We don't hear about it much, but an important, historically unprecedented experiment is being conducted in Internet-connected schools, libraries, homes and workplaces in every country under every sort of government on the planet. It's about how to protect people and their right of free expression – e.g., children and other protected classes – at the same time in social media. It's unprecedented … [Read more...] about The global free speech experiment for participants of all ages
Facebook to work with women’s rights activists on content
Last week activists Soraya Chemaly, Laura Bates of the Everyday Sexism Project, and Jaclyn Friedman of Women, Action & the Media (WAM!) published in the Huffington Post "An Open Letter to Facebook" about depictions of violence against girls and women posted on the site. This week Facebook responded with some substantive promises, some based on an ongoing review of hate speech policy and some … [Read more...] about Facebook to work with women’s rights activists on content
Why not a gazillion ‘likes’?: Getting wise to gamification in social media (& life)
Likes in Facebook and Instagram, +1's in Google+, (potentially) "HISCORE(s)" in Snapchat are fun to get (though there isn't much evidence having a HISCORE is a big deal for Snapchat users yet). They're a great example of gamification, a word that's increasingly heard in pop culture as much as education. There's nothing wrong with liking likes and other gamification forms (more on this in minute). … [Read more...] about Why not a gazillion ‘likes’?: Getting wise to gamification in social media (& life)
TMI for parents in social media – for now, anyway
A lot of unusually thoughtful points about parenting in our collective, global social media environment are made in this recent New York Times article: "Cyberparenting and the Risk of T.M.I." Pamela Paul writes that, for this generation of teens, it's not Big Brother so much as Big Mother and/or Big Father. "Yes, we know contemporary parents are hyperinvolved in their children’s lives," she … [Read more...] about TMI for parents in social media – for now, anyway
Kids, Instagram & its new feature ‘Photos of You’
Instagram is nothing if not creative – the app itself and its users. When I'm in it watching how the kids who encouraged me to follow them use it, I can't help but smile. They are creative in/with all parts of the experience – the photos, the filters for messing around with photography, the emoticons, the hashtags, and the writing of captions and comments – but in a fun, light way. It's not all … [Read more...] about Kids, Instagram & its new feature ‘Photos of You’