Seventeen magazine recently asked me if the BeReal app is safe for teens. Here’s their article about that, which is great but of course lots got left on the cutting floor. Here’s my full take: The way this Paris-based app is designed, it’s actually safer than a lot of other apps because it’s made for sharing just among friends. Accounts are private by default. People have to ask permission to … [Read more...] about BeReal & being real about safety & privacy
Social Media
How this new app might well be safer…
...and what that has to do with content moderation Fizz just might come to be known as the kinder social media app. I know, you’re probably thinking, “Yeah sure.” And I do understand. But, from some great reporting by TechCrunch, I picked up on two design features that, together, could give this new app the edge where user safety’s concerned. They are that it has… The local factor. When … [Read more...] about How this new app might well be safer…
New org for content moderation pros
This is a world first and great news at a time when everybody could use a bit of that: The Trust & Safety Professional Association opens its doors today. TSPA is a membership organization designed to support the content moderation community, the people all over the world who do the extremely challenging work of protecting social media users and freedom of expression at the same time. The … [Read more...] about New org for content moderation pros
What just happened: ‘Big data’ got personal
What the Cambridge Analytica story and last week’s congressional hearings with Facebook’s CEO are really all about is that people – not even “just” social media users, voters and policymakers – are waking up to the meaning of “big data.” It’s a big story not only because Facebook has more than 2.2 billion users or because Cambridge Analytica may have helped Donald Trump become president, as … [Read more...] about What just happened: ‘Big data’ got personal
A prime minister & a professor: True connecting in a digital age
Two messages in two media – video and text – by a prime minister and a professor got me, and I'm sure many others, thinking about the good, not-so-good and necessary connecting we human beings are doing on digital devices now, at both international and personal levels. I haven't heard a politician from any country speak of using social media the way India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi did at … [Read more...] about A prime minister & a professor: True connecting in a digital age