I've recently partnered with Facebook and co-authors Linda Phillips and Dr. BJ Fogg to write the Facebook for Educators Guide!
The guide is also available in Spanish, Portuguese and German.
Cellphones, Facebook, Instant Messaging : Kids use these tools to communicate with friends, but they can also abuse them. In this video, Common Sense Media presents tips and guidance on managing kids' digital lives to keep them safe, protected, respectful, and responsible.
via www.youtube.com
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According to the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) 90% of parents have had conversations about Internet safety with their kids? Have you?
Check out this video from FOSI called “Go Figure” to learn more about the digital habits of your teens.
Thanks to the Facebook Safety team for sharing this video!
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This guide is designed to help you understand what Facebook is and how to use it safely. With it, you will be better informed and able to communicate with young Facebook users in your life more effectively.
That's important because: 1) if something goes wrong, we want our children to come to us and 2) as the Internet becomes increasingly social and mobile, a parent’s guidance and support are ever more key to young people’s well-being in social media and technology.
The guidebook is published by Connect Safely in partnership with the iKeepSafe Coalition. A Parents' Guide to Facebook
Related: Recommended Facebook Safety Settings for Teens [Chart]
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Teens and adults use their cell phones to transmit and receive suggestive images - a practice often called "sexting."
This talk by Pew Internet & American Life researchers Amanda Lenhart and Scott Campbell outlines the demographics of who is sending and receiving these images and under what circumstances.
Further, teen focus group data explores scenarios under which sexts are exchanged and further examines some gender differences in language used to talk about sexting experiences.
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TRUSTe, provider of the leading privacy trustmark, has announced the results of a survey of parents and their teenagers on social networking behaviors – the first national social networking privacy survey to be conducted on both parents and their teens that also measures parental expectations against actual teen behavior.
The poll included responses from two thousand parents and teenagers to reveal: their level of involvement with social networks; perceptions and concerns about their privacy when using social networks; and parental monitoring and engagement with their teens on social networks.
The study is titled “The Kids are Alright,” as it reflects in many ways parents and teens doing the right things on social networks. Overall, the survey suggests that parents and teens are doing a number of the right activities to protect their privacy:
However, teens are still engaging in potentially harmful activities:
TRUSTe: Social Networking & Privacy Survey
Facebook clearly dominates as the leading social networking site with a whopping 95 percent of parents and 90 percent of teens with a social networking account using the popular site.
Within households where both the adult and teen reported Facebook accounts, one-third of teens surveyed said they helped open and set up the account for one or both of their parents, and most of those teens are friends with their parents, with more girls friending parents than boys.
Teens also engaged in more social networking activities than parents, such as chatting, playing games, sharing online content and taking quizzes and on average have a larger number of Facebook friends.
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TRUSTe, provider of the leading privacy trustmark, has announced the results of a survey of parents and their teenagers on social networking behaviors – the first national social networking privacy survey to be conducted on both parents and their teens that also measures parental expectations against actual teen behavior.
Here is a list of top privacy tips for teens as complied by the staff over at TRUSTe!
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Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that provides families with information about media and technology, launches its new multiplatform public awareness campaign Power to the Parent.
Designed to educate parents about the impact that media has on kids' live and the importance of parents (and parenting) in this picture, the campaign is supported by a $40 million TV ad campaign, online manner ads, a microsite, and a social media component.
The goal of Power to the Parent is to get parents to be involved in kids' lives and how they are using media to help them make educated and safe choices when using various media. The campaign includes three parent-targeted TV spots, tilted Role Models, Stadium, and Time Spent, which are already airing and will continue to run over the next year.
Comcast, Cox Communications, DirecTV, NBC Universal, and Time Warner Cable are supporting the TV campaign. The online initiative is supported by Common sense Media's partners Yahoo!, Facebook, GreatSchools, and Hulu, all of which will offer a connection to the campaign microsite via banner ads, links, and other content.
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What is it?
Togetherville is a social networking experience intended for your younger children (5-10 year olds). The new service is designed to provide a training ground where parents can teach their kids important lessons about online communication, community building and what it means to be a good digital citizen.
The Togetherville community experience piggy-backs on the Facebook platform and allows grownups to guide their kids through an age-appropriate social networking experience, kid friendly content, moderate connections and interactions all in an ad-free environment.
How does it Work?
In Togetherville, grownups act as the moderator for new contacts, assuming the responsibility for inviting family members/friends and other kids' to join their child's online neighborhood. The 6-to 10-year-olds are invited to engage with their real-world friends, play games, watch videos, and create art.
Is it safe?
Togetherville is intended for kids who are too young for Facebook and is fully compliant with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Kids' are *NOT connected* to anyone without their parents approval, so parents don't need to worry about 'stranger danger.'
Unlike other child oriented social networks, kids' use their real names instead of an alias. This is important because it teaches them to be responsible for their actions within the community. Since their identity isn't a secret, the thinking is that this will reduce the chances that they will engage in cyberbullying or other no-no behaviors.
Togetherville "Allowance"
Allowance is a new site feature that helps teach kids financial literacy while providing parents with a way to reward good behavior, both online and off.
Parents or other approved adults (family members, coaches) can give a child Togetherville currency called "T-bills," which can be spent on virtual goods, games or gifts within each child's unique Togetherville neighborhood.
Once they have T-bills, parents and adults can give Allowance to children for whom they are administrators. Kids and adults can use T-bills for virtual goodies, gifts and games.
As with any feature in Togetherville, a parent or other adult with administrative rights has complete control over who can give their child funds. In addition, just like in the offline world, a parent can suspend or eliminate a child's Allowance at any time.
Developing Healthy Media Habits
A lot of people will say that kids' don't need to be online and that they should go outside and play.
Think of it this way: too much of anything is bad. Too many hours playing video games or watching cartoons--not healthy! Eating too much ice cream, Taco Bell or drinking too much soda are also not a good thing.
It doesn't really matter if it's chocolate milk, riding your bike in the dark, watching too much TV or being online. As adults, we need to be the ones who help children develop healthy habits.
Social by Design
Think of Togetherville as a social networking apprenticeship where parents act as a Facebook "expert" who mentor and help their children through the experience of participating in a social networking community.
The situated learning theory argues that learning and knowledge acquisition takes place only when situated in a social and authentic context.
Ultimately this process –known as legitimate peripheral participation—moves the newcomer deeper into a community of practice leading them closer to acquiring the knowledge and skills required to be an expert. In Togetherville, young kids' will form a community of practice (and safety net) consisting of their peers, site moderators, and several parent "experts."
Cognitive apprenticeship is an instructional design and learning theory wherein the instructor (or parent), through socialization, models the skill or task at hand for the child. Kids' may also receive guidance from and learn from their peers.
The role of the parent is to help novices (in this case, your kids') clear cognitive roadblocks (Facebook/social networking) by providing them with the resources needed to develop a better understanding of social media. This process is called scaffolding.
Ultimately the kids will become an expert who no longer needs the scaffolding provided by Togetherville and/or parental guidance. In turn, they will have a better understanding of potential roadblocks and are now equipped the skills to navigate the world of social media/networking sites like Facebook.
Putting it All Together
In the end, what's important here is to take a balanced position when it comes to kids and technology. As a parent or teacher, don't be afraid to jump into the technology and social media pool and get your feet wet.
Use this as an opportunity to spend time with your kids and learn more about how they are using technology, mobile phones and social media in their lives.
Most importantly, when it comes to kids and social networking, don't panic!
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In their paper, "Facebook Privacy Settings: Who Cares" (2010, Boyd & Hargittai) examine the attitudes and practices of a cohort of 18– and
19–year–olds surveyed in 2009 and again in 2010 about Facebook’s privacy
settings.
The results challenge widespread assumptions that youth do not care about and are not engaged with navigating privacy.
Boyd and Hargittai find that, while not universal, modifications to privacy settings have increased during a year in which Facebook’s approach to privacy was hotly contested.
Facebook privacy settings: Who cares?
Related: Google, Everywhere, Or How Privacy Is The Net's Biggest Quagmire
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Futurist David Houle has an interesting series of articles over on Oprah.com that explore the world of Millennials and the challenges of raising kids in the digital age.
The thing that I really like about Houle's column is that he takes a rational and, unlike so many other guru's, non-alarmist approach to the subject.
There are so many fear based stories out there about kids, digital technology and social media, so it's refreshing to see such a balanced approach on the subject.
The one area where I disagree slightly with Houle is his use of the term "digital natives." I'm sure from his perspective and based on his conversations with CEO's and other corporate types, that Millennials in the workplace, compared to their older colleagues, appear to be super digital, technology gifted whiz kids.
Coined by author Marc Prensky in 2001, the phrase has its usefulness in helping us adults grasp the major media shift we're experiencing and embrace young people's openness to it.
But two leading new-media thinkers – Sonia Livingstone of the London School of Economics and Henry Jenkins at the University of Southern California – both have concerns about the phrase becoming too definitive.
Sure kids can work an iPod or update their status on Facebook, but what about using technology in an authentic, useful context? But when it comes to using technology in a situated context to complete a task, navigating privacy settings and all around digital literacy, or using technology at school kids still come up a bit short.
Over the last decade there has been lots of talk, in both the press and educational circles, about the technological prowess of digital natives. We've heard a lot about what's exciting in educational technology, but the reality is that teachers still see a lot of kids struggling to use technology.
In the end, what's important here, and I'm sure Mr. Houle would agree, is to take a balanced position when it comes to kids and technology. As a parent or teacher, don't be afraid to jump into the technology and social media pool and get your feet wet. Use this as an opportunity to spend time with your kids and learn more about how they are using technology, mobile phones and social media in their lives.
Most importantly, don't panic! As a wise man once said, 'your kids are different...and it's okay!'
Image Credit: www.oprah.com
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For Many Blacks, Twitter Enables a Vibrant Social Life: Some researchers have surmised that African-Americans might use
Twitter more heavily because they use it in a more conversational way
than other groups.
Twitter's "trending topics" - popular subjects
on a given day - often center on issues African-American users are
tweeting about. [NewsObserver]
Instead of Banning Your Kids from Social Networks, Consider Teaching Responsible Usage: I’m glad my parents didn’t ban me from them. I’m glad that my parents taught me basic principles to live my life by, principles that have served me both online and offline.
They weren’t particularly tech savvy. They didn’t hover over me at all moments. The family computer wasn’t locked down and it didn’t have any monitoring software. But, they taught me how to be safe as a kid. [ManagingCommunities.com]
More Cyberbullying on Facebook Than Rest of the Web: Thirty-two percent of online teens have experienced some form of harassment via the Internet, a problem also known as "cyberbullying."
According to recent data, 15% of online teens have had private material forwarded without permission, 13% have received threatening messages and 6% have had embarrassing photos posted without permission. [NYT]
Facebook Privacy Research: There is significant concern about the exposure of personal data to facebook’s advertising partners and to external sites, often governed by the decision of friends rather than the personal subject of the data. [Frances Bell]
Hello Kitty Death Watch: Hello Kitty fatigue is hitting Japan first, and hard, the company indicated. Analysts say part of the problem is that Sanrio has oversold Hello Kitty, which appears on products as various as T-shirts, toilet paper and toasters. [NYT]
How Facebook’s ‘Community Pages’ and Privacy Changes Impact Brands: While there’s been plenty of coverage about user privacy concerns, attention on Facebook’s changes on brands hasn’t been adequately covered, this analysis is intended to unravel what’s at stake –and what brands should do. I’ve spoken to a handful of brands and their representatives to learn what’s eating at them. [Web Strategy]
Tweets From Disneyland: Our weekly roundup of some of the best--and the worst--tweets from the park that's only sometimes the happiest place on earth. [OC Weekly]
Business School Ditches Kindle DX: The Kindle isn't doing as well in academic environments as Amazon—and educators—had originally hoped. The Darden Business School at the University of Virginia is near the end of its Kindle "experiment," already concluding that students are not into the Kindle when it comes to classroom learning. They are, however, fans of the Kindle when it comes to using it as a personal reading device. [Ars Technia]
The Real ROI of Social Media: If you're asking the ROI question about social media and expecting to be able to show it all on a spreadsheet, you're still looking at social media as a channel, most likely for just one or two business functions, such as marketing or recruiting.
While it's true that social media can be used in that way, it has become something else entirely: an essential communication utility. What's the ROI of the telephone? Or email? It's a ridiculous question, right? [American Express OPEN]
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One of the things I enjoy most about my work is having the opportunity to talk with parents, educators and brands to dispel some of the myths or fears around kids' use of social media.
No matter the audience, my message is pretty consistent: Don't panic!
I'm also frequently asked to share some of my favorite digital parenting links, tips and other resources. So here we go! I've sorted through my bookmarks and put together this (hopefully) handy handout. Feel free to print it, tweet it and share it with anyone you think would find it helpful.
I'll be updating it as new issues and resources pop up on my radar. If you have a great resource, please feel free to share it in the comments section and I'll add it to a future draft of this handout.
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Oprah Launches Oprah Mobile Apps: The application, available for the iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Pre and Google Android platforms, offers video clips and previews from Winfrey's talk show, ticket alerts, weekly polls, and articles and photos from Oprah.com, The Oprah Magazine and Oprah Radio.
I have no doubt that Oprah's legion of smartphone carrying fans will make this app a hit! [Venture Beat]
Publishers Guide to Facebook Open Graph: Whether we like it (pun intended) or not, we have to understand what this move means. It impacts users, publishers, competitors and, of course, Facebook itself. In this post, we summarize what Facebook announced and ponder the impact this will have on everyone. Related: Facebook Social Plugins [RWW] [Facebook Developers]
Youth Media iPad Apps to Know: With more and more magazine, publishing and TV execs exploring the
potential of creating interactive, social apps for the iPad, we thought
we'd point to a few of those getting an early start for our latest
Ypulse Toolbox. Related: 5 amazing iPad e-books for kids [Ypulse] [CNET]
Mobile Gaming Soars on Smartphones: Mobile gaming is more than ever a tale of two devices: feature phones and smartphones. The U.S. population playing games on regular mobile phones fell by 35% last year to 29.5 million, while the number of smartphone gamers shot up 60% to 21.4 million, according to a new comScore report. [MediaPost]
7 Quick Steps to Foursquare Marketing: Marketing using Foursquare is beneficial because although a small user
base, they are loyal. It also takes up almost no time, so the ROI can
be high. Foursquare marketing is most appropriate for brick and mortar
businesses (people physically walk into your store to make purchases),
but anyone can be taking advantage of Foursquare. [Real Time Marketer]
Millennials Want Social Sites to Delete User Data: Debunking the oft-repeated assertion that young people don't care about privacy, new research shows that Web users between the ages of 18 and 24 are highly protective of certain information about themselves. [Online Media Daily]
Mom’s Guide to Those Facebook Changes: What do these changes mean? And what should you do if you don’t like the prospect of automatically sharing your activity with everyone you know on Facebook? Related: Facebook Safety Resources for Parents, Teachers & Teens [GigOm] [Barking Robot]
Teen Texting Stats: Anne Collier, author of the must read NetFamilyNews blog and co-founder of ConnectSafely, has a great analysis of the Pew Internet report on teen texting. [NetFamilyNews]
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This week Facebook has rolled out a couple new initiatives to help its community members better protect themselves against the security, privacy and other threats that have become all too common among users of social networking services.
The Facebook initiative has two parts: Facebook Security and Facebook Safety.
The Facebook Security page that has a lot of good basic information on protecting your identity, computer and privacy while using Facebook and the Internet.
The Facebook Security page is full of information on how to protect yourself from malware and other nasty bugs. Facebook Security has also partnered with McAfee, a leader in anti-virus software, to provide the Facebook community with information on the latest threats along with strategies to safeguard your computer.
In celebration of this partnership, McAfee is offering all fans on Facebook an exclusive, complimentary 6-month subscription to McAfee security software.
The second half of this program is Facebook Safety, which provides resources for parents, teachers & teens to combat bullying, threats, embarrassing photos and other abusive behavior posted by other Facebook users. The Facebook Safety page also has information on how parents, educators and teens can report abusive behavior and bullying to Facebook.
While Facebook has had these safety resources available before, it's nice to see them all packaged up in one spot. I think this new program will provide some invaluable resources for (nervous) parents and anyone else who works with teens and shows Facebook's commitment to keeping kids safe on Facebook.
Related: Social Networking Safety Tips for Parents, Teens & Educators
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The Chronicle of Higher Education had an interesting piece about a new trend on campus where students are using mobile geosocial networking platforms like Foursquare to "tag" professors, students and campus facilities with "virtual graffiti."
Some universities, like Harvard, are using Foursquare's location-based service as a way to create a "virtual tour" by leaving tips and advice at various locations around campus. This is a brilliant way to use technology to deliver an useful information to the student community.
At North Carolina State University, mobile users are able to view historical pictures of campus buildings based on where users are standing, "including a snapshot of the first freshman class, from 1890, when the agricultural college's hot mobile technology was horses."
The article cites how one student "recently used it to leave some virtual graffiti on the spot of Mr. Kratz's office: Watch out for lame jokes!" Pretty harmless stuff.
But students at other universities are using (or have the potential to use) Foursquare in some, uhm, creative ways:
Since Foursquare's debut last year, students have diligently labeled, praised, and, in some cases, profaned college campuses. Take this note, easily Googled, that somebody calling himself Mock Redneck Jr. left at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte: "The library has Free Wi-Fi, Barely Legal girls and a warm place to drop a deuce."
Now imagine this nightmare scenario: A prospective student's mother goes on a college tour. She pulls out a phone. Her expression screams oh-my-gosh as she reads Mr. Redneck's note. Maybe she goes on to a dorm, and perhaps its residents have left other goodies online. The teacher they loathed. The room they smoked pot in. The couch they had sex on.
Now none of these activities are really out of the ordinary for most college students. What is different is that they are much more public. I'm certain that at some point, some college administrator will overreact and ban Foursquare from campus. Not smart.
Foursquare tagging should be bundled in that digital media mantra from the late 90s: think before you post. Just like Facebook, Twitter and other social networking services, most likely your Foursquare check-ins and tips will follow you for life. And students should just reminded that they are leaving digital crumbs that they may not be able to clean up later in life. And privacy? That's an illusion. Or is it?
But beyond the campus tagging, this article left me wondering what the implications for brands? There's nothing stopping a group of angry environmentalists from standing outside Nestle headquarters and tagging them on Foursquare with negative tips.
For me, this raises a lot of questions. Who owns Foursquare content? Me? Or Foursquare? Will a brand have to sue Foursquare to get negative content removed? If Foursquare removes negative content, how will their community respond?
Imagine another nightmare scenario where high school kids use Foursquare to bully a classmate by tagging their victims physical location with slurs (i.e. slut, fat, stupid, whore, gay). As many of us know, teenage cruelty has no boundaries.
While it seems like social networking has been around for eons, the reality is that for the most part this is still uncharted territory and we are still trying to navigate the pitfalls of this new world.
I'm the first to admit that at this point I don't have all the answers. The one thing I do know is that when these things do happen, and they will, we shouldn't overreact.
January 2011 Update: I ran across this example of Foursquare Grafitti for a high school in Australia. I wonder if the school has any idea?
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Header Artwork by BT Livermore
Social Icons Courtesy of Davide Di Cillo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
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