Japanese social app to take on Facebook in the US

Popular Japanese instant messaging application Line plans to take challenge Twitter, Facebook and Google

 

 

 

Noriko Suzuki, a 22-year-old office worker in Tokyo, sends about 50 messages a day via the Line messaging app, including reports on her summer vacation and pictures of her lunch. 

 

TOKYO — Japan’s most popular instant messaging application, Line, has outlined its plans to take on Twitter, Facebook and Google to become “the number 1 online service” in the world.

In an interview with the New York Times, the company’s chief executive Akira Morikawa said that he wants Line to become “first global Internet company from Asia” and “a common language for the world”, reported the Daily Telegraph.

Line, which already has 230 million monthly users, lets users exchange text messages, graphical ‘stickers’ and video and audio media, as well as make free VoIP calls, and hold free audio or video conferences.

Originally developed as a mobile application for Android and iOS smartphones, the service has since expanded to BlackBerry, Nokia Asha, and Windows Phone, and also exists in versions for laptop and desktop computers.

Mr Morikawa claims that Line has a critical advantage over applications like Facebook and Twitter, which is that it was originally conceived and created for smartphones, so the company does not have to design software that can leap from desktop computers to mobile devices.

Stickers – which are used during chat sessions between users and act as large-sized emojis – are one of Line’s most popular features. Stickers feature original characters as well as a number of popular manga, anime and gaming characters, movie tie-ins, and characters from Disney properties such as Pixar.

Users can purchase stickers as gifts, but many stickers are available as free downloads, depending on country availability. Purchased stickers are attached to an account and can be used on other social media platforms. Line says its users send more than 1 billion stickers per day.

However, the company makes most of its money from games, with offerings like Line Pop and Line Bubble recently moving into the Top 10 lists on Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Like other popular online game providers in Asia, Line lets users download its games free, making money through in-app purchases, which provide players with special powers, for example.

As part of its plan to conquer the US, Line has teamed up with nine top video creators on Vine – the mobile app owned by Twitter that enables users to create and post short video clips – for a series of promotional videos.

All of the creators are involved with Collab, the LA studio working with Line to run the promotion.

“LINE is one of the most fun and addicting new mobile apps, so Collab is excited to help introduce Line to the United States market,” said Collab chief executive Tyler McFadden.

“There’s a lot of crossover between the young audiences on Vine and Line and we’re confident that the Vine Influencers we work with will be extremely effective in driving new Line users.” AGENCIES

Google Introduces New Desktop Apps

A screen shot of the new Chrome app launcher for Windows desktops.

Even if Google is ready to live entirely online, everyone else might not be. 

To celebrate the Google Chrome browser’s fifth birthday on Thursday, the company expanded its ambitions in computing by introducing a new kind of Chrome app that runs offline and on other operating systems besides Google’s.

If trying to figure out what that means makes your head spin, you’re not alone.

Until now, Google’s Chrome Web apps worked only online. The new apps combine the best of online and offline apps, the company says, similar to the apps on a smartphone. For instance, they allow people to work without an Internet connection and plug in hardware like digital cameras. But since they are written in Web programming languages, they can sync across devices, back up to the cloud and receive automatic security updates.

So far, there are only a few such apps, like Pixlr Touch Up for photo editing and Wunderlist for to-do lists. But the development has important implications for the way we use computers and the way Google competes with rivals like Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft made a  similar move with Windows 8.

The surprising part is that Google’s Web apps now work not just on the company’s own Chromebooks, but also on Microsoft Windows machines and, soon, on Macs, as long as they have the Chrome browser.

For Google, it is a way to promote its own services even for people who use computers made by other companies or who have been turned off by the need for an Internet connection to use Google Web apps.

“It’s really increasing the competitiveness or the appeal of Google Apps for people who don’t want to pay for Microsoft Office,” said Frank E. Gillett, an analyst studying computing platforms at Forrester.

It is also an acknowledgment that Google’s dream of a world in which  everyone lives on the Web — always with an Internet connection and without desktop software, which Chromebooks do not have — is not a reality, at least not yet.

“It’s an admission that their original vision was over-simplistic,” Mr. Gillett said. “I agree with the notion that online cloud services are becoming an important part of the experience of using software. But where the Google guys got mixed up was the notion that it’ll all be inside this thing called the Web browser.”

Though Erik Kay, a Chrome engineering director at Google, said in a blog post that the company still believes in the Web, he said it also acknowledged that people need some of the functionality provided by software installed on devices.

Though low-end Chromebooks, which Google has shifted to marketing as a second computer just for Web access, have sold well, the Chromebook Pixel,  Google’s $1,300 laptop and MacBook competitor, is a hard sell because it has no hard drive or desktop software. The new Chrome apps could change that.

“Even though the P.C. market is in decline, the form factor isn’t going to disappear,” said Brian Blau, a research director at Gartner who studies consumer technology. “Google has a lot of goals in trying to get businesses and education and markets like that, and having the laptop form factor could be important for them.”

Google’s move seems mostly aimed at courting software developers, Mr. Blau said. Instead of being forced to choose among operating systems, they can just write apps for the Web that run on a variety of systems.

Google’s message to developers is, “This is one more reason that app developers should come and use Google products over their competitors,” he said. “That’s the bottom line.”

New Facebook flap: Your face in some product's ad

Privacy groups are incensed about Facebook's new privacy policy that allows users' images to be used in product endorsements without their knowledge.

A proposed Facebook policy that would allow your picture to be used in a product or store's ad on the site has privacy groups united in opposition.

Executives from six public interest groups on Wednesday signed a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, asking that the agency block the practice.

"Facebook (FB) users who reasonably believed that their images and content would not be used for commercial purposes without their consent will now find their pictures showing up on the pages of their friends endorsing the products of Facebook's advertisers," said the letter. "Remarkably, their images could even be used by Facebook to endorse products that the user does not like or even use."

Facebook reached a $20 million settlement last week in a class action suit brought by those who argued it did not have enough privacy protections.

Facebook said the proposed policy was in response to that settlement. It said it would listen to comments over a 7-day period that ends Thursday, and that it would consider feedback before adopting the changes.

In response to questions about the objections, Facebook said Thursday that it has not changed its ad practices or policies, and that it is only making things clearer for people who use the service. It said it wants to make clear that you are granting Facebook permission for this use when you use its services.

But Jeffrey Chester, executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy and one of the signers of the letter, said the new policy opens the door for even greater user of user's data.

"It requires 'Alice in Wonderland' logic to see this as anything but a major setback for the privacy rights of Facebook users," said the group's letter. The group is particularly upset because it said it makes it easier to use the images of minors who use the site.

Chester said Facebook unveiled the new rules on the eve of the Labor Day holiday in hopes it could be put in place before the FTC and public had a chance to object. But the comments from users at the bottom of the page announcing the changes were overwhelmingly negative.

"Send me ads, fine. Use my photos or posts in ads, I'm out of here," wrote Margo Kelly, one of the Facebook users posting a comment. 

 Among the other groups whose executives signed the letter are the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

Facebook faces criticism over its privacy policy

On the heels of a lawsuit settlement over user privacy, several advocacy groups complain to the FTC that the social network uses people's data for advertising without explicit consent.

A handful of civil liberties groups are claiming that while Facebook's new Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Data Use policy is supposed to give users more privacy, it's actually giving them less. And, these groups have taken their complaints to the US Federal Trade Commission.

Six organizations, including the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy, penned a letter (PDF) to the FTC on Wednesday claiming that Facebook's new policy allows the social network "to routinely use the images and names of Facebook users for commercial advertising without consent."

The changes to the way Facebook describes its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Data Use policy come directly from a class action lawsuit the social network finally settled last week. As part of the settlement, Facebook agreed to resolve for some previous ambiguity and state more clearly on its Web site exactly how it uses people's data for advertising. Essentially, Facebook's policy is that by signing up for the social network, users allow the company to "use your name, profile picture, and content" for ads. 

"The right of a person to control the use of their image for commercial purposes is the cornerstone of modern privacy law," the groups wrote to the FTC. "It requires 'Alice in Wonderland' logic to see this as anything but a major setback for the privacy rights of Facebook users."

The six groups are asking the FTC to block Facebook's policy because they say it violates the terms of a 2011 privacy settlement with the FTC. However, Facebook says that it hasn't violated the settlement because it hasn't changed its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Data Use policy at all -- it has just changed the language it uses to describe the policy. 

 "As part of this proposed update, we revised our explanation of how things like your name, profile picture and content may be used in connection with ads or commercial content to make it clear that you are granting Facebook permission for this use when you use our services," a Facebook spokesperson told CNET. "We have not changed our ads practices or policies -- we only made things clearer for people who use our service."

So, previously the policy said, "We do not share any of your information with advertisers (unless, of course, you give us permission)." Now, the new policy clarifies the language to say: "We may use all the information we receive about you to serve ads that are more relevant to you."

Facebook's language changes to its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Data Use policy are currently up for review -- but not a vote. The social network plans to collect feedback on the revisions up through Thursday.

Facebook nurse banned for inappropriate postings

A nurse has been banned from working for six months for posting a series of "wholly inappropriate" things on Facebook - including a photograph of a colleague sitting on a bedpan. 

 

A nurse has been banned from working for six months for posting a series of "wholly inappropriate" things on Facebook

Allison Hopton, 39, put a series of postings on Facebook, including calling a student nurse a "bitch".

She apologised for using Facebook during work time when she was meant to be caring for terminally-ill youngsters at a hospice.

Mrs Hopton said at a disciplinary hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council that she thought the comments would only be seen by her 380 friends.

But a disciplinary hearing was told that an investigation found 45 pages of inappropriate comments including sex, drinking and derogatory remarks.

The Council's solicitor Tim Horder said: "An investigation found 45 Facebook pages with frequent sexual references, references to drinking and derogatory postings about her workplace and her job. Nurses have to uphold a reputation of professionalism at all times.

"Nurse Hopton's conduct has been wholly unacceptable and is in breach of what is expected of her, in particular in the case of patients and the families of patients.
"You have to put yourself in their shoes and think how they would view the comments."
The hearing was told Mrs Hopton wrote several expletive-ridden posts which contained "sexual references, references to drinking and derogatory postings about her workplace".
She also posted a photograph of a colleague sitting on a bed pan in the hospice on the social networking site.
Mr Horder said: "Everything posted online, even with the strictest of privacy settings, is public. These postings were wholly inappropriate.
"These are comments a proper nurse would not have made in front of parents of patients and the fact they were made in public on a networking site amounts to the same thing."
Mrs Hopton was dismissed from her job at the Ty Hafan Children's Hospice, near Sully, Cardiff.
She told the hearing: "I would find it difficult to explain how much this has affected me and my family.
"I wish I could go back in time and change everything. I have definitely reflected on this and changed my attitude.
"I have always given my best as a nurse, given 110 per cent."
The hearing in Cardiff was told guidelines about using social networking sites had been posted in the staffroom with instructions for everyone to read.
Mrs Hopton maintained she thought her postings were only being seen by her 380 friends on Facebook.

An NMC statement said: "Mrs Hopton's profile page stated that she was a nurse at Ty Hafan. On her wall there were numerous comments and conversations posted by Mrs Hopton and her friends.
"All these comments were accessible to the public. Mrs Hopton used a number of profanities on her Facebook page and made direct and indirect references to the hospice.
"The panel was mindful of the vulnerable nature of those in her care and the sensitivity that would need to be applied to the families of patients at the hospice and the wider public.
"The guidance clearly states: 'Presume that everything you post online will be public and will be shared.'"

"Her comments on Facebook had been wholly inappropriate and had undoubtedly called into question her judgment and integrity."
The NMC hearing in Cardiff said the public rightly expected nurses to act in such a way as to "uphold public confidence in the profession".
The panel ordered she serve a six-month suspension and said she knew about NMC guidelines on using social networking sites.
 
Edited by Katie Grant for Telegraph.co.uk

Is Facebook bad for your child's health? Teenagers are more likely to smoke and drink if they see pictures of friends partying on the site

• Study found that adolescents are influenced by friends' online pictures 

• Myspace use is associated with heavier drinking than Facebook use is 

• Teenagers who use Facebook instead of Myspace tend to get better grades and come from a more affluent background, however

Using Facebook could make teenagers more likely to drink and smoke, a new report suggests.

Teenagers who see friends smoking and drinking alcohol in photographs posted on Facebook are more likely to smoke and drink themselves, according to the report.

‘Our study shows that adolescents can be influenced by their friends’ online pictures to smoke or drink alcohol,’ said Dr Thomas Valente, professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California and the study’s principal investigator.

To our knowledge, this is the first study to apply social network analysis methods to examine how teenagers’ activities on online social networking sites influence their smoking and alcohol use.’

Dr Valente and his team surveyed 1,563 15 and 16-year-old students about their online and offline friendship networks, the frequency of their social media use, their smoking, and their alcohol consumption.

The researchers found that the size of a student’s online network of friends was not significantly associated with risky behaviour. 

Exposure to friends’ online pictures of partying or drinking, however, was significantly associated with both smoking and alcohol use.

Teenagers whose close friends did not drink alcohol were more likely to be affected by increasing exposure to risky online pictures.

‘The evidence suggests that friends’ online behaviours are a viable source of peer influence,’ said Dr Grace Huang, the study’s first and corresponding author. ‘This is important to know, given that 95 per cent of 12 to 17-year-olds in the United States access the Internet every day, and 80 per cent of those youth use online social networking sites to communicate.’

Nearly 30 per cent of survey’s respondents had smoked and more than half had had at least one drink of alcohol.

Roughly one-third of the students reported having at least one friend who smoked and/or consumed alcohol

Almost half of all students reported visiting Facebook and Myspace regularly.
Between October 2010 and April 2011, Facebook use - 75 per cent - increased while Myspace use - 13 per cent - decreased.
On average, 34 per cent of students had at least one friend who talked about partying online and 20 per cent reported that their friends posted drinking pictures online.
In line with earlier studies, the researchers observed differences between Facebook and Myspace users.
Facebook-only users had higher grades, spoke more English at home and were more likely to have a higher socio-economic status.
They were less likely to be Hispanic and less likely to have ever smoked or consumed alcohol.
While Facebook use did not seem to affect smoking or drinking, the study found that higher levels of Myspace use was associated with higher levels of drinking.
‘Little is known about how social media use affects adolescent health behaviours,’ said Dr Huang, who is a post-doctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute.
‘Our study suggests that it may be beneficial to teach teens about the harmful effects of posting risky behaviours online and how those displays can hurt their friends.’

Google Seeks Home-Field Advantage in UK Privacy Suit

A group of UK-based Safari users have filed suit against Google, claiming that it undermined Apple's browser settings to secretly track their online usage. Google, however, refused to receive notice of the suit in the UK. "This matches their attitude to consumer privacy," said plaintiff Judith Vidal-Hall. "They don't respect it and they don't consider themselves to be answerable to our laws on it."

Google is contesting the right of UK Safari users to bring a case against it in the UK, according to a statement from the plaintiffs' law firm.

To emphasize its stance, in fact, the search engine did not accept notice of the lawsuit in the UK but forced the plaintiffs to file in California instead -- a jurisdiction in which their case, which alleges privacy violations, is much weaker.

The plaintiffs filed suit in January seeking damages for Google's alleged bypass of Safari's security settings. This allowed Google to track their usage online, the plaintiffs claim.

"Google's position on the law is the same as its position on tax: they will only play or pay on their home turf," said Judith Vidal-Hall, one of the claimants. "What are they suggesting -- that they will force Apple users whose privacy was violated to pay to travel to California to take action when they offer a service in this country on a .co.uk site?

"This matches their attitude to consumer privacy," Vidal-Hall added. "They don't respect it and they don't consider themselves to be answerable to our laws on it."

Google declined to comment for this story. 

One Research Study, Lots of Trouble

The issue at hand first surfaced for Google in February 2012, when Stanford University graduate student researcher Jonathan Mayer found that Google had circumvented privacy settings on iPhones and iPads and was tracking users of these devices -- contrary to what it said in its privacy policy.

That same month, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office announced that it was investigating whether or not Google had broken UK law -- namely, the Data Protection Act and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

The Federal Trade Commission also investigated the issue, which resulted in a settlement for a whopping US$22.5 million -- the largest ever levied by the agency.

The suit was filed by UK law firm Olswang LLP at the beginning of the year on behalf of 12 claimants. The case is becoming a Group Action, which similar to class action in the U.S., according to the law firm's website.

A Deaf Ear

This suit is still in its early days, but Google's approach to date suggests the search engine is tone deaf when it comes to the rising protests in Europe against its attitude toward privacy.

"Basically, Google has been thumbing its nose at the EU about its privacy policy from the very beginning," Scott Cleland, president of Precursor LLC, told the E-Commerce Times.

Precursor has several Google competitors for clients.

In general, Google's approach to global litigation is very aggressive, Cleland said: "They don't question their own actions or try to compromise. Their MO is to take no quarter and push their own agenda relentlessly."

Not that Olswang and the claimants are rolling over on this issue. According to the law firm's website, the firm intends to push for a hearing to discuss the jurisdictional issues, "and the outcome of that hearing will determine whether or not the case moves forward."

LinkedIn Woos the Next Generation With 'University Pages'

The seeds of brand loyalty are best sown in the young, as every marketer knows, and that's just what LinkedIn stands to accomplish with its new college-focused service. "LinkedIn's announcement is clearly a targeted effort to get people introduced to the site earlier," said TalkPoint's Dan Roche. "I think it's a really effective approach to introduce users to LinkedIn via a 'soft' sell."

 

LinkedIn, the go-to social network for professionals, is opening its tent wider to include young people aspiring toward a career -- namely, budding college students and high school students with an eye on higher education.

Specifically, the social network on Monday debuted University Pages, a section dedicated to this new group of users.

"We will be making LinkedIn available to high school students, who can use LinkedIn to explore schools worldwide, greatly expand their understanding of the careers available and get a head start on building a network of family and friends to help guide them at every milestone," said Christina Allen, director of product management for the site.

Starting on Sept. 12, the new University Pages section will let prospective students see how many of a school's graduates are on LinkedIn and the main fields in which they work. Alumni employers are also listed. In addition, a graph shows users their connections to alumni.

A LinkedIn spokesperson was not immediately available to comment for this story.

'Makes Perfect Sense'

It is difficult to find anyone who dismisses the page as a wrong move or inconsequential. Students, concerned about making the right college choice and then finding a job once their schooling is complete, will likely flock to the site.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn will add steadily to its user base as each passing year introduces a new class of networked young professionals to its network.

In short, most of the pieces are in place for its success, Paul Levinson, professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University, told the E-Commerce Times.

"LinkedIn already has a solid niche as the most professional network, of greatest benefit to job seekers," Levinson explained. "High school students deciding where to go to college are making the same kinds of important choices about their careers as students. LinkedIn as a resource for this makes perfect sense."

Such students will almost surely go on to use the site when they graduate because they will have laid the groundwork for their business social network while in college, Bill Corbett, Jr., president of Corbett Public Relations, told the E-Commerce Times.

"In today's competitive market for jobs and career advancement, those who use LinkedIn before, during and after college have a distinct advantage," Corbett explained. "Those who have many connections and have built a reputation online will fare far better than those who do not."

'A Really Effective Approach'

LinkedIn, for its part, will have the advantage of wooing new generations of users earlier and earlier.

"LinkedIn's announcement is clearly a targeted effort to get people introduced to the site earlier," Dan Roche, vice president of marketing at TalkPoint, told the E-Commerce Times.

"I think it's a really effective approach to introduce users to LinkedIn via a 'soft' sell," Roche added.

It's similar, in fact, to how Yelp.com functions, he noted, in that both sites want their users to make happy, educated decisions, but they don't necessarily care what decisions they make.

"You have an independent party that hosts an environment for providers to create their own pages loaded with information," Roche explained. "Individual users are able to come in and offer complimentary or other types of comments and reviews, allowing consumers to make their own decisions."

'More for the Parent'

Meanwhile, parents of these prospective students are bound to be active on University Pages as well, suggested Mike Poller of Poller & Jordan Advertising -- perhaps even more so than the students themselves.

"Universities have two audiences: the parent and the child," Poller told the E-Commerce Times. "The prospective student chooses school based on academic and social offerings, among others. The parent often has veto power and often pays for the university choice."

Poller has two kids in college, he said, but neither of them has a LinkedIn profile, while he is "all over" the site.

"I see University Pages as a way for colleges to reassure me, the paying parent, that the school is legitimate, up-to-date, involved and so on," he explained.

In fact, Poller concluded, LinkedIn University Pages are probably "more for the parent than the student."

Shared FB Photo Albums Now In With the In Crowd

As many as 50 Facebook friends can now work together on a shared photo album. That may be good news for users, but for the makers of Keepsy, Hipstamatic and other like-minded services? Not so much. "It now seems unwise to base an entire business on a Facebook app," said author Brian Carter. "If you're successful, there's even greater danger of Facebook suddenly making your innovation unnecessary."

Facebook on Monday began rolling out a new feature that allows multiple users to upload images to the same online photo album, according to a Mashable report.

Whereas previously users could upload photos only to albums they had created themselves -- with a maximum of 1,000 photos per album -- the new feature allows up to 50 people to contribute to the same album on the social network.

Each individual user can upload 200 photos, bringing the maximum total to 10,000 images in a single shared album. Each individual contributor can also tag, edit and give captions to the photos they add. Creators of the albums can determine who gets to see the photos, whether it's just contributors, friends of contributors or the public at large.

The new feature was reportedly built during one of Facebook's companywide hackathon sessions, so some of the features are still being adjusted.

Facebook did not respond to our request to comment for this story.

'An Even Deeper Socialization'

The ability to share images collectively could be particularly attractive following parties and events.

"Shared albums are a great feature," Josh Crandall, principal analyst at Netpop Resarch, told TechNewsWorld. "Kids, families and friends get together and all want to remember their moments together."

Indeed, "it's smart because it's an even deeper socialization of photos," concurred Brian Carter, author of Facebook Marketing and LinkedIn for Business.

Tags are already a powerful way for friends to become aware of new photos, Carter pointed out. Now, "with photo album sharing, the interaction and visibility to friends and friends of friends will explode exponentially," Carter told TechNewsWorld.

"We'll see photo albums that aren't just about events or trips, but on themes like 'the 99 percent' or 'memes we love,' he predicted. "It makes me wonder if they'll add this option to Facebook Pages as well."

The Danger of Success

Of course, startups including Keepsy, Hipstamatic and Alumatic have already been offering apps and services that do much the same thing. Facebook's addition of that functionality to its base service effectively makes those third-party offerings redundant -- and puts their creators on potentially shaky ground.

"When Facebook launches a new social feature such as shared albums, it's going to change the course for an ecosystem of startups and independent developers," Netpop Research's Crandall noted. "We're now seeing second-generation social sites that add features and grab the momentum of startups trying to launch a company around a simple experience."

Some Facebook apps "are in trouble because of this," Carter said. "The larger trend is Facebook stealing crowdsourced app ideas to make them part of the core functionality.

"It now seems risky and unwise to base an entire business on a Facebook app," he concluded. "If you're successful, there's even greater danger of Facebook suddenly making your innovation unnecessary."

Uncle Sam Wants Your Facebook Data

The U.S. government has a deep interest in things posted on Facebook, a new transparency report suggests. U.S. requests targeted about 21,000 Facebook users or accounts -- some 54 percent of the nearly 39,000 targeted by nations around the world -- and most of them resulted in Facebook handing data over. "Privacy laws are still in the digital dark ages," said ACLU's Nicole Ozer.

Facebook on Monday released transparency reports of government requests for its users' data.

Privacy groups hailed the move as a positive step forward -- rare praise for the company, which has had a checkered relationship with those groups over the years.

Facebook's Global Government Requests Report shows that of the more than 70 countries requesting user information from Facebook, the United States, by far, was the biggest peeper.

Nearly half (45 percent) of some 26,600 government requests for Facebook user information came from the United States.

Those U.S. requests targeted about 21,000 Facebook users or accounts -- some 54 percent of the nearly 39,000 targeted by nations around the world, according to the report.

Facebook has 1.1 billion users globally.

Seventy-nine percent of the U.S. government requests resulted in some information being turned over, Facebook reported. 

Pushing Back

The U.S. success rate for obtaining information from Facebook was among the highest in the world and far exceeded the average success rate. On average, two out of every three requests for user data are rejected by Facebook.

"We scrutinize each request for legal sufficiency under our terms and the strict letter of the law, and require a detailed description of the legal and factual bases for each request," Facebook says in the introduction to its report.

"We fight many of these requests," it continues, "pushing back when we find legal deficiencies and narrowing the scope of overly broad or vague requests. When we are required to comply with a particular request, we frequently share only basic user information, such as name."

The percentage of requests Facebook responds to is a telling statistic, maintained Nate Cardozo, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

"You can see that some of the more restrictive regimes around the world have pretty low compliance rates, he told TechNewsWorld. "What that means is that Facebook is doing its job and not just turning over data willy-nilly."

Digital Dark Ages

Privacy advocates generally were pleased with Facebook's first transparency report.

"We're happy to see Facebook finally issue its first global government request report," Nicole Ozer, technology and civil liberties policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, told TechNewsWorld.

The report confirmed what many privacy advocates already suspected, said Ozer.

"The U.S. government has been increasingly taking advantage of outdated privacy laws to engage in shopping sprees for information companies are collecting every day about individuals," she maintained.

"In the past couple of decades, technology has advanced and privacy laws are still in the digital dark ages," added Ozer.

Though Facebook's initial effort is welcome, future reports that promise to contain more detail will be of greater value, observed Cardozo.

"This is just a first draft," he said. "They will be increasing the depth and granularity of the report going forward. What this report is missing is any sort of breakdown of what the government requests were about."

Curious Timing

Release of the transparency report can benefit Facebook, which has received a mixed report card on privacy to date.

"By releasing a transparency report, it can help build trust with the people who use it," Ryan Budish, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, told TechNewsWorld.

"Given the number of companies that have released transparency reports," he continued, "it might have been cause for concern if Facebook decided not to release a report like this."

The timing of the report -- on the same day that Facebook announced a US$20 million fund to settle a class-action lawsuit over its "sponsored stories" feature -- raised suspicions in some privacy corners.

"Facebook has history of releasing anything negative to them on privacy either on a Friday afternoon or with something positive," Sarah A. Downey, a privacy analyst and attorney with Abine, a maker of online privacy software.

As worthwhile as Facebook's transparency report is, it begs a larger question. "Companies are retaining a lot of data that should be deleted," Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told TechNewsWorld.

"The retention of user data places privacy at risk," he added. "One of the reason it places privacy at risk is because government agencies can get that data through legal process."

Facebook did not respond to our request to comment for this story.

10 Great Social Networking Tips and Tricks

These 10 social networking tips and tricks will help you build a stronger network and take your online presence to the next level. All are designed to make you think strategically and take advantage of timesaving tools to boost your effectiveness. 

Here are 10 ways to boost your social standing online.

 

1. Listen to Your Audience

   The three most important factors in social networking are audience, audience, audience. Identify what kind of people you're trying to reach and pay attention to what they're saying. Build RSS feeds and monitor conversations using listening tools like TweetDeck, Social Mention and Seesmic. (Take this 10-step tutorial on how to use Social Mention to monitor many social networks at once.) Learn the basics of social metrics, or what to measure and why.

2. Participate and Collaborate

   Set goals for engaging your contacts and monitor how much activity your efforts generate. How many retweets do you get on Twitter? How many reposts does your blog generate? Use third-party tools like Retweetist and the Retweet iPhone App to measure your social media influence and impact on networks. Klout is one such tool that lets you track your impact on multiple social media networks.

3. Join Specialized Networks

   Whatever your passion, there is a specialized social network for you. Try Digg if you're a social news hound, Kickstarter for fundraising, Last.fm for music, deviantart.com for artists, fanvibe for sports, or ozmosis for doctors. To find your niche network, run a Google search on "yourtopic and social media."

4. Use Social Media Dashboards

   Save time by using tools like HootSuite to manage your accounts and activity across different social media services, including Twitter, WordPress, Facebook, Foursquare and others. HootSuite lets you post and read messages, track mentions of you, and lets you prepare posts and updates for automatic posting later at pre-scheduled times. Most of the best Twitter clients, for example, also let you manage other social networks.

5. Ask Lots of Questions

   Asking questions is a great way to engage your contacts, attract fresh links and learn new things. When people reply to your questions with comments or posts, it boosts the visibility of your content on that particular network. But take care to read and respond to answers.

6. Link, Link, Link

   Links equal love in social media. So liberally add links to your posts, status updates, tweets and other content. Cross-link to your tweets from your blog and vice versa. On Facebook, you can tag your pals to hyperlink their names. All it takes is adding the "@" symbol at the beginning of your friend's name when you write your status updates. You can also upload files and link to them. Try the TwileShare app, for example.

7. Time Your Tweets

   Noon Eastern Standard Time is a great tweeting time to reach bigger audiences. American West Coasters are showing up for work then, while East Coasters are starting lunch breaks. If you really want to expand your audience, check out this guide to writing good tweets.

8. Use Mobile Helpers

   If you have a smart phone, install special helper applications to send and receive information faster on your favorite social networks. Instagram, for example, helps iPhone users spice up their cell-phone photos and share them quickly across different networks -- Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and others. There are plenty of Twitter helpers for cell phones and tablet computers. Trickle, for example, displays tweets on the iPad one at a time.

9. Create a Visual Identity

   Tweak your Twitter profile and other social network home pages to create a unique visual identity. Create a custom Twitter background to add more bio information and give your Twitter presence personality. Many custom backgrounds are available for free downloading at sites such as MyTweetSpace.com.

10. Back Up Your Virtual Self

    Once you've taken time to build a strong social network, don't let your social identity go up in digital smoke. Make use of available tools for backing up your profiles, photos, and status updates. Facebook's backup tool is under "download your information" in Account Settings. For Twitter, try a third-party tool like TweetStream or TweetScan. WordPress lets you export your posts to a downloadable XML file, which you can save and import later into a new blog in the event that one of your best social blogs accidentally get

Facebook considers adding profile photos to facial recognition database

Company says adding profile photos to database will give users better control over personal information 

Facebook's tag suggest technology currently identifies faces in newly uploaded photos by comparing them to previous snapshots.

Facebook is considering incorporating most of its 1 billion-plus members' profile photos into its growing facial recognition database, expanding the scope of the social network's controversial technology.

The possible move, which Facebook revealed in an update to its data use policy on Thursday, is intended to improve the performance of its "tag suggest" feature. The feature uses facial recognition technology to speed up the process of labelling or "tagging" friends and acquaintances who appear in photos posted on the network.

The technology currently automatically identifies faces in newly uploaded photos by comparing them only to previous snapshots in which users were tagged. Facebook users can choose to remove tags identifying them in photos posted by others on the site.

The changes would come at a time when Facebook and other internet companies' privacy practices are under scrutiny, following the revelations of a US government electronic surveillance program.

Facebook, Google and other companies have insisted that they have never participated in any program giving the government direct access to their computer servers and that they only provide information in response to specific requests, after careful review and as required by law.

Facebook chief privacy officer Erin Egan said that adding members' public profile photos would give users better control over their personal information, by making it easier to identify posted photos in which they appear.

"Our goal is to facilitate tagging so that people know when there are photos of them on our service," Egan said.

She stressed that Facebook users uncomfortable with facial recognition technology will still be able to opt out of the tag suggest feature altogether, in which case the person's public profile photo would not be included in the facial recognition database.

Facial recognition technology has been a sensitive issue for technology companies, raising concerns among some privacy advocates and government officials. Tag suggest, which the company introduced in 2011, is not available in Europe due to concerns raised by regulators.

Google's social network, Google+, also employs similar technology, but requires user consent. And it has banned third-party software makers from using facial recognition technology in apps designed for its Glass wearable computer.

Egan said Facebook was not currently using facial recognition technology for any other features, but that could change.

"Can I say that we will never use facial recognition technology for any other purposes? Absolutely not," Egan said. But, she noted, "if we decided to use it in different ways we will continue to provide people transparency about that and we will continue to provide control".

Viber to take on Skype with new desktop service

Free calls app announces it now has 200 million regular users – although that is fewer than a third of its Microsoft-owned rival 

 

The free calls app Viber is to challenge Skype's domination of the free internet phone services market by extending its service to desktop computers for the first time.

The move comes as the company announced it now has 200 million regular users, up from 140 million at the end of 2012. The figure is a major milestone for the Cyprus-based firm – but it is still dwarfed by Skype, which has more than 600 million users, and the heft of its owner, Microsoft, behind it.

Like Skype and free texting phone app Whatsapp, the Viber mobile client offers free messaging and calls. The desktop version is the first in its suite to offer video calls.

"People spend a substantial amount of time on their smartphones. However, a lot of that usage takes place at home or in the office, where they have laptops or desktops close by," said the Viber chief executive, Talmon Marco.

The release of Viber Desktop is part of the rollout of Viber 3.0, a release which will include major updates to both the Android and iOS versions, as well as a new version for BlackBerry.

The company has also added eight new languages as part of its bid to take on Skype, which transformed international communication when it launched its free phone service 10 years ago. Though not compatible with existing voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) systems using the SIP protocol, Skype grew more rapidly because its peer-to-peer system ensured better call quality and lower latency than other VoIP setups.

Since then, Skype has launched video calls, recently adding HD-quality video, and last week its owner Microsoft – which paid $8.5bn (£5.5bn) for the company in 2011 – announced it was integrating the Skype service with Outlook webmail services.

Viber founder: 'People should be concerned about privacy'

Talmon Marco discusses steps by free calls and messaging application to monetise service and why privacy matters
From strict privacy policies to its origins in Israel, there are a few things that distinguish Viber, the upstart free calls and messaging application, from its more established rival Skype. But the feature its 200 million international followers seem to appreciate most is the stickers.
A selection of images that can be texted as an alternative to written messages, the stickers available include love hearts, a red rose, the obligatory LOL, and the controversial middle finger hand gesture. There have been outraged calls for its removal.
Viber founder Talmon Marco is listening. "It will not be available by default with the next release of Viber," he says.

Having begun life three years ago in the Israeli iPhone app store, before going international and onto other mobile platforms including Android, Blackberry and Windows, Viber took the fight to Skype's home turf by launching a desktop version in May. Downloads onto personal computers are already in the millions.

Speaking from Singapore, Marco is busy preparing the next two important milestones. The first is a sticker store. While this may not sound momentous, it represents the company's first foray into money making.

The app and all its current services, including calls between Viber users, will remain free. But in order to transform itself into a real business, Viber must search for revenues.
"We announced earlier this year that we will start monetising. The first thing we are going to announce is a sticker store, but we will be introducing additional paid services as early as this year."
The second development, which is already being tested in Saudi Arabia, is technology that can stop Viber being blocked. During its rapid expansion, Viber has occasionally met resistance from both mobile networks and some of the more authoritarian states.

For some time, many Vodafone customers have been unable to use Viber without disruption, particularly those on pay-as-you-go tariffs, says Marco. Mobile operators have previously voiced concerns about free calls and messaging apps as a threat to their own revenues.
And there has been government opposition. Iran, Syria and Lebanon have all lifted previous blocks on Viber, but the service was recently barred by the Saudi Arabian authorities. Marco says the ban was introduced after Saudi officials indicated to Skype, Viber and the popular messaging service Whatsapp that they would be blocked if they did not agree to be monitored.
Social networks have allowed unprecedented freedom to communicate in Saudi Arabia, propelling a steep adoption curve. They are also relied on by the nation's many foreign workers as a cheap way to keep in touch with families abroad.

"A few days ago we launched a test of Viber with enhanced connectivity," says Marco. "This version allows users to connect in places where Viber is blocked. At present we have several thousand users in Saudi Arabia that can access Viber despite the local ban. Once the technology is rolled out, we will likely roll it out to Vodafone UK users as well."

Marco says he is serious about the right to communicate, and the ability to do so in privacy. Viber's policy is that if it receives a proper subpoena, it will provide records of who made and received calls, and when, but that no content from those conversations will be shared.
He says Viber does not "have the capability to listen to conversations". Messages are stored, for two weeks or until they are opened by the recipient, whichever is shorter. Around 80% are deleted in less than a second. The messages are encrypted, and Marco says he has never handed the encryption key to any government.

"We have been asked if we would co-operate. We never provided anybody with anything that will let them listen to conversations or messages on Viber. I do believe people should take notice of the fact that the Saudi government has threatened three companies with shutdown of service – us, Skype and Whatsapp. Only one company was shut down. Users should ask themselves why the other companies were not shut down."

In fact, Marco has himself been accused by at least one blogger of being an agent of the Israeli state. The rather sketchy claims are based on his military career. He spent four years in the Israel Defence Forces, rising to chief information officer of the central command.
But Viber was funded entirely by what Marco refers to as "friends and family". "We never took a single dollar from the state of Israel, we are not even incorporated in Israel. We maintain a research and development centre in Israel and that's it."

For now, Viber is growing quickly. With just 120 staff, based in Cyprus and Belarus as well as Marco's homeland, the app is being downloaded by more than 500,000 people a day and reached 200m downloads in May. Last time Viber released information on usage, in February, it was carrying 3bn minutes of calls and 12bn text messages every month. It has some way to go to catch up with Skype – which in April announced 2bn calls a day.

But on the mobile phone, if the iPhone app store reviews are to be believed, Viber is better liked. Skype's transition to mobile has been rocky, with users complaining the service crashes. Most give Skype a one-star rating on iPhone, while Viber receives the maximum of five stars from most of its reviewers.

Time will tell whether revelations by the Guardian and other media about the extent of Skype's cooperation with intelligence agencies will harm its business. But Marco believes individuals should care.

"Personally, I would be concerned being on a service knowing that everybody can listen to my conversations," he says. "People should be concerned about their privacy."

Facebook to Update Privacy Policy, but Adjusting Settings Is No Easier

Facebook is making it more clear that it uses a variety of personal data about its 1.2 billion users to deliver advertising.

Facebook announced Thursday that it planned to enact changes to its privacy policies on Sept. 5.

But the social network’s famously difficult privacy controls will not become any easier to navigate.

Mostly, the new data use policy and statement of rights and responsibilities lay out more clearly the things that Facebook already does with your personal information, Ed Palmieri, the company’s associate general counsel for privacy, said in an interview. “The updates that we are showing in the red lines are our way to better explain the products that exist today,” he said.

In some ways, the company is making it more clear that it uses a wide variety of personal data about its 1.2 billion users to deliver advertising, including things they share and do, what they like, how they interact with ads and applications, and even demographic data inferred from everything else.

Facebook also said that it might use its customers’ profile photos to help their friends tag them in photos. Those photos are already public, but Facebook does not currently use them to help recognize faces when photos are uploaded to the service. “This will make the product better for people,” Mr. Palmieri said. “You can still opt out of it.”

But the company is also deliberately deleting information about specific privacy controls. Instead, Mr. Palmieri said, Facebook decided it was better to send users to various other pages, such as one on advertising, to learn more about privacy issues and how to adjust the controls. 

For example, the data use policy will no longer offer a direct path to the control for opting out of your name and activities on the site being used as endorsements on ads sent to your friends.

Facebook is also doing nothing to simplify its maze of privacy settings.The company doesn’t offer clear links or explanations of the settings from its own “Facebook and Privacy” page, and its Graph Search feature isn’t especially helpful for the task, either.

Privacy controls are still buried in at least six different menus. To plunge down the rabbit hole, click on the little lock icon next to your name in the top-left column of your news feed page. You will find privacy settings in the tabs for Privacy, Timeline and Tagging, Blocking, Followers, Apps and Ads.

Mr. Palmieri said the company added one section to its policies in response to its $20 million settlement on Monday of a 2011 lawsuit asserting that the company used its customers’ personal information in advertising without compensation or allowing them to opt out.

The old policy explicitly stated, “You can use your privacy settings to limit how your name and profile picture may be associated with commercial, sponsored, or related content (such as a brand you like) served or enhanced by us.”

Facebook’s new language starts with the opposite position. “You give us permission to use your name, and profile picture, content, and information in connection with commercial, sponsored, or related content (such as a brand you like) served or enhanced by us,” the company said. “If you have selected a specific audience for your content or information, we will respect your choice when we use it.” 

Mr. Palmieri said the two versions amount to the same thing.

It brings to mind Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass.” As he told young Alice, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”

Microsoft and Google to sue over US surveillance requests

Technology firms want to be allowed to publish information about US government requests under the Fisa legislation

Microsoft's legal counsel Brad Smith said in a blog post: 'We believe we have a clear right under the US constitution to share more information with the public.'

Microsoft's legal counsel Brad Smith said in a blog post: 'We believe we have a clear right under the US constitution to share more information with the public.' Photograph: Jean-Christophe Verhaegen/AFP/Getty Images

Microsoft and Google are to sue the US government to win the right to reveal more information about official requests for user data. The companies announced the lawsuit on Friday, escalating a legal battle over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), the mechanism used by the National Security Agency (NSA) and other US government agencies to gather data about foreign internet users.

Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith, made the announcement in a corporate blog post which complained of the government's "continued unwillingness" to let it publish information about Fisa requests.

Each company filed a suit in June arguing that they should be allowed to state the details under the first amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech, and in the process defend corporate reputations battered by Edward Snowden's revelations. Critics accused the companies of collaborating in the snooping.

"On six occasions in recent weeks we agreed with the department of justice to extend the government's deadline to reply to these lawsuits. We hoped that these discussions would lead to an agreement acceptable to all," Smith wrote.

The negotiations failed, he wrote, so Google and Microsoft were going to court. He did not specify when, or to which court.

"With the failure of our recent negotiations, we will move forward with litigation in the hope that the courts will uphold our right to speak more freely. And with a growing discussion on Capitol Hill, we hope Congress will continue to press for the right of technology companies to disclose relevant information in an appropriate way."

Snowden, a former NSA whistleblower, gave documents to the Guardian and Washington Post revealing NSA claims about access to technology firms' data via its Prism system.

The companies denied the NSA had "direct access" to their systems but said they were legally unable to disclose how many times they have been asked to provide information on users.

Fisa requests are granted by a special court that sits in secret and can grant the NSA permission to collect data stored by any company about a named person. In 2012, the court granted 1,856 requests and turned none down.

"We believe we have a clear right under the US constitution to share more information with the public," said Smith's post. "The purpose of our litigation is to uphold this right so that we can disclose additional data."

He welcomed a government announcement earlier this week that it would begin publishing the total number of national security requests for customer data for the past 12 months.

"But the public deserves and the constitution guarantees more than this first step. For example, we believe it is vital to publish information that clearly shows the number of national security demands for user content, such as the text of an email."

Such figures should be published in a form that is distinct from the number of demands that capture only metadata such as subscriber information associated with a particular email address, said Smith.

"We believe it's possible to publish these figures in a manner that avoids putting security at risk. And unless this type of information is made public, any discussion of government practices and service provider obligations will remain incomplete."

The post sought to position Microsoft and Google on the moral high ground, linking them to the values of the founding fathers. "We benefit from living in a country with a constitution that guarantees the fundamental freedom to engage in free expression unless silence is required by a narrowly tailored, compelling government interest … our hope is that the courts and Congress will ensure that our constitutional safeguards prevail."

Five ways to make Facebook better

Make facebook work for you. It's not that hard.

FACEBOOK sucks. 

 

If it doesn't yet suck for you, it can start at any time and quickly blaze out of control.  Making things bearable again - even better than they were - can be a difficult prospect for the average user. 

We're going to go out on a limb here and suggest that you use Facebook for more reasons than simply 'staying in touch.' You might play the stupid games. You spy on ex partners. You eagerly await the sudden appearance of the next hilarious YouTube opus and/or awesome article. You want to be entertained by Facebook. Of course you do - it's a great medium for that in a lot of different ways.

A few things can get in the way, though. We'll need to fix those before the merriment may continue (or start).

1. Uninteresting Updates From Uninteresting Humans

You might have a few hundred "friends." Some people will have a few thousand. Whatever the case, nobody has that many actual friends. Nobody. The problem with friending that guy you ran into at a bar who also liked drinking eight years ago is that you end up with a feed full of awful, useless, whinging, mundane bulls**t. Hell can totally be other people, especially on Facebook. Now, defriending people can start something. We don't want to do that. Instead, you can unfollow. Scroll up to the right corner of a post from someone you can't stand. A little box that was previously invisible will appear. Click it, and click 'Hide'. Then go the extra mile and click 'Change what updates you get from <insert insufferable human garbage here>.' Click 'Unfollow'. They are now gone from your feed forever. And they'll never know, either.

2. People's Dumb Babies

Some of your Facebook chums are legitimately cool. However, even cool people sometimes have babies and this can cause a horrible schism to occur in your enjoyment of them: They are now parents. Proud parents. Proud new parents who will show the world their unremarkable bore-spawn doing nothing at all at least 200 times per spare moment. You can't simply unfollow these people though, they were formerly cool and maybe show glimmers of this in between bore-spawn offensives. The solution is to a) Start using Google Chrome, and b) Install unbaby.me. The child is now kittens.

3. Everything You Like Is Boring

Most of us see the page of something we enjoy or have enjoyed only recently (like a new movie, say) and instinctively click 'Like' on it because, well, we like it. This natural reaction has the adverse effect of cluttering your feed with huge steaming piles of 'engagement' that's either redundant or grasping. Annoying, right? Apart from resisting the urge to Like everything within personal interest range, be judicious about what pages you let into your FB boudoir. Here, let us assist in this matter of grave import: news.com.au (of course), AskMen Australia (for fun), Shock Mansion (they live for the best vids on the web), and I f***ing love science (learn while you laugh). 

4. It's The Little Things

It really is. Facebook's little annoyances can add up to one huge suppository that constitutes your social media experience. Endless event invites (even from complete strangers. How does that work?), insistent hassle from apps and your friends' silly startups, guilt-brokering pictures of maimed animals, and the dreaded poke. Refrain from any of this, especially poking anyone. It's weird and nobody knows how to feel about it. Furthermore, stamp out the tyranny of event invites (just say "no" or, if you're chicken, "maybe") or receive constant updates whenever somebody posts in them forever. Your mind is a terrible thing to lose and housecleaning your Facebook is essential.

5. You

The average Facebook user has over 120 friends and likes another 100 groups or pages. You're an average Facebook user. That's a lot of potential pollution you might also be putting out. The problem could be you, or you could be part of it. It's incredibly tempting to see 'What's on your mind?' and be very quick to take up the invite to talk about yourself and thus bore everyone to death with triviality, passive-aggressiveness, attention-seeking, or egotism. Self-absorption is one of the biggest problems with social media. Most people are unremarkable and don't realise it. If the internet is good for anything, it's good for escapism and/or education. Next time you go to tell the world "lovin' lunch right now lol/someone has really done it now/man I can't believe what just happened/in New York & ur not," backspace it to hell and try this instead: Share something of intense worth and interest. It could be the latest expose on Mexican drug cartels or that time Frenzal Rhomb's frontman got a tapeworm stuck in his brain. You're selflessly contributing good stuff and you look good doing it. Start that trend.

How teens, parents struggle to share social media

An uneasy dance: Parents and teens both are seeking ways to coexist peacefully on the few social networks they do share.

Carly and her mom are friends on Facebook, but that doesn't mean they share everything.

The 17-year-old from Marin County, California, has refined her Facebook privacy settings so that her mother can't see all the posts that fill her Timeline. Her father, meanwhile, never checks the social network.

"Right now, my mom can only see things that I post. She can't see anything I'm tagged in or anything that my friends say to me on my profile," said Carly, a high school senior who asked to be identified only by her first name. "She doesn't know that, though. I'm like, 80% sure that every other teenager has done that too."

With teen-agers and their parents (grandparents, even) increasingly active on social networks, both generations are joined in a delicate dance over privacy, safety and freedom of expression online.

Interviews with a handful of teens and adults suggest that some teens seek out corners of social media where they can communicate with their friends and peers away from the watchful eye, or embarrassing comments, of their parents.

Parents, meanwhile, are grappling with how to monitor their kids' online activity and keep them safe without being stifling or intrusive. And both are seeking ways to coexist peacefully on the few social networks they do share.

Reputation is everything

Today's teenagers are social media natives. They've grown up putting their personal information online and are comfortable sharing photos and videos of themselves, updating relationship statuses and checking into locations.

What they don't share their parents' level of concern about privacy and worries about companies or the government abusing their data. According to a recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, only 9% of teens reported being "very concerned" about third parties accessing their data.

That doesn't mean they're reckless with their personal information, according to Pew research. Most teens exert careful control over what information is seen by whom, but more because they are acutely aware of how each nugget of posted information, even the number of likes it can get, shapes how they are perceived by peers.

Pew found that teens have developed a variety of ways to control their privacy. They are comfortable navigating Facebook's notoriously complicated privacy settings, and only 14% have public-facing Facebook profiles. They also edit what appears on their profile, deleting posts, comments and unwanted tags.

For teens looking to hide social-media activity from adults, elaborate privacy settings can sometimes be unnecessary. Fifty-eight percent of teens said they posted updates that were inside jokes or coded messages that only certain friends would understand.

Seeking out new online homes

Many teens are learning how to compartmentalize the different parts of their lives online. Facebook is the most popular site for both teens and parents, according to Pew, but teens reported "waning enthusiasm" in the site in Pew focus groups. They cited the colonization of the site by adults and excessive amounts of "drama."

Some teens use Facebook for public posts but message each other on lesser-known social platforms that their parents aren't aware of or haven't signed up for.

Many teens are also on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Vine and Pinterest -- sites where they report feeling less social pressure and more freedom to express themselves. Twitter has seen rapid growth among young users, while Vine, with its looping six-second videos, is a creative form of messaging for a visually oriented generation.

Even straight-laced LinkedIn is courting teenagers. Earlier this month the social media site for professionals lowered its minimum age to 14 from 18 and announced special new pages for universities, hoping to edge into the college-selection process.

If teenagers really don't want something to be seen, they'll retreat to more private messaging tools such as Kik, WhatsApp or Snapchat, which can be used to send private messages to groups of friends. SnapChat is a mobile app which lets users share photos or videos that disappear after a few seconds. For that reason, it's gained a reputation for promoting the exchange of risqué images.

"On Snapchat ... anything goes!" said Carly, the Bay Area teen. "Snapchat gets a little crazier because it's supposed to be 'erased' after 10 seconds or less. Not sure if that's actually true, but there's definitely a different sense of security with Snapchat than Facebook or Instagram."

Making peace with parents

Some kids and parents say they have worked out ways to share social networks harmoniously.

According to the recent Pew study, only 5% of teens reported setting up filters for their parents, and the majority (70%) are friends with their parents on Facebook.

Julie LaRue and her 16-year-old daughter are both mainly on Facebook, but the two have agreed on some boundaries.

"Her ground rule for me is to not comment on her friends' comments unless they are directed to me, and not to tag her in photos without her consent," said LaRue, who lives in Baldwinsville, New York.

LaRue also stays off of her daughter's other social networks, including Tumblr, Twitter and DeviantArt. In exchange, her daughter is heeding her warnings against sharing personal information online and has promised not to post any photos she wouldn't be comfortable showing her parents.

Along the same lines, Carly's mom will tag her daughter in photos and like her posts, but she doesn't comment much because she knows it's embarrassing to her daughter.

Carly, for her part, tries to keep it clean.

"I really try to not have any pictures of me from any parties or any captions/comments with swear words ... but it's hard to be 100% clean when your entire life is online," she said.

CNN