What struck me about danah boyd's post about the helicopter-parenting of social media users was that the banning of Facebook forces young people "to choose between social status and parental obedience." Though I wouldn't put it exactly that way, my own parenting experience tells me she's right. My 18-year-old and 13-year-old both use Facebook, although (and quite naturally) differently, because … [Read more...] about Parenting & overparenting in the digital age
social networking
New help app for Facebook users
SafetyWeb, part of the newest wave of social Web monitoring products for parents, has created a useful service for Facebook users themselves: an app for finding and getting help for all sorts of problems. It's a very simple little app that, with two clicks, places a "Find Help" link in the left-hand column of your home page (under your profile photo). Click on it, and you go to a page that … [Read more...] about New help app for Facebook users
Fresh insights into teen social media use
Facebook for Facebook's sake – for something to do – is one way some teens use the site, some in wealthier Nashville communities, for example, according to some early observations in social media researcher danah boyd's current field work. "Teens who are more likely to be stuck at home ... are ... much more likely to sit and chat on Facebook because it’s Facebook." They're also texting at … [Read more...] about Fresh insights into teen social media use
Learning by doing: Safe social media for grade school
Citizenship – both digital and the traditional kind – is a verb. It takes practice. So, as you may have heard us ConnectSafely.org folk say, social media need to be in the classroom so students can practice digital citizenship just as for generations they (hopefully still) have opportunities to practice citizenship at school. So I'm thrilled to tell you about a free package of safe social network … [Read more...] about Learning by doing: Safe social media for grade school
Wall Street Journal: Privacy breach with Facebook apps
Today the Wall Street Journal reported that "many of the most popular applications, or 'apps,' on Facebook have been transmitting users’ Facebook ID numbers to marketers and tracking companies." It focused on Facebook, but then explained that the privacy breach it was reporting on is a phenomenon as old as Web links that has become a problem with the advent of social networking in general. The … [Read more...] about Wall Street Journal: Privacy breach with Facebook apps