Unsocial Media - review of Social Media sites

I mentioned last time I would try and review the 'alternative' social media sites and I've got a few here. Most of which you probably haven't heard of and some are more in the USA than here but they will be coming and its useful to know about them.

The intention is to give a bit of an overview and then give you my personal view as the suitability for children and if parents should beware.

Let's get started

Firstly here's my summary on each, below that is a bit more detail

Yik Yak - Not really suitable for school age kids or below, aimed at college students so some of the content, as you can imagine, is a little colourful

Wanelo - Whilst it's cited as a social network it's not as you would think. Really a shopping recommendation site. Can't see why you wouldn't let your kids use it. If I was being really picky it could be used for unscrupulous people to contact and recommend things they shouldn't

Kik - started off as a reasonable idea but seems to have been taken over by chat rooms and dating. I wouldn't let my child use it. My advise would be to keep away

oovoo- Probably has more business uses than social media. Again it would be possible to get bullied in video chat and this posted to YouTube, so be cautious. On the plus side you can report issues, block contacts and its not anonymous

Omegle - DO NOT LET YOUR CHILD USE THIS

YO - pretty harmless and possibly a fad. I'd be happy with this.

Whisper - Anonymity is concerning but it's certainly for older teens 15+

Again my advices for any of these is be careful and makes sure you know what your child is using. Some of these are absolutely unsuitable and I personally make sure my child will not, under any circumstances, be using things like Omegle



Yik Yak

Service to create groups of users in a particular location (they call herds) and share updates

• Uses location services on the mobile so privacy settings need to be changed
• Potential for data stream of location being stored on both apple and yik yak servers - has to have adverts coming soon. With no business model its about the only option
• Predominantly used by university or college campus
• It's anonymous and has rules of usage - how these are policed is unclear
• You can get 'yaks' in your area (they are basically tweets) other users in the location can then upvote or downvote
• Add a handle (name) to identify your yaks
• Yaks limited to 200 characters
• Supposedly limited to college age but no restrictions or warnings when I've used it
• With some of the content absolutely not for under 17's
• Terms of service state they have the rights to all your data you enter in yik yak and can use that data however they wish
• In the terms of service there is explicitly no monitoring
• Your not allowed to do anything bad, it says and if you do they will terminate the account. Quite how they do this with no monitoring is just a little baffling. Looks more like a nod to the American legal system than anything concrete
• Could be harmless enough but the lack of monitoring, the fact it's predicated on American law including data and the fact it's anonymous I would make sure your kids stay away
• The website, as opposed to the app, wants your mobile number so it can locate you and display yaks. Yep, you've just given them your phone number and explicit location, with content. It's all about targeted ads in there future. Monitoring location, your friends location (herd) and what you are talking about to send ad's to your phone or computer. Even worse if they own the data as the terms state then it WILL be sold on.

Wanelo

Want Need Love.

• Basically a shoppers paradise
• Product discovery and recommendation
• Asks for you phone number after registration to get the app. Hmm not sure you need to do this you've just given your phone number away.
• To recommend you obviously need a list of people you know. So they want to connect to your Facebook account. Once again just remember this is going to be about advertising so be prepared for your data to be shared just about everywhere and that of your friends.
• Not saying this is bad, it actually looks pretty good for present and product ideas but there are privacy issues
• Can't see this being of much interest to teenagers, maybe those that like shopping and new products.
• It's a social network but at least there is a purpose. Granted it's shopping but a great way to discover some interesting things
• With it having a purpose other than streams of consciousness I can't see how it could be used for much more than that purpose.

Kik

Yes another messaging app that is only available on smartphones no web interface I can see

 

• Definitely aimed at the teen market terms state you need to be at least 13 and 13-18 have to have parental consent. Again how this is enforced is non-existent
• Shares data between kick and it's affiliates. Concept you send links (kik) as part of the messaging service
• Provides in-app purchases, so that means things that are extra can be bought so maybe be careful if your child uses your smartphone and you have your card details available for purchases.
• Governed by Canadian law
• They have the rights to use and distribute any content you put on the service world-wide and royalty free.
• It also looks like this Includes private messages and contact details
• Image search and you can search for ANY image so beware, no filters
• Search and add 'friends' to chat with
• You can block kick friends to stop unwanted messages
• Not anonymous
• Not great it links to other chat sites that look more like personal columns. It now gets into the realm of don't touch with a barge pole for your under 17.
• Kick is trying to be a google+ for smartphones and is aimed at teens. In doing that they have effectively brought some of the worse of the web to your Childs phone. Shame it could have been a great idea
• You can de-activate the account but it's a little convoluted

Oovoo

 

Video chat facility similar to Skype and others. Gfroup chat and video upload facilities

• Allows video to be uploaded to youtube
• No age limit I can see
• Instant messaging as well
• There is no anonymity
• Works on PC, tablet and smartphone
• US based business
• Can be used on 3g so watch the data bundle
• You can't contact non friends so calls have to be from contacts
• Just make sure you only have contacts you know
• There is a facility to report harrasement
• You can also block contacts
• You can set certain privacy settings to hide your details and only allow you to invite not be invited
• Just be careful if you do download to the computer and make sure you uncheck all the extras which will take over your browser with ask and search engines

 

Omegla

Online chat facility

• Completely anonymous chat site
• Pairs you with random users
• Strapline is talk with strangers
• Ok I wouldn't touch this its a bullies and paedophile paradise.
• I don't think there is much point in reviewing this further. Please don't allow your children to use this

YO

• The terms and conditions do state it collects data and it will be re-used
• I can only think that again it will ultimately have adverts and your data will be used
• It seems pretty harmless
• No anonymity but to invite friends etc you have to put in your phone number..... Beware!!
• Don't really get it to be honest if it does get traction it can only be a fad
• Interesting to alert you to something but that's about it
• Suggested age restriction of 17

 

Whisper

• Another anonymous services
• Allows you to post a stream of though on any topic
• Being used for dating and meet-ups
• Yet another paradise for bullies
• Capture and sell personal data
• The privacy policy states you don't have to provide your information but if you choose not to you can't register. So in effect you either disclose everything or don't use it. My choice would be not to.
• All the front stories look reasonable, even inspirational but the anonymity is concerning and should be the main consideration for parents
• It maybe a way for your teens to express themselves in an environment they feel is more conducive but it certainly needs policing by parents.
• The terms and conditions mention bullying and inappropriate content but, as usual, there is no where that states how they intend to do it.

 

 

Digital Ninja

Been a while what with summer an all, but hopefully get back to putting my thoughts to (virtual) paper

So where has my thinking been going? Well it occurred to me, during a discussion with my other half, that my two boys 18 and 15 and my 3 year old all have one thing in common, they have never been taught properly about how to stay safe online. To be honest my 3 year old is a bit young but you hopefully you see where I'm going. My two lads have been given some advice at school but it's pretty awful and only skims the surface of what is required.


We tend to skirt around areas that we don't really understand and having had some discussions with teachers, they really do not understand this stuff at all. So do I want to do? Well it's probably a bit late for my two eldest but my youngest I want to make sure I educate her in all of this, not only so she understands the pitfalls but to give her strategies about how to deal with it, the genie is out, you can't put it back, but you can understand how the genie thinks, how they operate, what they want and have weapons in your armoury to deal with it.

I want my daughter to be a Digital Ninja, equipped to understand the technology and what it means but also how to deal with issues in a positive manner, who to talk to if something happens, how to deal with bullies. It's now time for the education system to catch up and start to teach our children how to behave and how to cope, with strategies for both. God forbid what happened to my youngest boy should happen to my daughter or anyone else's child but that really does mean parental responsibility and also school responsibility with classes that 'teach' this subject and not just pay lip service with maybe a one hour dull lecture every 6 months.

Parents, educate yourselves, don't leave it to someone else. Get the information on social networks, not just facebook or twitter but the myriad of other services available, ask.fm, snapchat, whatsapp, tumblr, instagram. there are also ones you have probably never heard of and they keep appearing, wanelo, kik, oovoo, yik yak, omegla, yo, whisper

My next blog will be about these sites, what they are and if they are safe.

Comments welcome