Archive | Social Media

5 Steps to Protect Your Facebook Privacy – WHS 225

By John Wilkerson on March 30, 2018 in Podcast, Social Media

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Facebook has been in the news quite a bit lately because of privacy concerns.

A third-party (Cambridge Analytica) used data it collected from Facebook to profile users. That information was used to serve ads and articles to people via the social media network and influence their behavior online.

Many people have deleted their Facebook accounts (not an easy task) as a result of this revelation and others couldn’t care less. If you want to delete your account, keep in mind that it takes 90 days of inactivity for it to be “permanently” deleted.

In this podcast, we’ll take a look at what happened (briefly) and explore all of our options so that we can make an informed decision about whether or not to leave Facebook. Continue Reading →

Homeschool Wiring Diagram #2

By John Wilkerson on October 27, 2017 in Internet, Social Media, Wiring Diagram

This week’s interesting links include articles about “ad transparency” on social media, esports, pet robots, and more!

The goal of these posts is to share interesting tech-related news and to try and identify trends or topics that you may want to incorporate into homeschooling. Continue Reading →

Periscope Safety Tips for Parents and Teens

By John Wilkerson on July 30, 2015 in Social Media

Periscope has gained a lot of momentum since Twitter acquired it in March 2015. If you’re not familiar with Periscope your teens probably are.

Periscope is a live-streaming app that allows users to broadcast video to the Internet from their smartphone. Replays are available for 24 hrs and then they are gone “forever”.

Along with the live broadcasts, there is a chat feature that allows people watching the broadcast to interact with other viewers and the broadcaster.

Additionally, if location services are enabled, viewers of your broadcast can find your precise location. Not good.

There are some legitimate concerns about what type of content your kids could see. The safety tips in this video will not eliminate the chance of your kids coming across inappropriate content but an ounce of prevention goes a long way.

TL;DR

1. Disable location services.
2. Only watch broadcasts from trusted scopers.
3. Disable chat for non-followers.
4. Broadcast your scopes privately.
5. Supervised use for teens is highly recommended.
6. Parents should follow their teens on Periscope.

Are you using Persicope? Follow me: @jwilkers

How Safe is YouTube for Kids? – WHS 151

By John Wilkerson on May 15, 2015 in Internet Safety, Podcast, Social Media

Many homeschoolers use YouTube every day for educational and entertainment purposes. There are a myriad of educational channels on YouTube that parents can use to supplement their homeschooling.

Sometimes parents can get a little blind to the more inappropriate content on YouTube until something shows up in a recommendation list.

Today I’ll talk about YouTube, how your kids are using it, and how you can protect younger kids from seeing inappropriate material.