Social network

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How Young is Too Young for Kids to Start Social Networking?

March 24, 2011 | 10:49 AM | By

Lars Plougman

What’s the appropriate age to start logging onto social networking sites? According to the Terms of Service for Facebook, at least, the answer is 13.

But that doesn’t stop thousands of younger children from signing up. According to Facebook’s chief privacy adviser Mozelle Thompson, Facebook removes about 20,000 users a day who are underage.

Should parents allow their under-13 kids to sign up on Facebook?

That figure was revealed during testimony to the Australian parliament’s cyber-safety committee, reports The Daily Telegraph. Australia is considering legislation that would require teens to get parental permission before joining Facebook.

As it stands, Facebook policy simply recommends that minors 13 or older get their parents’ permission. Those younger than 13 are forbidden outright. But as Thompson testified: “There are people who lie. There are people who are under 13 [accessing Facebook].”

That age cut-off isn’t arbitrary. It keeps Facebook in line with COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires that Internet sites that allow those under 13 to join secure parental permission.

But as a recent New York Times article quipped, “the fake ID has gone digital, and spread to elementary school.” That story suggests that the 20,000 youngsters booted from Facebook daily are really just the tip of the iceberg, citing research from the web analysis company Comscore, that over 3.6 million of Facebook’s 153 million monthly visitors from the U.S. are under age.

There are social networking sites aimed specifically at this age group. Togetherville, which was recently acquired by Disney, is designed for children under 10. Disney also operates Club Penguin which targets those 6-14.

Togetherville stresses the importance of teaching children about safety online by introducing them to a social networking site where their parents can monitor their interactions and control who they “friend.” The idea addresses concerns about younger children and teens on Facebook — fears that they’ll be preyed upon or they’ll misbehave.

But will kids be interested in Togetherville or Club Penguin when their friends and family are on Facebook? Should parents be complicit in signing up their under-13 kids on Facebook? Some feel strongly that parents should set the right example for digital citizenship by following set rules and guidelines, and those who feel that allowing kids to navigate the social networking world will provide valuable lessons through practice.

We’d love to hear thoughts from parents and educators about their approach.

FILED UNDER: Culture, Facebook, Social Media, Social network

Do Social Networking Sites Work for Learning?

November 29, 2010 | 2:14 PM | By

“Our mission is to make the world one big study group,” says Phil Hill, chief executive of OpenStudy, a social-learning site that started as a project of Emory University and Georgia Tech.

The quote is in a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, which lists up-and-coming sites that combine social networking and learning.

Some questions to think about in this vein: Do students prefer to share class notes online? Is it ethical to sell notes to classmates? Are professors subjecting themselves to unfettered criticism online? And do students actually use social networking sites to learn?

FILED UNDER: Social network

What Does the Public Know About You?

November 26, 2010 | 3:00 PM | By

Earlier this year, Katie Stansberry conducted an experiment in the social media class she teaches at the University of Oregon. Here’s her first-person account.

Every term I struggle with a conversation I have with my students at the start of the class. Because I teach about social media, I have a frank discussion with my undergraduate students about protecting their reputation. This term, I did something a little different.

I have only 17 students in my class, so the weekend before the first day of class I took a few hours and did a little online research. I spent about 10 minutes per student, digging through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other Web resources to find out what I could about their online identities. I took that information and put together a presentation introducing the class to their fellow students based solely on the facts that I could find online. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Social Media, Social network

11 Tips on Avoiding Social-Networking Gaffes

October 6, 2010 | 12:12 PM | By

Flickr: Dan Taylor

We can’t avoid dipping into social media any more than we can avoid Googling questions. But we can circumvent unfortunate and unintended consequences when it comes to navigating the social media world.

ESchoolNews rounds up 11 ways for the education community to embrace the best of social media, and to tread carefully along the way.

Some highlights:

  • Develop guidelines and stick to them.
  • Don’t connect personally with students.
  • Parents are not personal “friends.”
  • Don’t share private information.
  • Recognize you represent your school or organization

Educators: Does your school have a policy? Do you abide by it? What would you change about the policy, if you could? Share your thoughts.

FILED UNDER: Social Media, Social network

A New Facebook-Like Network for Teachers

September 23, 2010 | 1:59 PM | By

I wanted to share this press release that just arrived in my inbox from State Schools Chief Jack O’Connell:

New Online Forum for Teachers to Collaborate, Innovate, and Improve Student Achievement Web Tool will Help Teachers Close the Achievement Gap

A new Web 2.0 tool designed to encourage teacher collaboration and innovation called Brokers of Expertise: http://www.myboe.org/.
“The Brokers of Expertise Web site is like Facebook for teachers,” O’Connell said. “Educators can use this site to innovate and collaborate. Through this virtual social network teachers may share and learn about strategies that improve student achievement. Through the Broker’s Web site, we will create a community of newly credentialed and experienced teachers who are empowered to further their own professional development and growth.

This exciting tool is the latest in our arsenal to narrow the pernicious achievement gap that currently leaves too many students unprepared for success in the hypercompetitive global economy.”
Brokers of Expertise is a dynamic Web site that allows educators to search for,and follow colleagues across the state who have had success in teaching specific strands of California’s content standards, or are working with similar types of students, and thus make their own experience in the classroom more effective.

Teachers can use the site to form customized online groups to share experiences and challenges they face in the classroom and collaborate on ways to improve instruction. Users can share instructional practices through links, video, pictures, or documents that can make it easier for other teachers to replicate innovation in their own classrooms. The Web site also lists where each resource came from and provides a blog where educators may share their thoughts on the resource’s effectiveness.

FILED UNDER: Social Media, Social network

How to Help Kids Be Safe and Comfortable With Social Media

September 21, 2010 | 11:59 AM | By

“Shutting them off is wrong,” said Mandeep Dhillon, CEO and Co-Founder of Togetherville, a social network for kids, at the “Learning in a Digital Age” conference, referring to blocking kids from the Internet in order to keep them safe.

“The more transparency we have, the easier we can engage them to help make them safe and the easier to manage the people around them,” he said. “It’s a fundamental shift from the way we’ve been doing things. In the past, we built a notion of comfort around anonymity in chat rooms, but Facebook changed the way people think about verifiable conversations. So with safety and transparency, we can actually have verifiable conversations. Parents can create a network of people that both kids and parents know. It’s essential to surround kids online with people they know.”

Extending the thought was Catherine Teitelbaum, Director of Child Safety and Product Policy at Yahoo:

“We’re teaching young citizens how to do well and be safe out in the world. But that definition of ‘out in the world’ has to shift. They have to have more responsibility and more freedom — with guidance –  sp they know how to navigate what’s next.”

Sarah DeWitt, Vice President of PBS Kids Interactive added:

“Safety has to go hand in hand with media literacy. We have to teach them in a safe, fun way, as opposed to scaring them.”

FILED UNDER: Safety, Social network