If there were no Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, teens would be safer in social media, a new study from researchers at New York University indicates (pdf). Without COPPA, children under 13 would have little to no reason to lie about their age to set up a Facebook account, for example (this would be true of any COPPA-compliant site U13s want to join). We all know that, right? We also … [Read more...] about COPPA has likely increased minors’ risk: Study
Holiday help: Parental control tools for tablets
With tablets showing up on more and more kids' holiday wish lists (littler and littler kids!), parents will appreciate any help they can get with keep tablet use safe as well as fun. And there's help over at TechHive, which reports that Amazon Kindle Fire HD, Barnes & Noble Nook HD, and Apple’s iPad, all have some built-in parental controls (e.g., FreeTime on the Kindle Fire and Restrictions … [Read more...] about Holiday help: Parental control tools for tablets
Privacy policies made palatable (or at least digestible)!
No way anybody's going to abandon privacy policies anytime soon – not with the FTC's and others' calls for ever greater disclosure of mobile and Web services' privacy practices (e.g., see this). But no one reads them – even if they could get through all the legal verbiage without nodding off. Knowing this, Mozilla, the people who brought you the Firefox Web browser, and some privacy advocates … [Read more...] about Privacy policies made palatable (or at least digestible)!
Private vs. public parenting (& a Pew study)
Did you know that we parents are pretty darn engaged with the young social media users at our houses? To our credit, I feel, most of us are folding social media into our parenting, the Pew Internet researchers report. For example – although high school student Jake tells his friend that he's "probably the only kid in the world with their mom on Facebook" in this engaging YouTube dramatization by … [Read more...] about Private vs. public parenting (& a Pew study)
Snapchat: Gamified Instagram, ephemeral Pinterest?
Don't get me wrong. By blending the most popular elements of mobile technology in a new way, Snapchat is in a separate category – in fact, a category leader like Instagram or Pinterest. But it's also a little in the Instagram category – photos + text, only with a time element to it (more about Instagram here). And it's kind of a perishable Pinterest, where photos are scrapbooked or placed into … [Read more...] about Snapchat: Gamified Instagram, ephemeral Pinterest?