Who Ranks in Online Privacy?

Twitter and American Greetings are two leading companies when it comes to protecting its users' privacy, but 53% of big online companies fail to pass muster, according to the Online Trust Alliance's annual survey of online privacy and security practices. In general, the survey reveals that the social segment -- including gaming, communication, social networking, and document / photo sharing -- have recognized the importance of privacy and security as part of their brand promise, but most companies need to go a long way to catch up. Take a look at who made the Online Trust Alliance's 2013 Honor Roll -- a comprehensive audit of the web's most visible companies.

Facebook May Be Having a Mid-Life Crisis

It is beginning to look more and more like Facebook is NOT going to take over the Internet. But, even though the company may be falling short of that goal, it does seem to have acquired some staying power. As one expert put it, "They've gotten so big that it's one of those things you have to use." While experts say the new exciting stuff is going to come from start-ups, Facebook may be the glue that holds it all together.

Survey Says That Tweens Are Active and Unmonitored on Social Media Sites

A new survey done by McAfee, the security company, says that younger and younger kids are going online unsupervised. Most US tweens, ages 10 to 12, have at least one social media account and many go online without any supervision from their parents. Despite the dangers, 82 percent of preteens say they think social media sites are very safe, or somewhat safe, and 79 percent of parents agree. Nearly half of youngsters also report sharing personal information online such as their email address, and 28 percent have revealed the school they attend. Many parents are also unaware of the time their children spend online. The poll showed 52 percent of youngsters spending five or more hours a day online but most parents think they spend only one to two hours.

Hate Speech Not Being Blocked on Facebook

Facebook says the systems intended to curb hate speech on the social network have not done their job effectively, after a pressure campaign by feminist groups that prompted Nissan and others to pull their advertising. The groups pointed to specific pages that glorify violence against women on Facebook and asked Facebook executives, in an open letter, to “ban gender-based hate speech on your site.” Facebook says it will review its safeguards with a particular emphasis on ensuring that its users use their real identities when posting comments. Advertisers, including Dove, that market specifically to women, have been criticized for not joining the ban.

Girls Face Challenge Balancing Digital Learning and Social Life

Research shows that when it comes to technology boys tend to prefer gaming while girls often gravitate toward more social uses. This can lead to increased pressure on female students, whose relationships often can play out negatively online, and then spill over into the classroom as we move to letting more digital devices into our schools, according to Ana Homayoun, founder of Los Altos, Calif.-based Green Ivy Educational Consulting. Homayoun gives the example of how social media is creeping into something like the time honored hunt for the right prom dress that no else has and the kinds of comments about body image and other snide remarks that go along with making such a process “public.” She suggests that schools can help by teaching coping strategies as students fumble with the ultimate paradox — the same tools needed to complete school assignments also provide them with an outlet for socialization, potential distraction from getting work done, and even worse, not so subtle cyberbullying. Of course, it is important to remember that the digital tools are not really the culprit here – it is the users who are. If our society tolerates this new method of inflicting pain, then we really haven’t moved forward very much at all.

One School Board Weighs in On Teacher Student Facebook Friends

It may be that your school or district is redoing its policy to establish guidelines for the use of social media by teachers and students and looking around for examples of what other districts are doing. After some extensive research, the school district in Vancouver, Canada, is considering a policy where teachers and students would be banned from being Facebook friends for non-educational purposes. Keeping in mind, though, that interaction in social media can be very useful for classroom communication, they also considering the use of social media for acceptable interactions between teachers and students such as the creation of a Facebook page about a science experiment or taking a field trip online. What kind of policy does your school have? Would a policy like this work in your district?

Tips for Using Facebook’s Graph Search

We’ve covered, in this blog, the fact that as Facebook rolls out its new search feature on steroids called Graph Search to more and more users, you will need to check your privacy settings, yet again. As summer rolls around and your teens are more often on their Facebook page, it is a good time to review what you need to know about this new feature that will take the place of the old search box on the top left of your Facebook home page and make it extremely easy to explore the ocean of user data on Facebook. Graph Search will be a great way to connect to other users with similar interests, but the privacy concerns for minors are many. Take a look at the article, “6 Tips for Parents About Facebook Graph Search,” for a review of what you need to know.

Did You Give Permission For That?

On the Web, there’s a never ending supply of sites and services that ask permission to use your accounts at Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other services. Over time, you might grant access to hundreds— including ones you forgot you ever used in the first place. Enter MyPermissions. It provides convenient links to the permissions pages at major services, letting you do quick reviews on the rights you’ve granted and, if appropriate, revoke some of them. You can also sign up to get alerts when Facebook apps gain access to your personal information without asking for your permission. Apps for iOS and Android provide further permission-cleansing tools.

Twitter Gaining Ground with Teens

After initially being shunned by teens, Twitter seems to be gaining ground as reported in a new Pew Research Center survey. One in four teens is now using Twitter, a big jump from two years ago. While Facebook remains the go-to social network for teens, with 94% of online teens saying they have a profile on Facebook and 81% saying it is the social network they use most often. Teens are increasingly turning to Twitter, mobile photo-sharing service Instagram, and social blogging service Tumblr, which was acquired by Yahoo on Monday for $1.1 billion, as they express “waning enthusiasm” for Facebook, the survey found.

The sad thing is that after all of the campaigns to get teens to keep their personal information private, they seem to posting more and more personal information on social media. The survey found that teens are more likely than they were even a few years ago to post photographs, their hometown, name of their school, email address, and mobile phone number. On Facebook, 6 of 10 teens say they use restrictive privacy settings to be sure that his or her posts are seen only by their friends. An additional 25% allow posts to be seen by friends of friends. On Twitter, a quarter of teens post updates privately to friends. Part of the appeal of Twitter: teens don’t have to use their real names so they don’t have to worry about updates turning up in Google searches or being discovered by parents. One thing teens are not worried about: being targeted by online marketers and data brokers. Just 9% of teens said they were concerned about how their information is being collected. Nearly half of parents said they were concerned. Maybe it’s time for another conversation.

Social Networks Make it Hard to Move On

Facebook users find it harder to get over failed relationships, according to a study into "digital dumping" by University of California researchers. The study found that half of those interviewed don't delete all the photos and other relationship-related items from their Facebook profiles, potentially making it harder for them to get over their exes. Researchers noted that the process of culling materials involving an ex from Facebook is difficult and time consuming.