Because most schools block entire social media sites in an effort to keep out inappropriate content, they also block all the perfectly appropriate and even educational content on the social Web. That goes for YouTube too, of course. But "YouTube has a vast library of content, much of which can be used for educational purposes," PC Magazine reports, so Google launched YouTube for Schools, which … [Read more...] about Now there’s YouTube designed for school
Archives for December 2011
Will the global village have a ‘911’?
This is an important next step for suicide prevention as well as social media. Facebook and the US's National Suicide Prevention Lifeline have just announced a partnership that links Facebook users expressing suicidal thoughts directly to live chat with a crisis counselor at the Lifeline. Before, and like other social-media services, Facebook would just send the distressed user the Lifeline's … [Read more...] about Will the global village have a ‘911’?
Exploitative site alert for parents
In the Cyberbullying Research Center blog, professor and cyberbullying researcher Sameer Hinduja took the time to alert readers to the latest representation of the Net's darkside: "IsAnyoneUp," a year-old site that he describes as "essentially a hybrid of social media and amateur pornography." Dr. Hinduja links to other articles about the site, the first of which makes it sound like the go-to … [Read more...] about Exploitative site alert for parents
+1 or -1 for Google’s ‘Find My Face’ feature?
More +1 than not but pretty neutral from a parent's perspective. I say that because, if kids are welcomed to Google's new social network service, Google+, they – like everybody else – will have the option to choose whether they want to allow their friends (people in their "Circles") to tag them in photos – the just-announced "Find My Face" feature is opt-in, not provided automatically. People can … [Read more...] about +1 or -1 for Google’s ‘Find My Face’ feature?
.xxx won’t make porn more accessible IF…
…for now – until the blocking technology works with all browsers – families make it a rule that kids use Firefox and they download this plug-in for it: the MetaCert Add-on. Firefox is the only browser for which there's a .xxx blocking tool, but that's changing. It'll work with Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Opera soon, and I'm sure the major stand-alone filtering products will soon offer … [Read more...] about .xxx won’t make porn more accessible IF…