do not see your school listed in our records, no worries!  Schools can be added by any teacher or staff member with an official school email address.  There are several ways to add your school to our system.  But first, you will need a BravoMe account.  Simply complete the Teacher Registration Form and when it asks for your school, select “Other, Please Specify.”  That box then turns into a text box where you can enter your school.  A BravoMe representative will receive your registration, verify your school and add it to our database.
   
   
2. What’s the law about student’s personal information?
1. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the implementing regulations of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) require that, if a child is less than 13 years old (referred to here as a “Child” or “Children”), no information may be collected by any website without the consent of that Child’s parent.  COPPA further states that the rule does not preclude schools from acting as intermediaries in the notice and consent process, or from serving as agents of parents. Where a school has an agency relationship with an operator that explicitly authorizes information collection, the Rule allows the operator to presume parental consent. Schools can also help to educate students and parents about online privacy issues and safe surfing practices. The FTC is currently working with the Department of Education to develop educational materials on COPPA for teachers and school administrators.
2. See more at:  http://www.coppa.org