When young people in the Balkan country of Macedonia create fake news sites like WorldPoliticus.com and make good money off of all the American voter traffic their uber-grabby headlines generate (true story, from BuzzFeed), this is not the new Nigerian Internet scam. I think we're seeing that this is a history-changing problem that affects everybody, not just the people who were duped. Fake news … [Read more...] about Fake news & how media literacy is protective
Literacy & Citizenship
Youth cybersecurity concerns & what will reduce them: Research
This being National Cyber Security Awareness Month, we might ask how secure young people are feeling online. According to two just-released studies, not so much. But there's some light in there, so stay with me. A Microsoft survey of 13-17 year-olds in 14 countries found that 43% had experienced unwelcome contact at some point. The study also surveyed adults and found that 58% of young people … [Read more...] about Youth cybersecurity concerns & what will reduce them: Research
Online harassment 2016: Fresh data
I get a lot of press releases in my email in-box. This one about harassment in social media truly surprised me because it was balanced, cited data responsibly, did not appeal to people's fears and represented clear understanding of today's media environment. The survey of Americans 18+ – a project of Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist.com and craigconnects.org, and social impact consultants … [Read more...] about Online harassment 2016: Fresh data
Behind the scenes of safety & free speech in social media
For a must-read article for anyone interested in safety and free speech online, some of the social media industry's most seasoned content moderators – the apps' and sites' safety managers and free speech decisionmakers – went public for the first time. "Their stories reveal how the boundaries of free speech were drawn during a period of explosive growth for a high-stakes public domain, one … [Read more...] about Behind the scenes of safety & free speech in social media
Our humanity, not our tech, is the key to fixing online hate
To mark Safer Internet Day 2016, let's take stock of what we've learned so far and what we can do with the knowledge we've gained so far about online hate.... It has taken a couple of decades but, collectively, we're definitely getting smarter about online risk and how to avoid and address it. We're also getting smarter about how people of various ages, cultures and interests experience and … [Read more...] about Our humanity, not our tech, is the key to fixing online hate