Mediaboss Marketing

Skout, which offers a social networking app for iPhone and Android devices, has suspended temporarily access to its teen community, after three cases of alleged rape involving adults posing as teenagers on the network were reported.

The app helps users to flirt, find a date, or discover new friends "at the local neighborhood bar, at a concert at Madison Square Garden or on a bus tour in Barcelona."

Skout said in a blog post on Tuesday that it had set up its teen community for people aged under 18 about a year ago after it found a number of underage users were entering the community meant for people older than 18.

In each of the alleged rape cases, the men are accused of posing as teenagers in a Skout forum for 13 to 17-year-olds, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

A 15-year-old Ohio girl said she had been raped by a 37-year-old man, while in another case, a 24-year-old man is accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in Escondido, California, the newspaper said. In the third case, a 21-year-old man from Waukesha, Wisconsin, is facing charges that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy.

"We actively monitor and screen to ensure that the two separate communities for users 18+ and for teen users are kept distinct and that behavior is age-appropriate," Christian Wiklund, founder and CEO of Skout said in the blog post.

Skout in San Francisco said it uses proprietary technology that continuously monitors activity on the network to identify users whose behavior appears "unusual, inappropriate or suspicious." Users are banned for inappropriate or suspicious behavior, and Skout's location-based apps provide general rather than specific location information, giving each community member the choice to decide if, when and where to meet in person.

"However, it's become clear to us that these measures aren't enough," said Wiklund, as in recent weeks, the company has learned of several incidents involving a "few bad actors trying to take advantage of some of our younger members."

Skout plans to keep its under-18 community shut until it can design better protections.

The company said it was working on building better safeguards, including mechanisms for age verification, and is partnering with a risk management advisory firm to strengthen its current security measures.

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Social App Skout Suspends Teen Community After Rape Allegations

RALEIGH-DURHAM-CHAPEL HILL,NC, June 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Socialworkhelper.com is a free resource directory with an active social networking community of practitioners and students from helping professions. People often envision social workers as a woman going into a parent's homes to take their children away. Although child protection social workers, who include both men and women, are not popular in our culture, they do provide a necessary function in protecting children from abuse and neglect.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120613/CG23557)

Many are unaware that child protection social workers only represent one area of practice within the social work profession. Not all teachers work in elementary schools, and not all police officers work on college campuses. However, social workers, teachers, and police officers are all struggling to provide quality services with limited resources while being understaffed. In the past, media outlets have often reported on the struggles of teachers and law enforcement when discussing today's economy. However, the social work community appears to be far removed from the discussion despite the increased demand for services and child protection issues as a result of the economic recession.

Social Workers can be found in the public sector located in the court systems, schools, public health, corrections facilities, and law enforcement agencies. In the nonprofit sector, you will find social workers as service providers, community organizers, and case managers in the healthcare industry. Social Workers also engage in private industry such as private practices, managed care facilities, mental health, and as employee assistance providers. Most importantly, social workers engage the political process exemplified by the Congressional Social Work Caucus inaugurated in the US House of Representatives by the 111th Congress. Yet, state and local governments have made and are currently proposing even more massive cuts.

Social Workers are finding it necessary to increase collaboration efforts, sharing of information, and ideas to combat the attacks against underrepresented populations and the professionals who work tirelessly to remove barriers to housing, health care, education, food security, and protection. Socialworkhelper.com also uses a Mobile Web 2.0 technology to allow users to access resources, engage in forums, download mobile apps, check network activity feeds, post to Facebook and Twitter simultaneously while updating their status on the network, and much more all from your mobile phone.

If you are a student, professional, or someone working to help improve the quality of life for the poor and underprivileged, please go to http://www.socialworkhelper.com today!

Media Contact: Deona Hooper Socialworkhelper.com, 9102499399, contact@socialworkhelper.com

News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com

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Social Work 2.0

PARIS Scientists on Sunday said they had found a key piece in the puzzle as to why a tiny minority of individuals infected with HIV have a natural ability to fight off the deadly AIDS virus.

In a study they said holds promise for an HIV vaccine, researchers from four countries reported the secret lies not in the number of infection-killing cells a person has, but in how well they work.

Only about one person in 300 has the ability to control the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) without drugs, using a strain of killer cells called cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) cells, previous research has found.

Taking that discovery further, scientists from the United States, Canada, Japan and Germany reported that the strain has molecules called receptors that are better able to identify HIV-infected white blood cells for attack.

Until now, it was well known that people with HIV have tonnes of these killer cells, Bruce Walker, an infectious diseases expert at the Ragon Institute in Massachusetts, told AFP.

We have been scratching our heads since then, asking how, with so many killer cells around, people are getting AIDS. It turns out there is a special quality that makes them (some cells) better at killing.

The study looked at 10 infected people, of whom five took antiretroviral drugs to keep HIV under control while five were so-called elite controllers who remained naturally healthy.

HIV kills a type of white blood cell called CD4, leaving people with AIDS wide open to other, opportunistic and potentially deadly infections.

What we found was that the way the killer cells are able to see infected cells and engage them was different, said Walker.

It is not just that you need a killer cell, what you need is a killer cell with a (T cell) receptor that is particularly good at recognising the infected cell. This gives us a way to understand what it is that makes a really good killer cell.

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Secret of HIV's natural born killers holds promise of vaccine

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Dublin - Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2rc8hh/social_media_marke) has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd's new book "Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day, 2nd Edition" to their offering.

In the newest edition of his top-selling book, social media expert Dave Evans bypasses theory to provide you with practical, hands-on advice on developing, implementing, and measuring social media marketing campaigns. In what can be an overwhelming topic, he demystifies the jargon, dispels the myths, and helps you develop an effective, day-by-day plan.

Revised and updated with more than 100 pages of new material on all the latest developments, Evans includes new and updated coverage on Facebook, Twitter, and Google ; the latest on listening and analytics platforms; how to incorporate mobile and location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla into your plan; and more.

- Helps marketers, advertisers, and small business owners quickly develop effective, practical approaches to social media marketing campaigns

- Highlights the latest you should know about Facebook, Twitter, and Google ; as well as mobile- and location-based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla

- Shows you how to track and measure results and integrate that information into your overall marketing plan

- Features case studies, step-by-step instructions, and hands-on tutorials

If you've been seeking ways to break down social media marketing into tasks you can handle and campaigns that deliver, this is the book you need.

Key Topics Covered:

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Research and Markets: Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day, 2nd Edition - Updated With 100 Pages of New Content, This ...

BURLINGTON, MA--(Marketwire -06/12/12)- Awareness, Inc., leading provider of social marketing solutions for customer acquisition, today announced the launch of the new Awareness Certified Agency Program -- a comprehensive partner program designed to equip agencies of all sizes to acquire new clients while getting a range of social marketing support services. Agencies participating in the program will get exposure to hundreds of thousands of brand marketers who follow Awareness' thought leadership programs, which include popular webinars with industry leaders, social marketing trend reports, instructional guides on social strategy and engagement, access to free downloads on the best new books in social marketing, among others.

In addition to the co-branded lead generation and marketing enablement services, the Awareness Certified Agency Program provides agencies with affordable access to the Awareness Social Marketing Hub -- the software of choice for social media monitoring, publishing and analytics for leading brands and agencies including Major League Baseball, American Cancer Society, Xerox, Carlsberg, Comcast SportsNet, Likeable Media, Raidious, Maui Jim and MindJumpers. Now marketing agencies, social media agencies, and marketing consulting firms can use the powerful social marketing capabilities of the Hub to market their own consulting services along with the products and services offered by their clients.

"Our new agency program is designed to help agencies grow their social marketing business and get access to top industry resources to help them ramp up their clients," says Mike Lewis, VP of marketing and sales for Awareness, Inc.

In addition to full access to the Hub, Certified Agency Partners benefit from:

Agencies and marketing consulting firms interested in learning more about the Awareness Certified Agency Program can visit the Awareness website for more details. They can also attend the Certified Agency Program webinar on June 14th at 2 PM Eastern or contact Keith Sullivan at keith.sullivan@awarenessnetworks.com or by phone at (781) 270-2422.

About Awareness, Inc.Awareness, Inc. is the leading provider of enterprise-class, social marketing software for marketers to publish and manage social content, engage with their audience and measure the effectiveness their social media activities across multiple social media channels. The Awareness Social Marketing Hub is built upon Awareness' expertise with some of the world's leading brands and marketing agencies including MLB, Sony Pictures, Comcast, Likeable Media, Associated Press, Cox Communications, Mindjumpers and American Cancer Society.

About The Awareness Social Marketing HubThe Awareness Social Marketing Hub helps business acquire customers through social marketing. The Social Marketing Hub is the first enterprise-class application for serious marketers who want to plan, implement and measure meaningful social media strategies across the organization.

Interested in learning more or seeing the Hub in action?

Connect with Awareness

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Awareness, Inc. Launches New Certified Agency Program