Social Media

Twitter users will be able to squeeze more words into their tweets thanks to changes the social network plans launched in mid September, The Verge reported recently. The changes will exempt certain features from counting toward its 140-character limit, including media attachments such as photos, GIFs, videos and polls. To a lesser degree, the @names in tweet replies will also not be counted toward the limit.

Social media is one of the biggest challenges for cybersecurity in the education sector, according to a report from Wombat Security Technologies. The report found that education professionals missed about one-third of assessment questions related to safe social media use. This serves as a good reminder for parents that they should take an active part in helping kids stay safe online and in using social media properly, and not entirely depend on schools to cover these kinds of topics.

Social media is one of the biggest challenges for cybersecurity in the education sector, according to a report from Wombat Security Technologies. The report found that education professionals missed about one-third of assessment questions related to safe social media use. This serves as a good reminder for parents that they should take an active part in helping kids stay safe online and in using social media properly, and not entirely depend on schools to cover these kinds of topics.

Twitter has become a popular conduit for politicians this political season, but there is a lot of heavy criticism for the volume of hate speech and bullying that remains unfiltered on the app. BuzzFeed recently featured a scathing article on the continuing failure of Twitter to stop the abuse of users and the enablement of trolling. The article is a must read for parents of teens who use the app, and is a good starting point for conversation about the topic.

Twitter has become a popular conduit for politicians this political season, but there is a lot of heavy criticism for the volume of hate speech and bullying that remains unfiltered on the app. BuzzFeed recently featured a scathing article on the continuing failure of Twitter to stop the abuse of users and the enablement of trolling. The article is a must read for parents of teens who use the app, and is a good starting point for conversation about the topic.

While many teenagers are likely to scroll past advertisements on social media, video ads that feature "micro-influencers" (quasi-celebrities paid by brands to talk about products to their legions of adoring fans) are more likely to grab their attention. Most teens know these influencers are being paid, sometimes in the millions, to persuade their buying choices, but they also say they trust the authenticity of the reviews, especially since many of the spokespersons are forward about their financial arrangements. Marketers are looking more and more to enlist influencers to help capture a portion of teens' $44 billion in annual purchasing power.

While many teenagers are likely to scroll past advertisements on social media, video ads that feature "micro-influencers" (quasi-celebrities paid by brands to talk about products to their legions of adoring fans) are more likely to grab their attention. Most teens know these influencers are being paid, sometimes in the millions, to persuade their buying choices, but they also say they trust the authenticity of the reviews, especially since many of the spokespersons are forward about their financial arrangements. Marketers are looking more and more to enlist influencers to help capture a portion of teens' $44 billion in annual purchasing power.

Are social media apps all just becoming look alikes? Darrell Etherington’s recent article, The Social App Redudancy Engine, proposes so. Etherington points out that when one social media app boasts a unique feature, the rest soon follow suit. This may be good news for parents struggling to keep with what’s new. The question is, though, which app will come out on top when they all become essentially the same?

Are social media apps all just becoming look alikes? Darrell Etherington’s recent article, The Social App Redudancy Engine, proposes so. Etherington points out that when one social media app boasts a unique feature, the rest soon follow suit. This may be good news for parents struggling to keep with what’s new. The question is, though, which app will come out on top when they all become essentially the same?

The speed at which teens adopt and master new social networks and apps can be dizzying, and it can make it difficult for parents to respond when a child reports being bullied on a platform that parents are not familiar with. One thing to stay aware of is the growing swarm of anonymous messaging apps like Whisper, After School, and Yik Yak.  This extensive list of ways to report problematic behavior on various social networks and apps is also useful if you need to report an incident.