There is a new social networking program being launched online, this new program is none other than Google+. Read more...

As gestures of affection, young people are sharing passwords to their email and Facebook accounts with their friends and significant others, according to the New York Times. Seems like risky business, especially when you ask parents. But to many teens, it’s sweet.

The Times cites a Pew Research study that says 30 percent of online teenagers have shared a password with a friend. Girls are more likely than boys to share passwords, and 14 - 17 year-olds are more likely than younger teens to share passwords. Also according to Pew, 33 percent of teens who use social networks have shared a password, compared to 19 percent of online teens who do not use social networking sites.

The Times quotes Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabes--a book with advice for parents of teenage girls--who says that sharing passwords is a forbidden act, just like sex. 

Sharing passwords, she noted, feels forbidden because it is generally discouraged by adults and involves vulnerability. And there is pressure in many teenage relationships to share passwords, just as there is to have sex.

Just like sex, there are major risks involved in sharing a password. If the relationship sours, personal information could be used against someone or leaked to parents or the teenager's community. But taking that risk is the ultimate sign of trust for many teenagers, according to the Times.

Facebook’s new suicide response feature relies on friends to recognize self-destructive posts and comments and to sound the alarm.

By clicking on a “report” button next to a concerning post, the friend is prompted to answer a series of questions about the post. If “harmful behavior” is identified, Facebook’s user safety team reviews it, and forwards it to Lifeline, a medical alert service, according to NPR. Then Facebook sends the person in distress an email with Lifeline’s contact information and a link to begin a confidential chat session.

NPR reports, "The Lifeline currently responds to dozens of users on Facebook each day. Crisis center workers will be available 24 hours a day to respond to users selecting the chat option."

The article also cites three cases in recent years where Facebook users have posted their final words on social networking sites, including the widely publicized case of Tyler Clementi, who jumped off the George Washington bridge in September 2010. Read more...

Max Dougherty's new social networking service Envoy- to be released in the near future- bridges a digital divide that was previously ignored... the one between this life and the next.

Envoy essentially allows the living to connect with their loved ones who have passed away. Envoy starts with the deceased person's Facebook account and analyzes every status update, comment, photo, and chat in the person's digital history. Envoy uses this information to create new updates, posts, and status feeds in the person's style of language. Basically - you can pretend that your loved one is NOT in fact deceased.

This demo video leaves me asking the question... why??

Keep an eye out for WEIRD media demos at 3:30 and 4:24 that show how you can have voice chats with the deceased and incorporate them into your every day life.
 

Teachers and educators are vibrantly discussing if and how technology should be integrated into the classroom.  

Are students happy with this trend?

According to a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Ed, the majority of college students surveyed said  they are concerned about their technology habits. They admit to being constantly on Facebook and Twitter, but they’re not necessarily happy while being technologically engaged. One student quoted in the article said, "I don't realize how much time is passing while on my phone and computer. I'm so preoccupied, I'm not paying attention to what else is going on around me."

On the other hand, the New York Times recently spotlighted a teacher who is using technology in her classroom to give students a voice - resulting in her students spending more intentional time on their digital devices. The featured teacher has her students use a Twitter “backchannel” to ask questions and post comments during a class discussion. She says it has increased student participation by almost a third - contrasting dissenting voices that technology in the classroom is a distraction.

The article reads, “The real-time digital streams allow students to comment, pose questions (answered either by one another or the teacher) and shed inhibitions about voicing opinions. Perhaps most importantly, if they are texting on-task, they are less likely to be texting about something else.”  

Students asked about using the “backchannel” had positive things to say. “When you type something down, it’s a lot easier to say what I feel,” said Justin Lansik, 17, according to the Times.

Are students looking for an escape from the digital world? Or are students eager to have their social networks integrated with their education? 

By Noah Nelson, Turnstyle News

Tonight, all signs point to Sohaib Athar, a 33-year old IT professional living in Abbottabad, Pakistan, as being the inadvertent front line reporter for Twitter of the raid on Osama Bin Laden. Athar, who tweets under the name Really Virtual, began the possibly OBL-related feed at 1AM local time with the report of helicopter in the usually quiet city.

The following originally aired on KCBS.

By Sam Fuller

I don’t have a choice when it comes to social networking – it’s either Facebook or nothing.

There are other social networking sites out there, but they aren’t really an option – none of my friends are there. And email is useless since nobody I know checks it more than once a week.

I was late joining Facebook, I only signed up because everyone else was on it. Even my mom was on before me. Yet even though I was one of the last of my friends to join, I may be the first to quit.

What I don’t like about the site is the attitude – the people who run it think they know best. Even when it comes to privacy. I saw founder Mark Zuckerberg on TV saying that the reason his site is popular is because people want to share more. But I don’t think everyone wants to share their profile information with online marketers, which is what happens now.

When I look at this kind of “data mining” rationally, it probably shouldn’t creep me out. But it does. It’s like having someone looking over my shoulder all the time.

So congrats Facebook -- you’ve trapped me! You’re creepy, but to delete my account would be the end of my digital life.

Yourlifebox.com (YLB) is a social networking site based around making your dreams come true.  Every user’s profile is centered around a passionate dream that they have.  Then users have the opportunity to enter a YLB wish: If you could ask for something, what would you ask for? The idea of the site, is that users share information, human resources, knowledge, and sometimes money to make these dreams and wishes come true.

“We feel that a little positive encouragement can go a long way.  People often hear why their dreams can’t happen, but this is to show people they can. That’s the whole concept,” said founder Jonathan Bullard.

Bullard has seen all kinds of dreams on the site.  “It varies, a dream can be anything. A dream can be something huge or small.  I’ve seen a girl who wanted an internship and needed to shadow a doctor - she found a contact through the site. A guy wanted to make a children’s book series and was looking for support, a guy who wanted to direct moview in NYC, a girl who wanted to travel around Europe, and a guy who wanted to open a karate studio.”

According to Bullard, users try to get high numbers of votes on their profiles. The more votes they have, the more prominently their dreams will be featured on the site, and the more support they’ll receive for these dreams. “Support comes from other members, and sometimes benevolent sponsors outside the YLB community,” said Bullard.

The site currently has 700 users, but Bullard said they regularly do outreach to college students in Florida to encourage them to sign up.  YLB even started a scholarship program that will give away money to pursue educational dreams. “A lot of the most ambitious people are high school or college age kids, and we wanted to start a scholarship program where we give away money on a quarterly basis,” said Bullard.

Users have to be at least 14 years old to join the site, but it is free to join.  Users can choose if their profile is public, private, or public to those who are currently logged in to the site.

By Denise Tejada

We’ve heard several times that youth who spend a lot of hours online could become socially isolated, but according to a recent study by the MacArthur Foundation and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning, the opposite is true. The new study found that youth who spend more time online are more likely to be more engaged in civic and political issues.

The study surveyed more than 2,500 youth and more than 400 youth were followed for 3.5 years. The study focuses on three types of behavior: politically-driven online participation, online exposure to diverse perspectives, and interest-driven online participation.  The study concludes:

“Youth engagement in interest-driven online communities was associated with increased volunteer and charity work and increased work with others on community issues. The Internet can serve as a gateway to online and offline civic and political engagement, including volunteerism, community problem-solving, and protest activity.”

The study looked at how youth used blogs or social networking sites to share or discuss perspectives on social and political issues, how youth use the Internet to get information about political or social issues, and how email is used to communicate with others who are working on political or social issues.

The study also found that youth who are exposed to media literacy are more likely to be exposed to diverse perspectives.

Read more about the survey here.

A new study by the Pew Research Center shows that the online habits of teens are changing.  Instead of maintaining personal blogs, teenagers prefer to use social networking sites to quickly update their status, and check for status updates of their friends.

The study says teens have exchanged “macro-blogging” for “micro-blogging.” In 2007, 24 percent of 18 - 29 year-olds maintained personal blogs, and this number dropped to 15 percent in 2009. The study also reports that teenagers comment much less frequently on blogs than they did in 2006. 

The amount of wired American teenagers that use social networking sites has jumped up to 73 percent, while only 55 percent did in 2006.  However, only specific groups of people are taking advantage of Twitter. Check out some facts below:

* High-school-age girls are particularly likely to use Twitter. 13% of online girls ages 14-17 use Twitter, compared with 7% of boys that age.
* Using different wording, we find that 19% of adult internet users use Twitter or similar services to post short status updates and view the updates of others online.
* Young adults lead the way when it comes to using Twitter or status updating. One-third of online 18-29 year-olds post or read status updates.