European children "now start going online when they are seven, and 38% of 9-to-12-year-olds who are online say they have a social networking profile, in spite of age restrictions," the European Commission reports. So it has formed "a new Coalition to make a better and safer internet for children" as part of its Digital Agenda for Europe, the Commission announced this week. The coalition's 28 … [Read more...] about Europe’s new coalition for a better Net for kids
Anti-social media companies will be obsolete
There's anti-social behavior at the corporate level, too – especially now, in the age of increasingly social digital media. I mentioned this in my last post, but – since these (media) environmental conditions are new to all of us, including parents – maybe it would help to take a closer look.... We've always known that social behaviors and norms are expressed collectively by organizations as … [Read more...] about Anti-social media companies will be obsolete
What Facebook’s ‘Subscribe’ signifies
In social media, the only constant is change. Remember those commentaries about how social networking was "trivializing" friendship by throwing all levels of acquaintanceship under the big digital umbrella labeled "friends"? Well, I always felt the commentators were taking what they saw in social sites a bit too literally and failing to understand how much "real life" socializing rules its online … [Read more...] about What Facebook’s ‘Subscribe’ signifies
FB & Google+ videochat + kids: Should we worry?
Based on old fears around online chat and Webcams, should all the news about videochat in Facebook and the new very social Google+ concern parents (when the latter goes public)? Not really. Not the sort of engaged parents who tend to be concerned, and definitely not those who approach these things from the kid out instead of from the technology or the headlines in (see this). In other words, it … [Read more...] about FB & Google+ videochat + kids: Should we worry?
The new, social Google+
Google Plus aims to be the online version of your existing social circles (such as personal and professional ones and allowing them to stay separate), offering a lot of the same features as Facebook (as in Groups), but organized into "Circles" right up front. To them, it brings "Hangouts" (video chat), "Huddles" (group chat), and "Sparks" (as in conversation starters and talking points, a little … [Read more...] about The new, social Google+