I ran across a company, Common Craft, that produces these really awesome introductions to different technologies - but in plain english (and really cute paper cutouts). Interested in what RSS is? Twitter? Or just social networking? They’ve got some really neat short videos to help. Here are three you might be interested in watching:
SOCIAL NETWORKING
RSS
Frontline, funded by PBS, posted a new video documentary and related discussion website called “Growing Up Digital”. I highly recommend all parents watch this show and get involved in the discussion online with other parents.
Here’s the Link to the Website
Here’s the Link Directly to the Videos
This time of the year it’s become common to receive along with a holiday card a multiple-page, photocopied update from the sender on how their family (and others I probably don’t know) are doing and succeeding (my dad and I were talking this weekend that isn’t it funny that they never say anything bad in these letters? “Well, John was arrested in August and still serving time …”).
In this “social networking” age, why not think about putting all of this online and keep it running all year long? As you’re sitting by the fire, surrounded by opened presents, perhaps on your new laptop you just received, why not think about starting a virtual site to share with others about what’s going on with the family. Updates on the kid’s sports, travel experiences, accomplishments, favorite videos, etc. - the possibilities are endless.
There all types of really great tools that are easy to use (and many are free) to do this. Here’s a list of possibilities:
Flickr.com - create photo albums online
Wordpress.com - go beyond just photos and start a family blog
MyFamily.com - get the family online together (best part are the birthday reminders!)
Twitter.com - regular, quick posts you can enter from the web, from IM or text message
Facebook.com - sure, why not? My 70+ year old dad just became my friend!
A University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth study of 453 college admissions departments found that 26 percent of colleges are actively researching students through search engines such as Google and 21 percent are checking out social networking profiles when reviewing applicants.
LINK: Online profiles a factor in college admissions
(PS: Future employers are looking as well! More Than One-Quarter of Recruiters Look at Social Networking Sites)
Last night I had the pleasure of speaking and moderating a group of middle and high school parents in my town on the subject social networking. We had about 70 people attend in a packed library. I spoke for about 25 minutes (you can download my slides here) and then we had a panel of four students discuss their use of Facebook and answer parent’s questions.
Needless to say, parents had LOTS of questions. But there was a dominant discussion on who can see their children’s Facebook profiles and who can and can’t join Networks on Facebook. I found an excellent source on the Facebook help pages to further explain networks.
While we attempted to stay away from pushing any particular set of values in the discussion, I believe each family needs to consider what they are for them, where the line should be drawn on what is and isn’t appropriate for their kids to share online. On one slide I wrote “A Generational Lack of Understanding of Private vs. Public” and I visibly saw many parents shaking their heads in agreement. Perhaps this is a good time to have that discussion with your son’s and daughter’s about what they are posting online - especially those preparing to go to college or seeking employment.
I hope everyone found last night informative and not too stressful (as one parent put it at the end of the event, talking about kid’s and their behavior always creates anxiety, but being informed is better than not). And it doesn’t start in high school or even middle school - it’s starting in elementary schools with relatively harmless sites such as Webkinz and Club Penguin - a topic for another time!
Thanks to all who attended. See you on Facebook!
Note: for the two mom’s that were asking about Facebook advertising and the ability for advertisers now to target students based on almost any keyword, I went back and re-listened to the NPR story you also heard. This story was about the new abilities Facebook gives to advertisers that allows them to target ads based on keywords in your Facebook profile - much like Google serves up ads based on keywords you are searching for. Advertisers won’t be able to see your kid’s profiles just by advertising, but they can place ads on their Facebook page based on what is in their profile. Sound creepy? This has been standard practice on the Internet for over 10 years - you just didn’t notice it until now as we’re all talking about privacy and even the slightest bit of “data mining” by advertisers is of concern to many. But since Facebook is free, this is the tradeoff we must accept, or we shouldn’t use it.
The topic of conversation among friends has increasingly turned to what our kids are doing online - probably because some think of me as “the geek in town” or they know I have a technology blog to help educate parents. One research study and one television report came out yesterday that might make you as a parent think about this subject even more.
One of my favorite research companies, the Pew Internet and American Life Project, has done some very interesting studies on technology and the family. Yesterday they released a report “Parents and Teen Internet Use” that contained some interesting information you might want to know:
As a parent, we’re careful to balance giving our children the freedom to explore while being sure to protect them from what we consider inappropriate content, discussions or posting online.
But I never really stopped to think about what they do online and how it could impact me as a parent. I sometimes wonder if parents know what their children post on their Facebook pages when I come across some rather racy pictures or language that probably would shock many parents. Then I came across this story, The Parent Trap, from a television station in Milwaukee, WI.
It seems that 16 year old Shannon posts frequently on her social networking site. But today’s teenagers don’t have the same sense of privacy as their elders (that’s you and me folks!). It seems Shannon not only discusses her nagging mom, but also the fact her dad does drugs and her parents are lazy alcoholics. And now dad is in trouble with his boss.
“It’s important to know what they’re doing and to be able to help them if they get into trouble. And to keep them safe and, apparent, now we have to have them keep us safe as well.” Good advice from Shannon’s mom to all of us.
The days of passing gossip notes in homeroom, making physical threats at recess or keeping personal thoughts in a locked diary have taken on a completely new meaning with the penetration of the Internet in our children’s lives. It’s MySpace (http://www.myspace.com), Xanga (http://www.xanga.com), Friendster (http://www.friendster.com) and other online social sites that have become the medium of choice for today’s teens and preteens to open up their lives to the world.
And as a parent, you need to know about them – now!
Highlighted in a recent cover story in the Philadelphia Inquirer and brought up at a School Board meeting a few months ago by Middle School principal, Alan Fegley, these relatively new free, online websites are attracting literally millions of our children to post their thoughts, pictures, opinions and personal information.
It’s amazingly simple to do. Children can sign up for an account on these sites for free – no credit card or parental permission is required. Then they can keep an online blog (or diary), upload pictures of themselves (as racy as they want them to be), list information about where they live, where they work, who they hang out with, post polls of who the think is cute (or worse), discuss their sexual activities and even worse (if you can imagine).
“It’s a social nightmare” for principals at high schools, middle schools and even elementary schools. While the worst of these sites might not seem like an issue for the youngest of our early cybersurfers in our family, many young children do not understand that what they write or post on their site is open to the entire world to see and read.
So, what can you do as a parent to protect your child yet encourage appropriate use of the Internet at home? Experts agree that the first issue has to do with where you place that computer. Is it in an open area of the house, a place where you walk by regularly and can watch what your child is doing online? Sure you want them to have their privacy and you want to trust them, but what your child does on the Internet – especially on these social websites – are not private and our young children are still learning what is and isn’t appropriate to do on the Internet.
Second, make sure you are regularly reviewing their IM logs (see the November 2005 issue of The Focus for more information on instant messaging) and review the history of sites visited in your computer’s browser to see where they are surfing. If you want to be more proactive, there is software you can install that monitors the Internet traffic on your computer and limit where they can go without your permission. Again, while some may see this as an invasion of privacy, it’s our job as parents to first protect our children as they learn and grow.
Third, ask your child if they have a website and ask to see it. They may be proud to show you what they have built online. While you’re at it, you should ask them for their email address (but keep in mind, they older kids probably have a half dozen email addresses at least) and IM screen name so you can communicate online with them as well as in-person. If they don’t have a website and show an interest, setup a family website. There are very easy ways to do this with a blog account. Check out Blogger.com (http://www.blogger.com) or LiveJournal.com (http://www.livejournal.com) for free services that let you post things going on in your family’s lives. We setup a family website a few months ago to share with friends and family what’s going on with our daughter’s gymnastics and our son’s footbal.
And finally, you should look at this as an opportunity to teach our children what is appropriate. Having a personal website isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it can be a learning opportunity where they can show off their creative talents and increase their writing abilities.