Micro-blogging via Twitter has really taken off in Japan. In fact, proportionately more Japanese than Americans tweet: 16.3% of Japan's Internet users vs. 9.8% of the US's, according to an article in the Washington Post. Compare that to Facebook use in Japan at only 3% of Net users vs. 62% of US Net users also using Facebook, the article cites Nielsen research as showing. Japan's No. 1 social … [Read more...] about Twitterers in US and Japan
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Fledgling star reporters in kids’ virtual worlds
The people who help protect kids in virtual worlds have noticed an interesting trend: More and more kids are posting news, cheats (workarounds), and pictures from their favorite online worlds and games in their own blogs. "Essentially, the kids act as reporters for the virtual world by taking screenshots of parties and events in addition to reporting on various issues," writes Chase Straight in … [Read more...] about Fledgling star reporters in kids’ virtual worlds
Posting pix: How cautious should we be?
The other day I was talking to a psychologist who described a time when he was driving into a busy 4-way intersection on a highway frontage road – one of the craziest intersections I've ever heard described. He came to a stop, he said, and suddenly found he just couldn't take his foot off the brake, paralyzed by a voice in his head saying, "Be careful. Don't move. Don't get in that driver's way. … [Read more...] about Posting pix: How cautious should we be?
Violating our kids’ privacy
Kids aren't the only people who need to think before they post, but the latter half of that sentence is an oversimplification, of course. New York Times columnist Lisa Belkin brings new meaning to the phrase "Protecting Your Child's Privacy" in her Motherlode column this week. Where's the line between "exploiting [a child's] pain" – as one teenage subject of his parent's published memoir put it – … [Read more...] about Violating our kids’ privacy
Online privacy: Photos out of control
Baby pictures, family photos, travel pix, party photos, whatever - there can be far-reaching unintended consequences of posting them online, whether you're blogging, social networking, or photo- or video-sharing by phone or computer. Take mom and dad bloggers, for example. They post a lot of photos of their families, and their numbers are significant. Johnson & Johnson's BabyCenter.com, a … [Read more...] about Online privacy: Photos out of control