November's Parent Technology Academy topic was "Social Networking and Privacy Settings for Parents." We began with the scheduled topic then, based upon questions from those in attendance, also discussed Chrome extensions, YouTube safety, and cell phones. If you have questions about any of the information below or would like to suggest a topic for future Parent Technology Academy sessions, please contact Jayme Johnson.
Social Networking 411
Here are the sites and resources shared during our conversation:
Digital Glossary - Want to know the difference between FBF and Formspring? Take a look at Common Sense Education's Digital Glossary.
Google Family Safety Center - Tips from Google on family safety basics, safe search, youtube settings, and keeping your information private.
Common Sense Social Media - FAQs, articles, and videos about social media topics, sorted by age and/or theme.
15 Sites Beyond Facebook - Many teens and tweens have moved beyond Facebook. Here is a list of 15 additional popular social media sites.
Common Sense Parent Concerns - A new resource from Common Sense Media to assist parents with those tough questions and digital dilemmas.
3 Tips to Help Manage Privacy on Facebook - This information comes directly from a Facebook email.
Digital Glossary - Want to know the difference between FBF and Formspring? Take a look at Common Sense Education's Digital Glossary.
Google Family Safety Center - Tips from Google on family safety basics, safe search, youtube settings, and keeping your information private.
Common Sense Social Media - FAQs, articles, and videos about social media topics, sorted by age and/or theme.
15 Sites Beyond Facebook - Many teens and tweens have moved beyond Facebook. Here is a list of 15 additional popular social media sites.
Common Sense Parent Concerns - A new resource from Common Sense Media to assist parents with those tough questions and digital dilemmas.
3 Tips to Help Manage Privacy on Facebook - This information comes directly from a Facebook email.
- Check out who can see your past posts—and limit the audience if you're not comfortable with anything.
- You can review the audience for your past posts in your activity log.
- To quickly limit the audience of old posts to Friends, visit your privacy settings. - Consider who you're sharing with today. Each time you post a new photo, status update, link or other content, you get to set the privacy for it. Just look for the audience selector. If you want to:
- Share big ideas for anyone in the world, set the post to Public.
- Reserve personal pictures for the people you know the best, set the post to Friends, Close Friends or Custom.
- Share something with someone specific, you can also send it as a message instead of posting it. - To review or change who can see your stuff, any time, visit your privacy shortcuts. Just click the lock at the top of any page of Facebook.
While we have discussed YouTube settings previously, new resources are always coming to our attention. Most recently, this fabulous post that includes 8 ways to make YouTube safe for children.
While suggested videos and ads can not be eliminated completely, the following tools may help increase viewing safety.
While suggested videos and ads can not be eliminated completely, the following tools may help increase viewing safety.
Quietube - http://quietube.com/
Quietube is a bookmarklet that strips all extra content surrounding the video. Drag the bookmarklet to your bookmark bar, then once on the YouTube page, click the bookmarklet to view in Quietube mode. There is also a Chrome extension for Quietube.
Quietube is a bookmarklet that strips all extra content surrounding the video. Drag the bookmarklet to your bookmark bar, then once on the YouTube page, click the bookmarklet to view in Quietube mode. There is also a Chrome extension for Quietube.
ViewPure - http://viewpure.com/
ViewPure is very similar to Quietube. It offers both a bookmarklet and an on page field to paste in YouTube links. ViewPure also provides a filtered search for YouTube (default=strict)
ViewPure is very similar to Quietube. It offers both a bookmarklet and an on page field to paste in YouTube links. ViewPure also provides a filtered search for YouTube (default=strict)
Chrome Extensions
This will definitely be a topic for an upcoming Parent Technology Academy. Briefly, we reviewed some useful extensions for those using the Chrome browser. These three are extensions used by our 4th-6th graders.
AdBlock Plus - strip away most ads on webpages and in videos
Tab Scissors and Tab Glue - separate and merge multiple tabs or windows
Clearly - streamlines webpages for viewing and printing.
AdBlock Plus - strip away most ads on webpages and in videos
Tab Scissors and Tab Glue - separate and merge multiple tabs or windows
Clearly - streamlines webpages for viewing and printing.