The Consumer Reports headline reads, "That Facebook friend might be 10 years old, and other troubling news," but – interestingly – fewer and fewer parents find it troubling. Most of today's headlines about under-13 social networkers are about the Consumer Reports survey, which found that 20 million, or about 13% of Facebook's 150 million active US users are under 18 and 7.5 million, or about 5%, … [Read more...] about Under-age on Facebook: New study
Why social media help private citizens want to help solve public problems
A few years ago, during the huge flap among Facebook users about its then new "News Feed," a journalist asked Mark Zuckerberg why it was so important to have that new feature, author/activist Eli Pariser relates in a TED Talk. Zuckerberg responded, "A squirrel dying in front of your house may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa." Whether or not Zuckerberg … [Read more...] about Why social media help private citizens want to help solve public problems
Voice added to text chat on Facebook
All the more reason for kids to be friending only people they know offline: Facebook just added audio to its chat feature. By installing a free app called Bobsled by T-Mobile, users can make it so Facebook chat is like talking on the phone. T-Mobile's new Bobsled service lets PC and Macintosh users make calls between Facebook pages, add voice to any Facebook Chat and leave voice messages and wall … [Read more...] about Voice added to text chat on Facebook
Facebook’s new Family Safety Center
I serve on the site's Safety Advisory Board so of course I have a bias, but where Facebook says (at the top of its new safety center), "We believe safety is a conversation and a shared responsibility among all of us," belief and bias really aren't at issue. You can see this is pure logic right? In today's social, user-produced media environment, safety and privacy are by definition a shared … [Read more...] about Facebook’s new Family Safety Center
Facebook deletes ‘thousands of U13 accounts a day’
This wouldn't be a bad media literacy lesson! I had to click from CNN to Fast Company to AllFacebook.com to get to the original coverage in Australia's Daily Telegraph, which reported that "about 20,000 children are kicked off Facebook every day for lying about their age" (language that oddly suggests punishment). The Daily Telegraph was basing its lede on a statement made by Facebook adviser and … [Read more...] about Facebook deletes ‘thousands of U13 accounts a day’