Eighty percent of US parents of teens have a social networking account; of those parents, 95% have Facebook accounts; and of that 95%, the vast majority (86%) are friends with their teens in Facebook. Interestingly, in those households where both a parent and a teen have Facebook accounts, more than a third of the teens said they got their parent to join Facebook," reports TRUSTe, which … [Read more...] about A window onto family Facebook use: TRUSTe study
Social Media
Parents, you’re not just focusing on FB, right?
It's great that parents are getting the message that they can monitor their kids on Facebook by joining it, but they also need to remember that Facebook isn't the all of teen online socializing (even though it's in the news a lot!). It's just the big social utility that aggregates basically "everybody" in teens' real-world school and social lives. But there's plenty more social activity happening … [Read more...] about Parents, you’re not just focusing on FB, right?
Facebook the movie
All the other news this past week kept crowding out the Facebook movie, which I figure many of you have seen by now, maybe with your kids. The film, released last Friday, has done well at the box office, having made $28.7 million by Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday, and expected to gross another $12 million to 15 million this weekend. Movie critics really liked it. The film … [Read more...] about Facebook the movie
Youth privacy study: Should focus be only on parents’ views?
I'm sure Internet industry CEOs who've said or implied that "privacy is dead" are wishing they never had. I am too – but for different reasons. Where online kids are concerned, statements like that break an important global discussion down into a simplistic, binary argument about whether or not companies protect children's privacy. That argument keeps us (parents) focused on the wrong things and … [Read more...] about Youth privacy study: Should focus be only on parents’ views?
Fixing hate online and offline: Everyone’s needed!
Two national news stories this week – one about anti-gay cruelty that ended in a young man's suicide in New Jersey on September 22 (see the New York Times) and the other about anti-gay hate speech from an assistant attorney general in Michigan (see this CNN blog) – indicate a serious need for family discussions about hate speech and bullying, how they are hurtful and destructive to everyone … [Read more...] about Fixing hate online and offline: Everyone’s needed!