Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

Trend Watch: Ryan Seacrest on the Future of Television and Entertainment

In an interview this month with Fortune Magazine Ryan Seacrest talks about what he considers the exciting future of entertainment. 

”We’re seeing platform, technology, and content all converging, and it’s happening quickly,” he says. “It’s exciting to me.

There’s an appetite for more original content than ever, and I have a company that creates content, whether it’s distributed in short form, reality form, live form, or game form.”

However, what stories might television viewers expect to see from the Emmy-award winning Jaime Oliver and record-breaking Kardashian’s producer?

However, what stories might television viewers expect to see from the Emmy-award winning Jaime Oliver 'Food Revolution' and record-breaking Kardashian’s producer?

Ryan reveals he desires: “to continue to produce shows that directly effect change. We’ve gone too long without addressing issues like child obesity, so to be able to tell those stories and help people through television is a powerful thing.”

You can read the entire piece in the January 2012 issue of Fortune Magazine.

Infographic: The Millennials, Gen X, Boomers and Silent Generation

Created by: Online Graduate Programs | View Large | Hat tip @ypulse

How to Report Suicidal Expressions on Facebook

Earlier this week, Facebook launched a new initiative to augment its response to potentially suicidal members by offering them the opportunity for a private chat with a trained crisis representative from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

This service will be available to people who use Facebook in the United States and Canada.

The new service enables Facebook users to report a suicidal comment they see posted by a friend to Facebook using either the Report Suicidal Content link or the report links found throughout Facebook.

The person who posted the suicidal comment will then immediately receive an e-mail from Facebook encouraging them to call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or to click on a link to begin a confidential chat session with a crisis worker.

Preventing suicide is everyone’s business. Nearly 100 Americans die by suicide every day, and in the past year, more than eight million Americans 18 or older had thought seriously about suicide.

Here's a free printable on this new program. Feel free to share it with teachers, parents, youth pastors or anyone else who works with youth.

Related Resources

• Reach Out USA (http://us.reachout.com)
• Facebook Safety Center (http://www.facebook.com/safety/)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/)
• Facebook Help Center > Report Suicidal Content (http://on.fb.me/gkh2Hh)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Bully?

Just days after accusing the Muppets of being communists, Fox News brings us a kids media story featuring special ed professor George Giuliani. 

Mr. Giuliani, author of "No More Bullies at the North Pole" which re-tells the story of the triumphant reindeer, asserts that St. Nick's behavior in the classic stop motion cartoon, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is tantamount to bullying and not appropriate for children.

Seriously? Yep.

When challenged with the idea that Rudolph is overcoming and proving bullies wrong, Guiliani was unreleting:

"What they're doing to him is to say that Comet is the coach, and Comet is saying to the children, don't ever play with this reindeer ever again," he said. "And he tells him to go home and he bullies him and he mocks him. That should never happen."

 

While it's easy to laugh this guy off, the reality is that thousands of kids are bullied in school each day. It's sad that this guy is getting the attention of FOX News viewers instead someone who is working towards ending this bullying (online and off) epidemic that is so pervasive in youth culture.

So what do you think? Does the classic kids movie promote bullying among kids? Is Santa a bully? Or has Mr. Guiliani just had too much egg nog?

Either way, I think Guiliani is getting coal in his stocking this year.

What You Need to Know About Facebook Privacy Settings & Teens

As part of my work with Facebook on teacher, schools and educational media outreach, we've put together a series of free handouts.

In this handout, we share how privacy works for teens on Facebook. It's good information for parents, youth pastors and anybody who works with kids.

Facebook 101: Special Privacy Settings for Students and Other Minors

I Want My (Social) MTV: 'WatchWith' Social TV App Connects Friends, Cast & Social Networks

Sick of watching "Jersey Shore" by yourself? Tired of your boo snoring their way through your hilarious "Real World" commentary? Download MTV's new iPhone and iPad app WatchWith now — your new Social TV watching partner.

Check it out:

• WatchWith acts as a DVR for social commentary, recording the best, most relevant comments and delivering them real-time — your Facebook and Twitter friends and followers obviously get top billing.

• WatchWith serves up cast commentary, too. (You know you want Snooki's take on the latest Meatball drama.)

• The app is so smart it knows your timezone, dishing out exclusive content to the timeline of your show.

• Let's say you watch an episode on demand and miss out on the live conversation. Don't worry, WatchWith can sync the episode with the comments.

• Oh you want more? It's got hilarious trivia, bonus clips, the newest pics, blog posts and more.

Did I mention it's free? Download it now on iTunes »

Infographic: Everything You Wanted to Know (and more!) About Security on Facebook

In this infographic you can find out more about Facebook's security infrastructure and an overview of the tools available to all users to increase their level of account security.

Also, be sure to take a look at the resources in the Facebook Safety Center which is full of multimedia and other resources with domain specific sections for Law Enforcement, Parents, Teachers and Teens.

Facebook Security Infographic

More Facebook Security Tips & Tricks

• Facebook Security Page
• Facebook Security Tips
• YouTube > Facebook Safety
• Facebook Family Safety Center
• Facebook Safety Tips for Parents

Lady Gaga Teams Up with Harvard, MacArthur and the California Endowment to Launch the 'Born This Way Foundation'

Lady Gaga on Wednesday launched the Born This Way Foundation to support programs dealing with youth empowerment and help people facing bullying and abandonment.

To date, Lady Gaga has harnessed the power of the Internet to attract more than 44 million fans on Facebook and 15 million followers on Twitter.

The foundation, named after her Grammy-winning album and single of the same name, was launched by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta.

"My mother and I have initiated a passion project. Together we hope to establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment."

It follows on the singer's interests in supporting youth issue. Last year she partnered with Virgin Mobile to raise awareness of homeless youth and after the suicide of bullying victim Jeremy Rodemyer she elevated the issue of bullying in schools into the national spotlight and even raised the issue with President Obama.

The Born This Way Foundation will be work closely with the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and The California Endowment, both focusing on youth empowerment.

The Foundation will also work with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, which focuses on the power of the Internet as a means to promote change.

Trend Watch: Why Parents Help Children Lie to Facebook About Age

Facebook, like many communication services and social media sites, uses its Terms of Service (ToS) to forbid children under the age of 13 from creating an account.

Such prohibitions are not uncommon in response to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which seeks to empower parents by requiring commercial Web site operators to obtain parental consent before collecting data from children under 13.

Given economic costs, social concerns,and technical issues, most general–purpose sites opt to restrict underage access through their ToS. Yet in spite of such restrictions, research suggests that millions of underage users circumvent this rule and sign up for accounts on Facebook.

Given strong evidence of parental concern about children’s online activity, this raises questions of whether or not parents understand ToS restrictions for children, how they view children’s practices of circumventing age restrictions, and how they feel about children’s access being regulated.

This paper provides survey data that show that many parents know that their underage children are on Facebook in violation of the site’s restrictions and that they are often complicit in helping their children join the site.

The data suggest that, by creating a context in which companies choose to restrict access to children, COPPA inadvertently undermines parents’ ability to make choices and protect their children’s data. Our data have significant implications for policy–makers, particularly in light of ongoing discussions surrounding COPPA and other age–based privacy.

A few  takeaways:

• “As a result of COPPA, lying about one’s age has become normal, and parents often help children lie, [which] creates safety and privacy issues.”

• “Online safety and privacy are of great concern to parents, but most parents do not want solutions that result in age-based restrictions for their children.”

• “Parents are open to recommended age ratings and other approaches that offer guidance without limiting their children’s access.”

• 84% were aware their children signed up and, of that 84%, nearly two-thirds (64%) even “helped create the account.

• 53% of the parents know Facebook has a minimum age; 35% think it’s “a recommendation, not a requirement”

• 78% reported various reasons that make it acceptable for their children to ignore or violate minimum age restrictions online.”

• “Because children lie about their age, these sites still collect data about children under 13 that COPPA would otherwise prohibit without explicit parental consent.”

• “Such a high incidence of parent-supported Terms of Service circumvention results in a normalization of the practice of violating online rules. This results in a worst-case scenario where none of COPPA’s public policy goals for mediating children’s interactions with these websites are met.”

• “Instead of providing more tools to help parents and their children make informed choices, industry responses to COPPA have neglected parental preferences and have altogether restricted what is available for children to access.”

Why Parents Help Children Lie to Facebook about age: Unintended consequences of COPPA

How Reality TV Impacts Tween and Teen Girls

A national survey of 1,100 girls conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute, Real to Me: Girls and Reality TV, found that tween and teen girls who regularly view reality TV accept and expect a higher level of drama, aggression, and bullying in their own lives, and measure their worth primarily by their physical appearance.

The authors of the report found that only 53% of 11- to 13-year-old and 8% of 14- to 17-year-old girls say that their parents regularly monitor what they watch.

Despite parental limitations and concerns, most girls watch reality TV, and almost half watch it regularly. Fully 41% of girls say their parents don’t approve of them watching reality TV but 71% do it anyway.

As the report points out, there are many positive lessons for girls to learn from these shows, but it requires parents to sit down with their tweens and teens look for teachable moments.

Among the findings:

• 68 percent of girls agree that reality shows "make me think I can achieve anything in life"
• 48 percent that they "help me realize there are people out there like me."
• Seventy-five percent of girls say that reality TV depicts people with different backgrounds and beliefs.

Girls and Reality TV Factsheet

The Girl Scout Institute has put together a great reality TV handout for parents to help them get the conversation started. And it wouldn't hurt to have your son's involved in the conversation as well.

The big take away here is that parents need to be more involved and aware of the media--TV, web and social--that their kids (both girls and boys) are consuming on a daily basis. Our culture is saturated with media and it's up to parents, now more than ever, to be monitor message embeded in the content their kids are consuming.

Reality TV Tip Sheet for Parents

Research conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute, Real to Me: Girls and Reality TV, found that tween and teen girls who regularly view reality TV accept and expect a higher level of drama, aggression, and bullying in their own lives, and measure their worth primarily by their physical appearance.

The big take away here is that parents need to be more involved and aware of the media--TV, web and social--that their kids (both girls and boys) are consuming on a daily basis.

The Girl Scout Institute has put together a great handout for parents to help them get the conversation started. And it wouldn't hurt to have your son's involved in the conversation as well.

Real to Me: Reality TV Tip Sheet for Parents

Infographic: How Mobile Phones Shape the Lives of College Students

Created by: HackCollege

Is YouTube the New Cable TV?

A little over a year ago Google, with much fanfare, launched Google TV. Unfortunately, things didn't quite pan out as well as Google or its partners (Sony, Logitech and Intel) had hoped.

Even an infusion of pop culture icon Kevin Bacon couldn't rescue Google TV.

However, big changes are underway at the Googleplex that Google hopes will change the fortunes of of the struggling service.

Google TV, Take Two

According to an article in Business Insider, the first big change to the service is that "Google TV will present all content in one interface regardless of source -- when you look for comedy shows or movies, for instance, you get your cable shows, Netflix rentals, and (critically) YouTube videos all arranged next to one another." 

This move is part of Google’s plans to transform YouTube into more of a “leanback” experience, make TV more social and challenge the dominance of traditional broadcast and cable television providers.

YouTube, The New Cable TV

In addition, Google announced that YouTube would partner with dozens of content creators to bring quality original programming to the platform. 

Demonstrating the wide range of channels that will be rolling out over the next several months, the well-known names participating as creators include Madonna, Jay-Z, Amy Poehler, Rainn Wilson, Shaquille O’Neal, Sofia Vergara, Tony Hawk and Ashton Kutcher.

To aid YouTube viewers with discovery, the channels will be grouped into topic categories such as pop culture, sports, music, health and fitness, animals, and domestic design, as well as categories organized by demographics like age range and ethnic identity.

That's my two cents. So what do you think? Is this new and improved YouTube content experience a threat to cable TV?

Trend Watch: YouTube Beats out Facebook as Top Youth Social Media Brand

A new Harris poll says that YouTube is the top social media brand among America's youth.

The video site beat Facebook as Social Media Brand of the Year in the 13- to 24-year-old age range, according to the 2012 Harris Poll Youth EquiTrend study.

In terms of YouTube’s popularity, other studies have shown that more than 2 billion videos are played every day on the vide-sharing site and that YouTube mobile receives more than 100 million views daily.

The study sought to benchmark the brands that America’s youth prefers by evaluating familiarity, quality, and purchase consideration. More than 5,000 Americans, ages eight to 24, took part in the study. [Via PR Daily]

Related: YouTube Pictures Teachers and Students Using More Video in the Classroom

Trend Watch: Essential Facts About the Video Game Industry

Quick. Tell me the age of the average game player. 12? 15? 17? Nope.

According to a new report from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the average game player age is 37.

Even more surprising is the finding that in 2011, 29% of gamers were over the age of 50. In all, 72% of American households play computer of video games.

Here are some other interesting stats from the 2011 Essential Facts About the Computer & Video Game Industry report released by ESA  on the demographics of video game players.

You can read the full executive summary after the jump.

Parents & Games

"Kids play video games for fun with the goal of progressing to the next level and eventually conquering the oppoent, whether that's another player or the computer.

What's more, the social aspect--sharing tactics, experience and explanations--help cemet what they've learned." ~ James Paul Glee, author of What Video Games Have to Teach us About Learning and Literacy

• 91% of the time parents are present at the time games are purchased or rented

• 86% of the time kids receive their parents' permission before purchasing or renting a game

• 9 out of 10 parents pay attention to the content of the games their kids play

• 68% believe game play provides mental stimulation or education

Top Four Reasons Parents Play with Their Kids

• 85% Because they're asked to

• 84% It's fun for the entire family

• 81% It's a good opportunity to socialize with the kids

• 57% It's a good opportunity to monitor game content

Video Games and Parental Controls

• 98% of parents are confident in the ESRB ratings

• 86% of parents are aware of the ESRB rating system

• 75% of parents believe that the parental controls are useful

• 80% of parents place time limits on video game playing

• 74% of parents place limits on Internet usage

Gender & Gamer Demographics

"There are games now for pretty much every age, every demographic." ~ Jesse Schell, professor of entertainment technology at Carnegie Mellon University

• 58% Male 42% Female

• Women age 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (37%) than boys age 17 or younger (13%)

• 33% of gamers say that playing computer or video games is their favorite entertainment activity

How Gamers Play

"Gaming is productive. It produces positive emotion, stronger social relationships, a sense of accomplishment, and for players who are a part of a game community, a chance to build a sense of purpose."  ~ Jane McGonigal, PhD. author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

• 55% of gamers play games on their phones or handheld device

• 65% of gamers play games with other gamers in person

• 47% play puzzle, board game, triva or card games

2011 Essential Facts: Video Game Industry