I am pleased to announce that we at ConnectSafely.org have just released the 2012 edition of our Parents' Guide to Facebook. It's already being translated into Arabic and Spanish. Since Release 1.0 of the Guide a little over a year ago (this one is a full 2.0), Facebook has made a lot of changes – including Timeline (the page formerly known as "profile"), more and more "in-line privacy controls" … [Read more...] about NEW! The 2012 edition of ‘A Parents’ Guide to Facebook’
social networking
Check out our ‘Parents’ Guide to Google+’!
I'm tooting our ConnectSafely horn, here, but we had a launch of our own this week: that of our Google+ guide for parents. You can download the PDF at PlusParents.org, or read it chunk by chunk at the Google Safety Center. In it, my co-author and ConnectSafely co-director Larry Magid and I offer you a little context on where this service fits into both the rest of Google and teen social networking … [Read more...] about Check out our ‘Parents’ Guide to Google+’!
Snapshot of how Indian youth view social media
It's interesting to see that dismissive attitudes toward youth in social media are universal and that, where they turn up, so does the "clicktivism" argument – the one about how online activism is inconsequential, or not real activism (see this). In India, a recent national survey of people 18-35 found that 76% "believe that social media empowers them to bring change to the world," particularly in … [Read more...] about Snapshot of how Indian youth view social media
Microsoft’s ‘So.cl’ networking for students
Back in 2008, the researchers of the MacArthur Foundation-funded Digital Youth Project reported that there are two kinds of social networking: the friendship-driven kind we're all very familiar with and interest-driven. The latter kind is self-explanatory too, but worth zooming in on. Because it's not only online socializing around interests (as in a writer's community, the Harry Potter Alliance, … [Read more...] about Microsoft’s ‘So.cl’ networking for students
Snapshot of a changing (global) social networking scene
It's good that ReadWriteWeb's bookmarking "Where in the World People Do Not Use Facebook," because social-networking practices are certainly in motion around the world. Another headline, in the Washington Post, reads: "Facebook increases dominance in non-English-speaking countries." So let's start with the interesting cultural notes in the ReadWriteWeb piece, near the top of which are a couple of … [Read more...] about Snapshot of a changing (global) social networking scene