Facebook’s launch of Messenger Kids is a game-changer – but not just in the way you might think. Sure it’s the world’s largest social media service’s first product for people under 13. That’s certainly big news, and what will capture most of the headlines this week. But it’s actually a combination of that and something less noticeable and more meaningful that’s really game-changing about Messenger … [Read more...] about Facebook’s Messenger Kids: Important new digital-parenting tool
Parenting
Post-FOSI: Online safety now, predictions for 2020
"Trust and civility" were, so very appropriately, the focus of the Family Online Safety Institute's just-ended annual conference this challenging year. "We have witnessed countless examples…of ways that trust in institutions, in organizations and even in each other has been eroded," FOSI CEO Stephen Balkam noted in his opening remarks. "And we have watched how basic civility has been challenged … [Read more...] about Post-FOSI: Online safety now, predictions for 2020
About teens’ new top app ‘tbh’ & (real) safety in apps
"It's trying to be the anti-Sarahah," reports New York Magazine. But, like Sarahah, tbh (for "to be honest"), the newest hot app among teens in Apple's App Store, is probably trying not to be a flash in the pan. [As of today, it's No. 3, after Facebook Messenger and Gmail, on Apple's "Top Charts" list for free apps, down 2 from No. 1 since NYMag.com's report.] But before I tell you a bit more … [Read more...] about About teens’ new top app ‘tbh’ & (real) safety in apps
2 kinds of bullying, 2 kinds of empathy: Research
It's an age-old social problem, but we have gotten so much smarter about bullying – both the problem and the solutions – since media became so very social. Not only do we now know that the age-old "schoolyard bully" is a stereotype, we know it's not the only one people all over the world entertain. There's more than one stereotype of bullying and more than one kind. But there's something else we … [Read more...] about 2 kinds of bullying, 2 kinds of empathy: Research
Yellow app: Signs of smarter digital safety
It isn't often that a social media startup has the stated "ambition to become a major social platform and a leader in safety [emphasis mine]." But that's what the team behind Yellow, a fast-growing, Paris-based videochat app that just launched in the U.S., says, and I believe them. Details about safety measures in a minute, but first: Intention alone is huge in an industry where startups and … [Read more...] about Yellow app: Signs of smarter digital safety