A project of The Net Safety Collaborative (TNSC), a Salt Lake City-based 501c3 nonprofit organization founded in 2016, NetFamilyNews was a blog before there were blogs (they were just called Websites back when NFN launched in 1999). Written by TNSC founder and executive director Anne Collier, NetFamilyNews.org’s aim is to document developments at the intersection of youth and digital tech and media. It is now truly a blog and thus commentary more than reporting. In addition to Anne’s writing, she does consulting on youth safety, literacy and citizenship for social media platforms. For over a decade she has served as an online safety adviser as well. Among other companies, she has advised Facebook, Google, Snapchat, Trend Micro, TikTok, Twitter, Yubo and, in earlier years, MySpace. In 2005, Anne co-founded ConnectSafely.org with tech journalist Larry Magid, co-directing it with him for nearly a decade.
Beginning in March 2015, NFN partnered with California nonprofit organization #ICANHELP to pilot SocialMediaHelpline.com, an Internet helpline for the U.S.’s K-12 schools. It was modeled after the UK’s Professionals Online Safety Helpline. Working with risk prevention specialists, educators and social media companies, the service was designed to help school leaders get harmful content deleted and work with students to resolve Internet-related problems among peers.
During NFN’s first 15 years, the organization participated in three national task forces (one of which, the Online Safety & Technology Working Group, Collier co-chaired with Hemanshu Nigam, then Chief Security Officer of News Corp.). NFN also co-developed workshops on digital citizenship at Internet Governance Forums in Europe and Africa and participated in a number of other international discussions on children’s rights in a digital age. A bit of ancient history: In 1998-’99 NFN was a sponsor of America Links Up, a nationwide Internet education campaign launched during the first National Kids Online Week in September of that year (the site is now housed at the Computer Museum).
Anne Collier’s bio is here.
E-mail us anytime with thoughts on what you’d like to see in Net Family News, your own family’s online experiences, or comments about what’s going on with the Internet at large or in your own community. We always love hearing from fellow parents via anne[at]netfamilynews.org. Thank you for your interest Net Family News!
