How could anybody so young have a following in every country on the planet? Facebook turns 10 today and – as of December 31 – has 1.23 billion active users, CNET reports. More than 750 million of them are active on the site daily. Looking at US Facebook use, the Pew Internet Project provides even more insight in a blog post timed to the site's birthday. Pew reports that 57% of US adults use … [Read more...] about 10-year-old Facebook: Data
Kids’ tablets the new TV sets?
It looks like, for kids, tablets are the new TV – at least that's the way media companies are viewing these handheld devices that kids are taking to bears to honey. When I started reading this New York Times piece about Dreamworks's new "DreamTab," I thought, "Shades of the days when cellphone makers made kids' phones," which never really took off for phone and toy makers. But this is different. … [Read more...] about Kids’ tablets the new TV sets?
‘Internet addiction’: New ‘disorder’ about age-old needs?
Judging by the just-released documentary Web Junkie, about a Chinese "Internet addiction" treatment center, it's loneliness that's at the heart of what the Chinese officially call a clinical disorder (more often called "problematic Internet use" in the West). If you can get past the boot-camp-like conditions and young patients' (inmates'?) tears, you'll get to a scene – at 4:50 into the … [Read more...] about ‘Internet addiction’: New ‘disorder’ about age-old needs?
Keek’s fast-growing ‘kred’ (with video-sharers)
You may not have heard of Keek the social app because Mashable says it has "maintained an under-the-radar presence" since it launched in 2011 but is "steadily gaining both users and notoriety in the shadow of networks such as Vine, Instagram and Snapchat." What's most different about it is that videos can be as long as 36 sec. (up from Vine's 6-sec. max and Instagram's 15 sec.). Video or text … [Read more...] about Keek’s fast-growing ‘kred’ (with video-sharers)
Whisper’s popularity no longer a secret
It's being said that the preference pendulum in social media culture is swinging back from transparency (as in Facebook) to anonymity (as in Whisper). And the growing popularity of the Whisper app – where users' posts are Internet meme-style photos overlaid with text (the app makes posting easy by offering up photos it "thinks" match your text, and you get to pick one). People can respond by … [Read more...] about Whisper’s popularity no longer a secret