You Diligence

Chris McGinn posted a blog on Digital Landing about how you can monitor what goes on on your child's Myspace, Facebook, etc.

Finding it difficult to keep up with all of your child’s social networking pages–like MySpace and Facebook. Worried about what people might be discussing or posting on his page? Afraid your child may be being bullied but won’t talk to you about it?

YouDiligence is a new service that allows you to receive emails when pre-selected words are used on your child’s social network account page. For example, words referring to weapons/violence, drug use, bullying, obscenity, slurs, or sexually explicit languate can be screened for. You can also add personalized words or terms.The service is customizable to allow for differing levels of parental comfort.

When one of the terms appears on your child’s page, you recieve an email containing the word, the context in which is it used and a link to the page where it appears.

To use the service, you must know your child’s login information and have been friended by them on the applicable website. YouDiligence encourages parents to have open communication with their children and to set boundaries and discuss that you reserve the right to check their pages if you find something troubling.

Another service is the SlangSpotter e-newsletter which helps parents stay up on the latest slang terms to maintain your “POS” position (Parent-over-shoulder).

Of course, there will be parent who wonder if this is an invasion of their child’s privacy to which the site responds:

Q: Is this violating my child’s privacy?

A: All of this material is being posted on the internet by your child and his/her friends. Anyone can gain access to it. With incidents popping up weekly from bullying, to fighting, to sexual predators coming after unsuspecting tweens and teens, it only makes sense to review their internet activity, especially in a responsible way like this. YouDiligence is effective and efficient, and will alert you to when you need to go take a closer look at your child’s site

Remember that what you child posts on the Internet is out there forever, for everyone anyway. At least if they think you might be watching they will think twice about what they post.

The service runs $9.99/month or $14.99 for a family plan.

Social networking for the not-so-social

J. D. Hughes wrote an article on Digital Landing. Think of social networking sites as modern day rotary clubs and suddenly they don't seem so techy or foreign. Digital Landing breaks down the usefulness of social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Wondering whether a social network is worth your time and trouble? Thinking you might be able to use it to keep in touch with business contacts, but are afraid it just might be a huge time sink? Social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn offer many opportunities for businesspeople -- but it's wise to do a little groundwork before logging in. (Digital Landing's An Introduction to Social Networks might also be helpful.)

Industry observers predicted -- incorrectly -- that last year would see large gains in the businesspeople user segment. While they are catching on, their growth among adults and, in particular, business users, has not yet exploded. Adoption has been slower than expected, according to the results of Pew Internet & American Life Project's December 2008 tracking survey.

Finish the article.

Ping.fm

Chris McGinn posted a new blog on Digital Landing! Read about how you can update multiple social networks at once!

I knew it had to exist–A way to update all of your social networks via a single site. I’m sure there have to be others but I found Ping.fm via Geek Sugar.

You can update up to 30 different social network sites like Twitter and Facebook via text or email to the Ping.fm site. Can you imagine the time-savings if you have multiple accounts?

This might be enough to make me jump into the Twitter-sphere.

Clicker Beware

Chris McGinn posted a blog on Digital Landing. Read about how ads on any website can be harmful.

Tightwad Tod over at Consumer Reports Money Blog has an informative post about all those ads you see on social networking sites like Facebook–you know the ones touting how you, too, can have whiter teeth or learn the latest weight loss secret.

As you might expect, many of these are scams. I used to think no one would ever fall for these, but my own mother recently fell for one so I don’t take that for granted any more. Tod reminds his readers that just b/c you might trust a site that doesn’t mean you should trust all its advertisers. Additionally, he said if you click and ad and it takes you to a blog, click back on your browser.

Surf safe!

Trivial Pursuit goes digital

Chris McGinn posted a blog on Digital Landing! Read about how Trivial Pursuit has gone digital!

The old boardgame favorite Trivial Pursuit is making its leap to the digital gaming world with EA Games. It will be available on all major gaming consoles including Xbox 360™, PlayStation®2, PLAYSTATION®3, and the Nintendo Wii™.

Players can play the “q-and-a” game in three modes: Classic, a single-player “Clear the Board,” or social multi-player “Facts and Friends.”

For the ultra-competitive player there’s this feature:

The game’s profile feature allows an ultra-competitive player to track and analyze performance statistics, such as the number of games won, a player’s best category, and the percentage of questions answered correctly in each category. This feature also compares a player’s strengths and weaknesses versus those of the opponents. Additionally, a ticker rolls at the bottom of the screen throughout game-play, keeping players informed about how they stack up against the competition.

The game will sell for $39.99 on most systems, except Playstation II which will retail for $29.99.

You can also get your fix at Pogo.com playing TRIVIAL PURSUIT Daily 20 for free

A mobile version of the game will also launch on the iPhone later this month and soon on Facebook, too.

TweetCongress

Chris McGinn posted a blog on Digital Landing! Read about how U.S. Congress members use Twitter, and how you can see it for yourself!

I really haven’t gotten into the whole “twitter” thing yet. Honestly, I just don’t have time with blogging and Facebook and that other “life” stuff.

But I did find a really interesting site last week that has me intrigued. It’s called TweetCongress and it is a clearinghouse site for all the members of the U.S. Congress who are on Twitter. You can even send requests to your Congresspeople to join if they aren’t already on Twitter.

From the site you can view the “tweetstream” for all the Congressmen and women from both sides of the aisle. They often post links to news shows they might be on or blog posts they have written. John McCain was posting a daily countdown of “pork” items in the recent spending bill.

I think what I like most about it is that you really feel like can learn a little about what is going on in our country without the filter of the media. You hear directly from your reps (or their staff likely) but without all the commentary. And they are limited to 140 characters so they can’t go on and on as politicians like to do.

Cute Technology

Jessie Atkin posted a blog up on Digital Landing. Read about the all new chumby, a cute animal that doubles as an alarm clock.

Have you ever wished for an internet pillow? A stuffed animal that streems music? Or a fun widget screener away from the computer? Maybe not, but that doesn’t make those capabilities any less fun.

That’s where the chumby comes in. The chumby is exactly what is sounds like, cute. It’s like an alarm clock posing as a pillow. It comes with a full color screen on one side, USB ports and charger opposite, and a squishy sort of fabric cover the rest of the way around.

The chumby is about the size of an average alarm clock and offers an alarm just like its predecesor, except this time you can wake up to music, podcasts, or even music videos. For more fun you can even access widgets from your chumby including facebook, twitter, and now pandora radio.

Pandora is chumby’s newest feature, and a nice one I’d say. You no longer need to worry about waking up to a commercial or setting up a playlist, pandora takes care of it for you.

The chumby is cute, and is always adding features. If only the price would drop everyone would be happy.

What is a "Friend"?

Richard Blaine posted a blog on Digital Landing about Facebook, and how the term ‘friend’ is thrown about too lightly.

So, as part of the grand experimment in social networking, I’ve been on Facebook for over a week. I have 32 “friends”. Some of those people have over a hundred Facebook friends. I know for a fact that hese people aren’t nearly that popular away from their PC.

In the “real” world, friend is not a term I throw around lightly. Friendship implies trust, camaraderie, shared interests and ideals. A friend is someone you want to spend time with. Someone you can count on when you need them. Somebody you could ask when you need a ride to the airport (OK - some friends believe that the airport run goes beyond the bounds of friendship). In the real world, if you asked me how many friends I have - not acquaintances, not poker buddies - actual friends - I’m pretty sure the final count would come in well under my 32 Facebook friends -and the Facebook friend requests are still pouring in. I should hit 50 by the end of the week. Because of Facebook is the word Friend losing it’s value?

Read the rest of the article.

Could Facebook dash your child's college dream?

Chris McGinn has posted a new blog at http://www.digitallanding.com/ called Could Facebook dash your child's college dream?

If you needed another reason to help your kids monitor what they write and do on Facebook, MySpace and other networking sites, consider this: 10 percent of college admissions counselors at prestigious universities say they check out potential students pages and 38 percent say they have rejected a student based on what they found.

You should know some colleges do consider the pages off-limits in decision making and personal, but others are looking. Regardless of whether your child’s college admissions office views them, odds are good that future employers might.


With more and more of our lives being available on-line, personal privacy and restraint is more necessary than ever. Teach your children the importance of using privacy options on MySpace and Facebook and check to make sure they are. Remind them not to post anything they wouldn’t want their parents or their future teachers or employers looking at. It could save their education or their career.

A New Kind of Premiere

Jessie Atkin has posted a new blog at http://www.digitallanding.com/ called a A New Kind of Premiere.

Film on Facebook is one of the many social networking projects the site has created to connect fans and utilize the community building power of the internet.

Specifically Film on Facebook is a group that connects film makers and fans. Filmakers can post behind the scenes videos, photos, showtimes, and comments through what facebook designates as “fan pages”. The most newsworthy bit is the premiere of One Track Mind (by Woodshed films), a surfing movie, directly on facebook this past week (October 16 and 17). There was a live chat session online as well.

The internet is a the new way to promote anything so film is no surprise. Facebook is an especially good stage for such promotion since the site already has a built in audience. The movie industry is going to have to deal with file sharing and rights in much the same way the music industry has struggled the past few years. But Imagine the possibilities if the movie industry were to get on board rather than figh the inevitable.