misunderestimation

The much-maligned social networking site, MySpace has taken an important step in repairing its image:

Popular online social network MySpace said on Tuesday it will begin sending online alerts to users in certain U.S. regions to help find missing children as part of an expansion of plans to expand safeguards for users.

MySpace struck a partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to enable MySpace AMBER alerts, a program between the media and law enforcement to issue early warning broadcast bulletins in serious child abduction cases.

It is part of an upgrade by News Corp.-owned MySpace of safety features designed to address concerns of child safety advocates, some of whom say it has been slow to keep its many teenage members safe from adult predators.

Now this is an arrangement that makes complete sense. Consider the volume of MySpace users:

With 150 million profiles, MySpace is seen as one of the Web’s fastest-growing properties in terms of users. More than half of U.S. teens with online access use sites such as MySpace to stay in touch with friends, a recent Pew survey found.

Issuing missing child alerts to targeted areas via MySpace could be a huge help in recovery efforts. The question on my mind is, just how visible with these alerts be?

The Amber alerts, named after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped and murdered in 1996 in Texas, will appear in a small text box at the top of a profile, MySpace said. The alerts give MySpace users the option to get more information about the case, such as photos and information on suspects.

As a father, this news makes me very happy. While some may debate the potential success of issuing Amber Alerts on MySpace, the more you get the word out, the more likely you are to recover the child. With MySpace, you can reach millions of targeted users instantly for little or no cost. This one is a no-brainer.

More misunderestimation

MySpace has had its share of trouble in 2006, but now a fresh round of identity theft is again raging through MySpace:

MySpace bills itself as a “place for friends.” Increasingly, it is also a place for unfriendly attacks from digital miscreants on the prowl, luring users to sexually explicit Web sites, clogging mailboxes with spam messages and playing on the trust users have when speaking to “friends” to obtain passwords that could lead to identity theft.

Identity theft is the Darwinism of the 21st century. Someone asks you for your information and we provide it. Why does it seem so easy on MySpace?

A key reason behind the popularity is its ease. Simply by adding a few lines of computer code, users can create elaborate profiles and personalize them with photos, music and video. A host of communication tools makes it easy to send messages to one person or a whole list of friends, who number into the thousands for some of the more popular MySpace users.

Those same tools can be used by vandals to make it look like an innocent user has sent spam to the same long list of “friends.”

Programmers are writing scripts that take advantage of specific features on MySpace, including “friend request,” where one user asks to be added to another user’s list of buddies.

I’m wondering again if having a MySpace account is really worth the potential trouble. It’s probably the same story we’ve heard time and time again; criminal prey on the vulnerable or uneducated. Please educate your kids and make them less vulnerable.

MySpace needs to get their act together pretty quickly according to BUZZscreen:

Other popular social networking sites such as Facebook do not have issues like MySpace does. If MySpace doesn’t fix the existing problems in short order, it’s popularity peak may be reached.

And we all know what happens after anything peaks.

It’s all downhill from there.

I couldn’t agree more.

More misunderestimation

Thanks to the popularity of MySpace, Yahoo was dethroned as the top site in November:

Social network MySpace drove parent Fox Interactive Media past typical leader Yahoo in number of page views in November, a Web metrics firm says.

Fox Interactive had 39.53 billion page views last month, while Yahoo had 38.05 billion, comScore Networks said Wednesday. As an indication of the impact of MySpace, Fox Interactive in November 2005, which is before parent News Corp. acquired MySpace, had 231 million page views from all its properties.

Of course, Yahoo does not see things the same way:

Yahoo argued that it had lost the top spot in terms of page views because it increasingly uses the latest “Web 2.0″ technology that did not need to spawn as many new pages to display Web information, a spokeswoman said.

ClickZ, an Internet marketing company, went a little further:

Be clear: this does not indicate MySpace and FIM are “biggest” online, whatever that means. Page views are a far from reliable measurement of success for a Web publisher. They fluctuate month to month for any site, and the advent of AJAX site navigation, which Yahoo has embraced in its mail app, reduces their number by not generating a new “view” for every click.

AJAX is a web technology that pushes new content out to web sites without “reloading” the page. Basically, the page gives you new information, but does not count as another page view. Cool for the user, not cool for the company counting the views.

LostRemote has this to say:

True enough, this is one of the biggest issues facing web developers today: AJAX improves usability but decreases page views. In fact, the Internet Advertising Bureau has urged both major web analytics companies to consider reforming its measurement practices to either account for partial refreshes or come up with a new metric for page views.

What strikes me in all of this discussion is something that has been around with the Internet since the first web pages. How do you accurately measure the success of anything on your site? Is it traffic, click-through rates, duration on the site, ad views, or something else? What is certain is this; what we think of success today will be pointless tomorrow.

More misunderestimation

Last week, MySpace announced plans to Weed Out Sex Offenders from their site. I, along with everyone else, figured this was nothing but an effort by MySpace to put a positive spin on a site that has excelled in bad press lately. After all, what sex offender is going to use their real name when creating an online identity?

Perhaps I was a bit premature.

Officials in two states proposed unusual plans Monday to tighten oversight of convicted sex offenders: Virginia’s attorney general wants them to register their e-mail addresses and online IDs, and New York officials want them to take lie-detector tests.
[...]
In Virginia, Attorney General Bob McDonnell said Monday that he would seek legislation to require convicted sex offenders there to register their online identities with the state to help MySpace and other online teen hangouts more easily block access.

MySpace is happy with the proposed legislation.

This legislation is an important recognition that the Internet has become a community as real as any other neighborhood and is in need of similar safeguards. Its passage will be a landmark moment in the history of Internet safety.

While I’m sure no one really believes this effort will be the perfect solution, but at least we are heading in the right direction. It takes a village to raise a child and it’s nice to see we are recognizing the role of online communities in our kid’s lives.

Others Blogging:

• Bill Designed To Keep Sex Offenders Off MySpace
• Megan’s Law goes virtual
• Virginia Wants ‘MySpace’ Sex Offender Bill
• Why Use A Cheese Cloth To Patch A Hole?
• Perverts on Myspace are Getting Nervous

More misunderestimation

You have to figure it is only a matter of time in front of the computer before we all forget how to write. I’m guilty. I needed to write a paper check the other day and had to read the instructions. I type much faster (and more legibly) then I write, plus the spell-checker is my best friend.

Most adults have had some experience with a pen and pencil, but schools today are pushing more and more technology. One would think all the time in front of the computer must have a cost. What are we taking out of the day to make room for keyboarding instruction?

One school in Scotland is bucking the trend and teaching their kids the lost art of writing with a fountain pen:

There is no clacking of keyboards in most classrooms at the Mary Erskine and Stewart’s Melville Junior School, although there is a full range of facilities for computer lessons and technology isn’t being ignored.

But the private school’s principal believes the old-fashioned pens have helped boost the academic performance and self-esteem of his 1,200 pupils.

“The pens improve the quality of work because they force the children to take care, and better work improves self-esteem,” principal Bryan Lewis said. “Proper handwriting is as relevant today as it ever has been.”

Interesting. Because they cannot easily correct their mistakes, the kids are required to focus and exert more care in their work. But, writing with a fountain pen? Do they still make those? Is that legal? I thought they made the ink out of endangered animals or something like that. Will PETA be raining red on schools?

Maybe there is a middle ground; a way to get keyboarding/technology skill into the classroom and still maintain that feeling of care in your work. Bring back the typewriter! Not those fancy ones with the ball, give me the good old-fashion typewriter with little golf clubs and hit your paper. You know, the ones that build finger strength while making that cool swatting sound. That would be great!

I love the sound of typewriters in the morning…

More misunderestimation

In a move that is long over due, MySpace this week announced Tuesday its plans to identify and delete accounts for sex offenders:

MySpace is partnering with Sentinel Tech Holding to build and deploy within 30 days a database that will contain the names and physical descriptions of convicted sex offenders in the United States. An automated system will search for matches between the database and MySpace user profiles. Employees will then delete any profiles that match.

While the move was widely applauded, some MySpace watchers question whether it will be effective because sex offenders can conceal their identity online.

So, has MySpace finally realized that protecting their users is the right thing to do? Or is there another reason:

Business analysts say the the personal safety of its online users as well as the protection of entertainment copyrights are viewed as two of the biggest threats to MySpace’s ability to make money in the future.

Parents, don’t get too comfortable with this protection plan. How many sex predators are going to user their real identity? This partnership is there to protect the business interests of MySpace first and foremost. Protecting kids is a good PR move and will help ease the minds of some; until tomorrow’s headline.

Other’s blogging on this issue:

• MySpace to Purge Sex Offenders
• Sex Offender Hide & Seek
• MySpace to Adopt Sentinel Safe to Stop Teen Predators
• MySpace Pays Lip Service To Eliminating Internet Predators
• MySpace Goes Medieval on Sex Offenders

More misunderestimation

A report published this week claims that most teen are being safe on MySpace:

“Our research shows problems with MySpace aren’t as widespread as people assume,” said Dr. Justin Patchin, assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. “The media and parents have demonized MySpace, but we found an overwhelming majority of adolescents use the site responsibly.”

Researchers found only a small percentage of adolescents include identifying information in profiles…

That’s good and bad news. When you have well over 100 million users, a small percentage is still a big number. How do kids and parents know what should or should not go on a kid’s MySpace profile? Logic would say, avoid identifying information like your first and last name, but in creating an account, you are asked for all that information. MySpace has a safety tips page, but The Rolling Ize doesn’t think much of it:

The safety tips page on myspace interests me. If you run across racism or inappropriate postings, report to myspace or the authorities. If you’re a pedophile, you’re in deep trouble – myspace will delete your user profile! (Same goes if you’re in fifth grade and have a myspace).

Maybe I’m being too negative – I guess it’s kind of important that they’d have a page like this, but they do kinda hide it along the bottom row of “about” and “faq” links that nobody ever dares to go to…

What is a parent or responsible teen to do? You want to use the site, but are concerned about making a mistake in setting-up an account or in the way you use the site. SadlyNormal.org has a good post called Myspace and general Internet safety rules for kids and teens that has some great tips including their first one:

1. Remember your profile is on a public forum- do not post any private information you wouldn’t want other people getting ahold of, such as your address, phone number, last name, or anything specific that may give away where you are located.

You can also find additional web resources to help keep your kids safe online.

Of course, there are many books on the subject including MySpace Safety: 51 Tips for Teens and Parents. Amazon.com has this to say about the book:

The authors provide specific methods to minimize the risk that comes with having a MySpace.com account. Each element of personal information requested by MySpace is analyzed to determine how the data is used.

The most common themes here are these:

1. Avoid identifying information like your full name, address, phone number, etc.
2. Set-up a “throw-away” email address to use for your account
3. Keep your profile private
4. Remember strangers on the Internet are like strangers in public; avoid them

Others blogging on this topic:

• Parenting the MySpace generation
• Parenting Kids on Myspace
• Where predators lurk (The Rockingham News)
• Couldn’t say it better myself
• Keeping Kids Safe On Myspace
• How Safe is Myspace?

More misunderestimation

On Monday, an influential pediatricians released some disturbing information for parents:

Inappropriate advertising contributes to many kids’ ills, from obesity to anorexia, to drinking booze and having sex too soon, and Congress should crack down on it, the American Academy of Pediatrics says.

“Young people view more than 40,000 ads per year on television alone and increasingly are being exposed to advertising on the Internet, in magazines, and in schools,” the policy says.

Common sense would tell you that kids who are inundated with constant ads for fast food, male enhancement, and various homicide investigation shows are bound to pick-up some bad habits.

And when did it become OK to for the networks to bombard us with frightening images from their violent shows? CBS is the worst. Try watching a football game on CBS and you will see constant images of violence thanks to incessant promotions for CSI [you city here] shows. At one time, all you had to do was flip channels during commercials to avoid the “rough” images. Now, they put their twisted promos on between downs!

I’m glad that pressure is being applied to clean-up advertising. Of course, the advertising industry has a different view:

“It’s as dangerous for pediatricians to make recommendations about advertising as for me to write a prescription for a child’s ear infection,” said Dick O’Brien of the American Association of Advertising Agencies

This from the people who brought you meeting rooms full of monkeys, geckos who drive, and the smiling Enzyte guy. Clearly, you don’t have to own a brain to be an advertiser.

• Pediatricians blast inappropriate ads
• Pediatricians take aim at advertising to kids …
• Junk Food Ads Spoil Kids’…Minds
• The Kids are Alright
• Kids are exposed to too many erectile dysfunction ads

More misunderestimation

Here is the latest attack on MySpace security:

Websense® Security Labsâ„¢ has confirmed the existence of a worm spreading on the MySpace network. This worm is exploiting the Javascript support within Apple’s embedded QuickTime player (1). This is used in conjunction with a MySpace vulnerability that was announced two weeks ago on the Full-Disclosure mailing list (2). The vulnerabilities are being used to replace the legitimate links on the user’s MySpace profile with links to a phishing site.

Visit the websense.com for more.

More misunderestimation

Google Teen Smoking and see what you get. I count over 2.7 million links and would say that qualifies as an important issue in our world today. What can be done to stop teens from smoking?

Let’s start with the most hypocritical group in the mix; tobacco companies who produce anti-smoking ads. Clearly, the tobacco companies are extremely interested in cultivating new young and healthy customers. It seems their regular customer base has a high mortality level. Why on earth would these people want to produce non-smoking ads?

In a report published recently in the online version of American Journal of Public Health, researchers looked at those anti-smoking ads and found some interesting results:

“These results are very important because they demonstrate that the tobacco company’s nominal ‘youth smoking prevention’ programs do not prevent kids from smoking,” said Stanton A. Glantz, a professor of medicine at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco.

“These programs, like earlier similar efforts by the tobacco industry, simply serve the industry’s public relations needs and support their political efforts to displace meaningful tobacco control,” Glantz said. “The industry should immediately suspend these programs.”

Well, that would confirm what would be a logical assumption. Tobacco companies are just trying to put a good face on their deadly product. Being aware of the real reason behind some anti-smoking campaigns can be a big influence in stopping teens from smoking. Researchers at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that teens were half as likely to smoke if they understood the subliminal messages in cigarette ads:

“Many factors that influence a teen’s decision to smoke – like peer influence, parental smoking and risk-seeking tendency – are difficult to change,” said the study’s lead author, Brian Primack, M.D., Ed.M., assistant professor in the School of Medicine’s division of general internal medicine. “However, media literacy, which can be taught, may be a valuable tool in efforts to discourage teens from smoking.”

The more teens are aware of the games that are being played in the media, the less likely they are to smoke. And that’s a good thing because other research is showing another reason for kids to avoid smoking:

Younger smokers in the 12- to 14-year-old age group were 28.4 percent more susceptible to developing an alcohol problem later compared with 4.2 percent for nonsmokers although both reported having one to eight drinks in the past month.

[...] smoking appears to prime the brain for subsequent addiction to alcohol and possibly other substances.

It’s not bad enough that the smoking can kill you, it also gets you primed for other addictions.

So what’s the answer? Many communities, cities, and states are considering or have passed non-smoking laws. Others are continuing to raise taxes on cigarettes in an effort to either stop smokers or generate some positive cash-flow for governments. Do these efforts work on teens?

I believe some of the anti-smoking ads by thetruth.com and others do have an impact. I work at a cancer hospital and get daily reminders of the results of smoking. I know that one trip to our Head & Neck Center will be all it takes to ensure my kids never smoke. It’s not a pretty sight.

For more, check out these blogs:

• Teen Smoking
• Teen Smoking Ups Risk for Alcohol Disorders
• 5 Truths About Teen Smoking
• Teenagers Need More to Lose
• Teen Smoking – Why Media Campaigns and Education Are Not Enough
• Teen anti-smoking ads starting to backfire

More misunderestimation