Mediaboss Marketing

We all know about the great benefits social networking brings to our lives like reconnecting with old friends and acquaintances, staying in touch long-distance, and meeting new people with similar interests online. Also, did you know that for some people it can also bolster their self-confidence?

But with all these benefits there are sure to be some drawbacks. This next infographic from Schools.com offers a different take on social networking and asks the question, Is social media making us socially awkward?.

Since we spend so much time networking online, you really have to ask yourself if its filling a need or just merely occupying our time. A Hong Kong study found that face to face friendships offer more interdependence, more depth of understanding, more breadth of understanding, and something else which can seldom be replaced by an online relationship. Its commitment.

Thats right, if you get rubbed the wrong way by something someone says or does on Facebook, its real easy to just unfriend them and forget about it. Real life is a little different. Its something to consider.

Take a look at what they came up with:

Follow this link:
Is Social Media Making Us Socially Awkward? [Infographic]

If I said "Ping" to you, would you immediately think of a social-networking service that's tied to iTunes? The answer appears to be "no", as Apple is reportedly getting ready to close the doors on Ping from lack of interest.

This service debuted back infall of 2010, and since then it has pretty much gone nowhere. Its intent was to give music lovers who were also iTunes users a place to discuss their favorite songs online, but instead these people have gravitated to other social-networking options, like Facebook.

Since Apple announced its foray into social networking two years ago, the company has obviously realized that it should leave this to the experts --recent versions of the iOShave had built-in support for Twitter, and earlier this week Apple's CEO Tim Cook revealed that Facebook is going to be integrated into iOS 6, the upcoming version of his company's mobile operating system.

The death knell for Ping is not yet official, but an unconfirmed report says that it won't be a part of iOS 6,which Cook unveiled on Monday. As evidence in support of this, those who have been testing the just-released beta of the next version of iOS report that Ping does not work in it.

Source

More here:
Ping, Apple's Social-Networking Service, Is On Its Way Out

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A San Francisco social networking company has suspended one of its apps because of three recent sexual assaults of children. The company operates a popular flirting app called Skout, which has millions of users.

A 12-year-old girl from Escondido, Calif. told police she was raped by Christopher Nut, an adult stranger she met on the social networking app Skout. Police say Nut, 24, posed as a teenager.

"He's very crafty in how he got her to come out and was able to pick her up at her house and take her back to his house," Escondido Police Lt. Craig Carter said.

Two men in other cities have also been accused of sexually assaulting children they met on Skout.

The flirting app started out as a service for adults, but last year Skout launched a separate forum for 13-17 year olds. It was supposed to be more protected, with safeguards like parental controls and a program called "the Creepinator" which monitors nude photos and inappropriate sexual messages.

San Francisco Police Inspector Kenneth Esposto is an expert on internet sexual assault against children.

"You put all the safeguards you can to try to install all them so you may be able to protect children but the predators will always get around the safeguards," Esposto said.

Investigators say the three men accused of the sexual attacks went on the app for teenagers.

Tuesday, the company suspended access to it. Skout founder Christian Wiklund issued a statement which says in part, "Nothing is more important to Skout than the safety of our community. While the vast majority of our community uses Skout appropriately, a few have not and that is simply unacceptable."

Esposto maintains the best safeguard of all is when parents take charge..

Read the original:
Social app shuts down after recent sexual assaults

June 13, 2012, 1:41 PM PDT

Takeaway: If your social media presence is becoming impossible to manage, one of these tools may help bring things under control.

Social networking has become an inevitability for businesses of all sizes. No matter what your product or service, youre hurting yourself if you dont have a social media presence. And as you grow, so do your social media needs. At some point, your social presence is going to become hard to manage using the standard interfaces. You will need newer and more powerful tools that are better suited for the task.

I found five low-cost (or free) tools that can help manage your social media presence. With these tools, you can handle various tasks (some offer more than others). But most important is the ability to keep track of your social accounts as well as your followers (and their mentions of you or your company/product).

Note: This list is also available as a photo gallery.

SocialBro (Figure A) is available as a Google Chrome extension and as a desktop app. It allows you to get fairly fine-grained with the viewing of your Twitter accounts. SocialBro is one of my favorite tools, simply because it offers so much information and so many capabilities with Twitter. You can search users and keywords, create specific filters, find your best time to tweet, monitor hashtags, analyze competitors, and much more. You will have to create a SocialBro account (free) and then give the extension permission to access your Twitter data.

TweetDeck (Figure B) is offered as a Google Chrome extension, a desktop client, and mobile clients (IOS and Android). All versions of the tool offer the same features. With TweetDeck, you can customize what you see (arranging your feeds to display the way you want), schedule tweets, monitor unlimited accounts, get notification alerts for new tweets, see media previews, handle list management, and much more.

GroupTweet (Figure C) is a unique tool that allows multiple users to post on a single Twitter account. This can quickly ease the burden of managing a social presence on Twitter. Each user that is given permission to post is displayed in the group account individual names can be enabled or disabled. You can have unlimited contributors to an account and any Twitter client can be used with GroupTweet. For $4.99 per month (for the Premium account), you gain extra features like Tweet moderation, scheduled tweets, prioritized tweets, and multiple hashtag designation.

Continued here:
Five tools to help simplify social networking management

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire -06/13/12)- ePals (SLN.V)

News that Facebook may allow children under 13 to join the social networking site raises important questions about online safety for our youngest Internet users and purposes of learning. All over the world, new learning standards are emerging that focus on communication and collaboration as an important means to provide the writing and media creation, critical thinking and problem solving skills essential to the 21st century work place. Proper use of social media tools in furtherance of learning has the potential to motivate and empower students in ways that traditional home and school learning methods cannot match.

ePals, which operates the largest social learning networking site specifically designed for children and teachers, has been focused on creating a safe and secure education experience for children for more than 15 years. Please see the following Top Five Tips for creating a safe and secure online environment for children.

1. Understand The Differences Between Consumer Social Media and Social Learning Platforms

It's important to distinguish between social media platforms and social learning platforms. Social media tools for education take into account the safety and privacy of students and teachers and are focused on social learning, not just being social.

2. Steer Kids To Safe and Secure Social Networking Sites

Find social networking sites with the TRUSTe seal and that have active tools such as content and language filters. Ensure that forums are screened for appropriate material that creates a safe and secure online environment. Only allow your kids to visit sites that are actively monitored to ensure a safe environment for kids. Examples of top kid-centric sites can be found here.

3. Prevent Cyber Bullying

Teach your child how to recognize and avoid cyber bullies. Only allow your children to access sites where parents, guardians and teachers have the ability to set access levels. Should a student come across a cyber bully make sure they know to report it to a trusted adult -- just like they would with a playground bully.

4. Keep Kids Connected To Learning Over The Summer And Extend Summer Reading Activities

Read this article:
Top Five Tips to Keep Your Young Kids Engaged in Safe Social Networks and Summer Learning