In yesterday's Essentials I mentioned that Facebook has adopted a bunch of safety measures similar to what MySpace did awhile back to appease the Attorneys General. For anyone who didn't follow the link over to TechCrunch, here they are with my commentary in [brackets]:
- Require companies offering services -- called "widgets" or applications -- to implement and enforce Facebook's safety and privacy guidelines; [this may be cost prohibitive for some startups, especially if screening user generated content becomes mandatory]
- Review and scrutinize requests by a user to change his or her age. Requests to change profile ages will be logged, and Facebook will grant only a single request to change an age above or below 18. [ok, I guess this is supposed to prevent predators from lying about their age though research has shown only 5 percent actually do]
- Maintain and continuously update a list of pornographic websites and regularly sever any links to such sites; [fine, they're just a click away on "the internets"]
- Increase efforts to remove groups for incest, pedophilia, cyberbullying and other violations of the site's terms of services and expel from the site individual violators of those terms, [this is positive]
- Aggressively remove inappropriate images and content; [notice doesn't define what's inappropriate or require mandatory screening...yet]
- More prominently display safety tips; [people don't read these, but fine]
- Require users under 18 to affirm they have read Facebook's safety tips when they sign up; [useless]
- Regularly review models for abuse reporting and perform a test using the New Jersey Attorney General's abuse reporting icon. [I don't know why they have to use that icon -- I guess they want consistency across sites -- it's definitely noticeable and I think, any way to make reporting abuse more obvious is positive]
- Restricting searches by over-18 users so they cannot seek under -- 18 users, along with other significant limits on searches; [so you can't really find your students or teens unless you ask them to friend you first]
- Limiting certain ads for age-restricted products -- such as alcohol and tobacco -- to users old enough to purchase such items; [makes sense]
- Identifying and removing profiles of all registered sex offenders;
- Sending automatic warning messages when a child is in danger of providing personal information to an unknown adult; [ok - so does this work when teens have joined a group and left their profile open to the entire group or network?]
- Providing extensive privacy controls allowing the user to block access to their profile, restrict information available to users not their friends and prevent another user from contacting them; [we know many young people don't change their default settings -- more complexity means less active management unless we work on education]
- Providing parents with tools to remove their underage child's profile from the site. [I don't know if underage means under 13 or under 18 -- if it's under 18, teens will most likely just create an alias profile or go elsewhere]
Also eCRUSH's Amy Gibby commented on this yesterday:
The Facebook safety/privacy deal has been a long time coming. The comments on Tech Crunch raised some important issues, especially how do the big guns (facebook, myspace, google, etc) share these best practices to hundreds maybe thousands of other sites that reach teens in some social capacity. As changes start to roll out, none of this should be proprietary as it is all being done to protect the safety of teens. Like the predators database, it should be available to all and not with a price tag. Maybe this greater scope is part of their agenda... i don't know. If there is a priority to support niche sites, can that please be made public? and can there be a way for sites to contribute to the dialog to make sure their users' interests are also protected?
Seems like a great jumping off point for discussion...
Yesterday I had the privilege to speak at the national Boys & Girls Clubs conference here in San Francisco. I gave my Totally Wired talk twice -- once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I had one hour for each session and quickly realized my talk ended up filling the entire hour -- it's like every time I give it there is more to talk about. One bit of information that surprised me and saddened me a bit was that many of the clubs block access to sites like MySpace and Facebook. In reality it shouldn't have surprised me. The fears and concerns were the same fears and concerns I've heard from parents and teachers across the country. I was told the challenge is that they are not staffed well enough to monitor each teen's computer use.
What bums me out about this is that these clubs often serve low income youth who may not have a laptop or PC at home. So it's essentially one less place they can go to experience the social media their middle class peers are using all the time. It's also a missed opportunity to offer these teens real guidance on using these sites. I was also told the Boys & Girls Clubs have an amazing internet safety program -- and I'm sure it is very comprehensive....in its coverage of safety. My guess is that it doesn't really cover ethics or information literacy. The other concern they have is that if something happens from one of their computers, they'll have angry parents to answer to.
I understand the need to limit access to these sites at school when teens are supposed to be focused on learning. Though I would argue that this, too, can happen without actually blocking. But Boys & Girls Clubs are spaces to hang out in, just as MySpace and Facebook are virtual spaces to hang out and connect in.
Hopefully, I was able to persuade at least some of the people listening (ok, not the guy who told me I talked too much, that he dozed off a few times and wished I would have taught them all how to create MySpace profiles), but some of the people there to think about unblocking these sites.
I don't think it's enough for me to just say, "unblock." So here is what I would propose after school programs like the Boys & Girls Clubs should do. Invite parents to a talk similar to what I do -- emphasizing the positives along with the challenges, and the reality that these kids need to have access to these sites to be competitive in the future. The idea is to get them more comfortable and less afraid. Develop a mandatory workshop for any Boys & Girls Club teens who want to log on from the Club -- BUT have it taught by teens aka their peers. The workshop should be fun, engaging and cover privacy, ethics and some information literacy. Youth workers can identify the teens who are really into the computers and train them to be peer educators. Then create a contract/agreement between the teens and the Club around using the internet. If they mess up, they lose access for a period of time. If this is all done in a way that treats these teens as if they won't mess up, they probably won't.
We have to educate, not legislate (the latest attempt) and block -- and not deny access to teens who will otherwise be left behind.
I wanted to let Ypulse readers know about a couple of great events happening -- one IRL (in real life) in the Bay Area and another streamed live online. First up is an event put on by SDForum, the leading Silicon Valley not-for-profit organization providing an unbiased source of information and insight to the technology community for the past 23 years. The SDForum has also been a valued partner of Ypulse in helping us promote our annual Mashup event. Next week (May 13) they will be hosting Teens Plugged In! Their Second Annual Teens in Technology Conference in San Jose. This conference really focuses on supporting teen entrepreneurs and seems incredibly cool. Highlights include:
- Profile in Entrepreneurship: Anshul Samar, Alchemist Empire, Inc.
- High School Panel
- Marketing to Teens: A View from the Tech Community
- What will Happen? Teens in the Workforce
- Profile in Entrepreneurship: Salina Truong, Gumball Capital
- Investing in Teens and Teen Products: What Does it Take to Succeed?
- What's Happening with Teen Entrepreneurs?
- Inspiring Teens in Technology and Entrepreneurship: What Non-Profits are Doing
Ypulse publisher Charles Pelton will be at the SDForum event -- silver hair, black Converse high tops. If you see him, say hello.
The other event is the live webcasttomorrow of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center Inaugural Symposium, Logging Into the Playground: How Digital Media Are Shaping Children's Learning. I was invited to attend, but am speaking at another event in San Jose on May 13th (which is why I won't be at the SDForum event) and then catching a Red Eye to Toronto (I'm tired just thinking about this). Didn't want to zig zag across the country. This event is packed with heavy hitters from industry, academia and the non-profit/foundation space. It is literally the embodiment of what I wrote about needing to happen in my BusinessWeek Online column a few months back. Check out their full agenda here (.pdf). Of course it starts streaming at 6 a.m. for us west coast folks (ouch). I hope they will put video up on YouTube later as well.
Every young person knows someone who has lost an interview, a job, or some sort of professional opportunity because of scandalous activity posted on their public social networking profiles. An article in today's Washington Post (reg. required) reported a recent increase in the use of aliases on websites like MySpace and Facebook. More and more people are creating alter-egos to keep strangers out and and unfiltered information intact. Resorting to a fictional name sounds a bit extreme, especially with the prevalence of privacy controls and ease of "untagging" unflattering photographs. It also defeats the purpose of utilizing the "networking" aspect of these networking sites. It is awfully tough to climb the proverbial ladder under someone else's name.
Deleting an existing account and creating an alter ego is, in most cases, unnecessary. Say you just graduated from college and snagged your first "grown up" job. After your first day of work, you receive a friend request from your boss on Facebook. What are your options?
1) Decline friend request. After all, this is your boss, not your buddy.
2) Accept friendship, but only allow limited profile viewing.
3) Delete your hard-partying pictures. You're a professional now, welcome to the real world.
Recent grads might miss those photos, but there are certainly benefits to keeping a profile with your actual name. Online networking can be endlessly beneficial, especially for young professionals who are moving to new cities and starting new jobs. And for those still on the job hunt, social networking sites can also help uncover the perfect job - though preferably not under that fake name. The New York Times (reg. required) recently reported a rise in utilizing Facebook for the sole purpose of business networking. New applications from CareerBuilder.com and Jobster.com even help people kick off the job search from the comfort of their own personal profiles.
While Facebook can be a daily reminder of what college life was like, it also has the potential to be a shiny free resume for everyone to see. In the end, it comes down to deciding whether snapshots of beer bongs and keg stands or business contacts and career options mean more to young people leaving college. No one said it was going to be an easy decision.
A comeback for "Square Pegs" (the '80s show will be released on DVD and remade into an upcoming movie - is there anything better than pre-SATC Sarah Jessica Parker?) (Washington Post, reg. required)
- OMFG ("Gossip Girl's" gay teen character is outed. I liked the scene with mom. Plus the show regains the top spot on iTunes) (Queerty) (Lost Remote)
Correction from Anastasia: In my jet lagged state, I posted in yesterday's Essentials that 7 Eleven was doing a Rockband promotion when it was actually a Guitar Hero promo with Slurpee. Thanks Chris!
Real Teen Secrets (another teen confession site -- with no moderation or resources)
- To stream (or not to stream? More discussion on The CW, "Gossip Girl" and cannibalizing TV. Plus Channel One goes digital) (AdAge.com, reg. required) (Media Post, reg. required)
- More Miley redux (parents outraged, tweens don't care) (AdAge.com, reg. required)
- 'The Death of the Record Store' (new doc on the survival [or demise] indie record stores featuring Chris Frantz of the Talking Heads, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Ian Mackaye of Fugazi) (WireTap)
- Seventeen music widgets (Hearst teams up with Jango to create co-branded celebrity music widgets)
- Drinking virtual Pepsi (appears to work, according to an MTV case study. Look for more integrated content on every conceivable digital platform aimed at teens) (AdWeek)
- The true story (of a bogus blog -- Coach sponsored a class project that backfired.) (AdWeek)
- Back to school May 1? (ok, I know this isn't the focus of this piece about Staples and DoSomething joining up for a cause marketing initiative, but they are launching their annual back to school campaign before school is even out) (PR Week)
- Slurpee rocks out (7 Eleven's classic drink sports Aerosmith on its cups in a Rockband Guitar Hero promotion)
- Grand Theft Childhood? (cool looking panel at Berkeley on violent video games - thanks Jennifer!)
- A grandma's guide to clubbing (Young grandmothers in Britain are hitting the clubs in a very Mrs. Robinson kind of way) (The Mail)
- A topless Hannah Montana (An embarrassed Miley apologizes about provocative photos in Vanity Fair) (Associated Press)
- Hilary Duff heads to '90210' (the Duffster is said to be joining the cast of the new Aaron Spelling-spinoff show) (E! Online)
- Celebrities love OP (the beachy clothing label is enlisting B-listers like Kristin Cavallari, Christina Milian, and Pete Wentz to revive their image)
- Kurt Cobain + Coco Chanel (Karl Lagerfeld is said to be eying the daughter of king and queen of grunge, Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, for future ad campaigns) (United Press International)
- Teens watch ABC Family (Gen Y loves "Greek" and "Kyle XY" because they are "really much more optimistic than the previous two generations") (Multichannel News)
Ellegirl.com gutted (So sad. I thought they were doing ok. They laid off fashion editor Joyann King; senior editor Holly Seigal) (Paid Content)
