Reflecting on a cellphone app developer's claim, I'm thinking that tracking our kids' movements, moment by moment, isn't the best way to enhance "family awareness." Those are the words of Chris Hull, CEO of the company that developed the Life360 tracking app, in an interview for Time. Is that "awareness" as in "surveillance"? Oddly, Time interpreted Hull's reference to be "family awareness" as … [Read more...] about Does tracking our kids’ every move make them safer?
Takeaways from SxSW, Part 1: The Brazilian Dream
[This article was originally published March 18, 2012, then my service’s server crashed, losing months of data. So reposting 10/8/12.] In addition to the panel mentioned in my previous post about Hope North and the one I participated in, "Reaching Teens on the Digital Streets," here – in two parts – are some takeaways from two areas I focused on at South by Southwest (SxSW) last week: featured … [Read more...] about Takeaways from SxSW, Part 1: The Brazilian Dream
Substantive followup to ‘Kony 2012’: Support Hope North
This article was originally published March 14, 2012, then my service’s server crashed, losing months of data. So reposting 10/8/12. Leaving all criticism in the dust because it's more distraction than action, here's the natural response to "Kony 2012," the most viral digital-video campaign in history (so far): "This Thing That Happened" about Hope North, the boarding school and haven in … [Read more...] about Substantive followup to ‘Kony 2012’: Support Hope North
The new MySpace
It's not quite live yet, but the marketing campaign has quietly begun, CNET reports. And it's true to the core interest group of its earliest, pre-News Corp.-acquisition days: Before Facebook seriously began replacing it for teens in 2008, MySpace "had become a powerful music platform. If you were in the music business in whatever capacity, you had to visit the site regularly," CNET says. Ad Age … [Read more...] about The new MySpace
Facebook passes the 1 billion mark
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's status update yesterday was about how the site had passed 1 billion active users a month, the Washington Post reported, and Business Week has an interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about his service's "next billion." In it, after the question "How big are Facebook’s ambitions in areas like health care, finance, and government?", Zuckerberg makes an … [Read more...] about Facebook passes the 1 billion mark