Snapchat, the little app that came out of nowhere – well, Stanford University, but launched with no media fanfare by a couple of students whose service now supports 50 million snaps a day – has been joined by a similar "ephemeral messaging" app by Facebook: Poke. But now that perishable photo-sharing (the photos disappear in 10 seconds or less) is a trend, let's look at what's really interesting, … [Read more...] about Perishable pix: First Snapchat, now Poke
mobile
One mom’s cellphone contract for her son
When I first read Janell Hoffman's 18-point contract for her 13-year-old son Greg's cellphone use, I was a little put off. So it really helped to watch Good Morning America's video story about it. Why? Because GMA gave it a light touch, and reporter Akiko Fujita pointed out afterwards that "a lot of this was done in jest." That helped because this was very public parenting, and – if this national … [Read more...] about One mom’s cellphone contract for her son
The new, revised COPPA
The US Federal Trade Commission's revisions to the COPPA Rule announced today (12/19/12), are aimed at syncing up a rule mandated by a 1998 law with today's technology and with "the way children use the Internet, mobile devices and social networking," the FTC says in its press release. For example, the personal information that services cannot collect from children under 13 without parental … [Read more...] about The new, revised COPPA
FTC still not satisfied with kid app privacy
Only 20% of the 400 children’s apps the FTC analyzed "provided disclosures about their data collection practices," the New York Times reported today – and the apps that did linked to long, dense privacy policies that few users could comprehend. The Federal Trade Commission's announcement does not surprise; it's an update of the Commission's report last February (see this). But it says "little or … [Read more...] about FTC still not satisfied with kid app privacy
Snapchat: Gamified Instagram, ephemeral Pinterest?
Don't get me wrong. By blending the most popular elements of mobile technology in a new way, Snapchat is in a separate category – in fact, a category leader like Instagram or Pinterest. But it's also a little in the Instagram category – photos + text, only with a time element to it (more about Instagram here). And it's kind of a perishable Pinterest, where photos are scrapbooked or placed into … [Read more...] about Snapchat: Gamified Instagram, ephemeral Pinterest?