Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

16 June 2013

Facebook for Edu: Introducing Hashtags on Facebook

This week Facebook rolled out a new feature--hashtags!

Similar to other services like Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, or Pinterest, hashtags on Facebook allow you to add context to a post or indicate that it is part of a larger discussion.

Here's a new handout that covers the basics of getting started using hashtags on Facebook, along with a quick look at hashtag privacy. Feel free to share this, and our other (free!) Facebook Education handouts, with your colleagues, parents or youth pastor.

Introducing Hashtags on Facebook by Facebook for Educators

Get the Official Facebook for Educators Guide

The Facebook for Educators Guide is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and German. The guide is a collaboration between myself, Dr. BJ Fogg, Linda Fogg-Phillips and Facebook.

We invite you to join the conversation and share your best practices for using social media in the classroom with educators from around the world on our Facebook for Educators Page (http://www.facebook.com/FBforEducators).

You can find more free handouts, resources and profession development materials on our Scribd page (http://www.scribd.com/collections/2978485/Facebook-101).

Posted by Derek Baird on 16 June 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0)

13 June 2013

Infographic: 7 Types of Social Media Fans

U.S. consumers spend an average of 37 minutes a day on social media sites, according to eMarketer, and much of that activity involves brands and products. Consumers do everything from follow brand pages looking for deals to sharing their positive and negative experiences with the world.

It’s critical for marketers to understand as much as they can about these social media consumers. This week’s infographic breaks them down into seven major types, gives insights into their thinking and behavior, and shares tips on how to market effectively to each group.

Here are some of the stats on social media users:

70% trust brand/product recommendations from friends
49% follow brand pages for deals, specials and promotions
45% are likely to share negative experiences with brands/products on social media
42% who contact brands on social media expect a response within an hour

Source: Yahoo! Advertising Blog

Posted by Derek Baird on 13 June 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0)

21 May 2013

Infographic: Teens, Social Media, and Privacy

View Large

Posted by Derek Baird on 21 May 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0)

22 April 2013

Trend Watch: Is Teen TXTNG Killing Language? [VIDEO]

Does texting mean the death of good writing skills? John McWhorter posits that there’s much more to texting -- linguistically, culturally -- than it seems, and it’s all good news.

In this TED talk, linguist John McWhorter thinks about language in relation to race, politics and our shared cultural history.

Posted by Derek Baird on 22 April 2013 | Permalink | Comments (1)

12 April 2013

The Bling Ring: A Sobering View of Fame, Luxury and Celebrity Obsession

The soon-to-be-released film, Bling Ring follows the real life story of fame-obsessed world of Los Angeles, where a group of teenagers take a thrilling and disturbing crime-spree.

The teens, who were obsessed on the glamorous life, tracked their celebrity targets online and subsequently stole more than $3 million in luxury goods from their homes.

Their celebrity victims included Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom and Rachel Bilson.

‘The Bling Ring’ shows how youthful naivete and excitement is amplified by today’s culture of celebrity and luxury brand obsession.

What starts out as youthful fun spins out of control, and reveals a sobering view of modern American culture.

Posted by Derek Baird on 12 April 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0)

11 April 2013

A Final Text: Unfinished Text Message Is A Sober Reminder of the Dangers of Texting and Driving

"Sounds good my man, seeya soon, ill tw": Alexander Heit apparently typed that text message when he drifted into oncoming traffic, jerked the steering wheel, and then went off the road and rolled his car.

Now the parents of the 22-year-old, who died in the crash, hope that a photo of these words will serve as a stark warning for others not to text while driving.

Read more over on Yahoo! News: http://yhoo.it/ZHdzaW

Posted by Derek Baird on 11 April 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0)

09 April 2013

Cyberbullying: A Sociological Approach [RESEARCH]

Social media and text messaging have assumed a dominant role in communication among adolescent society. And, as common in teenage social environments, these circumstances often involve online teasing and harassing. This has become known as “cyber bullying”.

Delaware state Attorney General, Beau Biden, describes cyber bullying as a communication that “interferes with a student's physical well-being, is threatening or intimidating, or is so severe, persistent, or pervasive that it is likely to limit a student's ability to participate in or benefit from the educational programs of the school.”

According to Delaware Online, the state recently implemented a law enforcing that schools penalize cyber bullying issues the same as they would for incidents that happen within school walls.

Many states have begun to implement similar laws enforcing stricter punishments for those engaged in cyber bullying, and sometimes the victims are not only teens. NPR recently addressed a North Carolina law that was passed to protect teachers against bullying from their students.

A teacher at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School had a student create a fake Twitter account under the teacher's identity, and posted offensive comments. Under new laws, students charged with such offenses could potentially face a month in jail and fines of up to $1,000.00.

The recent International Journal of Technoethics article “Cyberbullying: A Sociological Approach” evaluates the concepts of bullying and cyber bullying and addresses the emerging nature of these occurrences: “Cyberbullying has become a major social concern because it raises questions about the ethical use of technology.

In recent years, this has been the subject of research and information and prevention activities for different groups such as governmental and non-governmental organizations and schools and parents’ associations to protect against the misuse of technology.”

Written by José Neves and Luzia de Oliveira Pinheiro of the University of Minho, Portugal, the article features studies evaluating Portuguese University students in observation and focus groups, interviews, and investigations that aims to explore and define the characteristics of cyberbullying in Portugal.

Cyberbullying a Sociological Approach

Posted by Derek Baird on 09 April 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0)

08 April 2013

Search, Music and Social Networking Among Top Activities of UK Youth

UK teens have a significant presence online and are at the leading edge of many digital behaviors, according to a survey conducted by Research Now and initiated by K&A BrandResearch.

When UK teens go online—whether via PC or mobile—using search engines to seek out information is their No. 1 activity, in line with the ubiquity of this action among older age groups as well.

The next two most popular activities showed the ways in which teens’ digital priorities may somewhat diverge from older consumers.

Just about 80% of UK teens said they went online to visit social networks. And another seven out of 10 used the internet to listen to music. These responses beat out email, watching video and playing games as teens’ primary digital activities.

Read the rest of the article over on eMarketer

Posted by Derek Baird on 08 April 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0)

07 April 2013

Trend Watch: Teen Girls, Social Media and the 'Thigh Gap' Obsession [VIDEO]

Quick. Here's a test: Stand-up straight with your feet together in front of a mirror and look for a space between your upper thighs. If you see a gap, you have the latest body image obsession teen girls are starving themselves to achieve.

The 'thigh gap', as it is known, is a new teen girl obsession with a huge following on social media sites like Tumblr, YouTube and Instagram.

The trend is fueled by digital media and magazines that feature celebrities with the elusive 'thigh gap'---which is, in most cases, the work of a highly skilled Photoshop guru and not so much based on reality.

Exposure to this dangerous body image trend is just an app click away---girls can read tweets from Supermodel Cara Delevingne about her thigh gap on Twitter or scroll through thousands of thigh gaps on Tumblr with images of ultrathin women in bikinis, super short skirts, and lingerie, all baring thighs so thin they don't touch.

Whether or not this is a widespread trend or just a blip across teen culture is yet to be seen. However, this is another example of where parents, teachers and youth pastors need to step-in and faciliate a discussion about body image, social media and celebrity culture with their kids.

And remember, body image issues aren't just a 'teen girl' issue.

While there has been lots of media coverage and press about young girls/women regarding body image & eating disorders, there has been very little devoted to how the media effects boys. In many cases, boys are an understudied group with regard to body issues (dysmorphia, bigorexia).

Even as the media continues its obsession (yes, Twilight I’m looking at you) for the almighty 'six pack', boys have been gaining on girls in eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.

Additional Resources

Photo Credit: @ready_for_thynspo on Instagram

Posted by Derek Baird on 07 April 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0)

06 April 2013

Trend Watch: Celebrity Swatting

In Los Angeles, a practice known as swatting has become an alarming trend — a series of hoax 911 calls claiming serious incidents at the homes of celebrities. A string of them happened just this week, prompting police SWAT teams to respond in force.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Earlier this year, a 12-year-old boy was charged with making false threats about supposed incidents at the homes of Justin Bieber and actor Ashton Kutcher. Other swatting targets over the last year include "The X Factor" judge Simon Cowell, singer Miley Cyrus and the Kardashian-Jenner family.

Posted by Derek Baird on 06 April 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0)

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