Instagram: Teens’ alternative to texting, FB?
Shades of social media researcher danah boyd’s finding on teens’ “social steganography” (hiding in plain sight): The Daily reports (about halfway into a 2-min. video) that, because so many parents are...
View ArticleInstagram: U13s’ No. 1 workaround?
I first heard about this little social-networking giant when my then-14-year-old suddenly seemed to be taking a serious interest in photography. Since then, I’ve come to see Instagram as more like the...
View ArticleInstagram’s user-terms update
If Instagram’s as popular among high school students in your community as it is at ours, you’ll probably be interested in the implications of its latest privacy updates. When it announced that it was...
View ArticleTeens’ Top 5 social media picks: DIY survey
Nothing formal and scientific, but a quick up-to-the-minute snapshot: To get a handle on current social media use by teens and young adults, Silicon Valley investor Gary Tan blogged, he conducted a...
View ArticleThe meta-trend behind the teen (& everybody) mobile trend
As the news stories about teens’ mainly mobile (digital) socializing multiply, parents seem to be turning a corner too. Monitoring kids on Facebook is “so 2009,” Yahoo! News reports. Even the very...
View ArticleStickers, emoji & other social-media conversation add-ons
You may’ve noticed this too: Online and on-phone conversations have gotten very mixed-media – very artful, in a sense. Have you noticed that our children are among the most creative mixed-media...
View ArticleKids, Instagram & its new feature ‘Photos of You’
Instagram is nothing if not creative – the app itself and its users. When I’m in it watching how the kids who encouraged me to follow them use it, I can’t help but smile. They are creative in/with all...
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Why not a gazillion ‘likes’?: Getting wise to gamification in social media (&...
Likes in Facebook and Instagram, +1′s in Google+, (potentially) “HISCORE(s)” in Snapchat are fun to get (though there isn’t much evidence having a HISCORE is a big deal for Snapchat users yet). They’re...
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Help with mobile apps kids love
I am delighted to announce the release of our new parents’ guides to two of the most popular social apps among teens, Instagram and Snapchat. You can read or download and print the free guides at...
View ArticleUndercover mom on Instagram
One of her aliases is CupcakePuppy44. That’s parent, author, and former teacher Sharon Duke Estroff’s Instagram handle. She created a join account with her 10-year-old after some stonewalling and some...
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Instagram adds video
Facebook’s little photo-sharing app just became a video-sharing app too. Whether they’re using Apple or Android phones, Instagram’s 130 million users can now simply pick whether that image they want to...
View ArticlePosting, sharing, shooting video: Study
Posting videos in apps and Web services has become a mainstream online activity, and not just for our kids. More than three-quarters (78%) of US adults watch online videos and the percentage of them...
View ArticleTeens on what’s trending in teens’ digital media
Here’s some data and some anecdotal evidence. First the data: A recent survey of teens found that “the world’s largest social network has been replaced by Twitter as US teenagers’ favorite social...
View Article‘Fabulousness’& self-presentation in social media
Here’s a conversation about social media that would be good to have with our kids. You could headline it “Instagram envy”; the New York Times dramatically headlined it “The Agony of Instagram” (oh,...
View ArticleNew Facebook policy targets guns, other regulated items
In the wake of vocal demands that it take action against users promoting gun sales, Facebook just announced new policies around content about firearms and other regulated products. One of the activist...
View ArticleWe ‘like’ faces in social media: Study
That we like faces in our photos – or simply that we like faces – was reconfirmed by a new study at Georgia Tech. “Instagram photos that include faces are far more likely to get likes from followers...
View ArticleFresh data on US kids’ social media use
Young people’s social media interests are changing right along with the media, according to the latest Speak Up study, which surveyed more than 325,000 students, along with parents, teachers and...
View ArticleBeginning of the end of #purge, revenge porn or social cruelty?
We so want to believe it: that the fact that Twitter and Instagram are actively taking down #purge-related accounts signals “the tipping point of this particular phenomenon – and its end has begun,” as...
View ArticleMillennials’ changing social media use: Survey
It’s hard to believe the high end of the Millennials age bracket is over 30 already! The Pew Research Center’s definition says they’re all adults, putting their age range at 18-33 (check out Pew’s 6...
View ArticleInstagram adds video
Facebook’s little photo-sharing app just became a video-sharing app too. Whether they’re using Apple or Android phones, Instagram’s 130 million users can now simply pick whether that image they want to...
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