Student group to go to court over Facebook privacy policy

An Austrian student group plans to go to court in a bid to make Facebook Inc, the world’s biggest social network, do more to protect the privacy of its hundreds of millions of members, Reuters reports. Campaign group europe-v-facebook, which has been lobbying for better data protection by Facebook for over a year, said on Tuesday it planned to go to court to appeal against decisions by the data protection regulator in Ireland, where Facebook has its international headquarters. The move is one of a number of campaigns against the giants of the internet, which are under pressure from investors to generate more revenue from their huge user bases but which also face criticism for storing and sharing personal information. Internet search engine Google, for example, has been told by the European Union to make changes to its new privacy policy, which pools data collected on individual users across its services including YouTube, gmail and social network Google+, and from which users cannot opt out…

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Family learns of student’s death on Facebook

The parents of a south Georgia college student first learned from Facebook that their daughter had been found dead in a dormitory study room shortly before Thanksgiving, reports the Associated Press.

Now, they hope that Facebook and other social media sites can help solve the death of 17-year-old Jasmine Benjamin, which police are investigating as a homicide. The Valdosta State University freshman was found unresponsive on a study room couch on Nov. 18.

A family friend forwarded the Facebook post about the teen’s death to her parents before they were officially notified by authorities, said A. Thomas Stubbs, an attorney for the victim’s mother, Judith Brogdon, and her stepfather, James Jackson. But many questions remain unanswered about how she died.…Read More

Move over, Obama; Twitter had a big night too

President Barack Obama called it – in less than 140 characters, Reuters reports. Around 11:15 pm EST, just as the networks were beginning to call the race in his favor, Obama took to Twitter to proclaim himself the winner over Republican candidate Mitt Romney. “This happened because of you. Thank you,” Obama tweeted. That the president would take his message to Twitter before taking the stage in Chicago underscored the tremendous role social media platforms like Twitter played in the 2012 election…

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Teen takes educators to Twitter school

Fifteen-year-old Adora Svitak knows students nowadays “live, work and play” social media, Mashable reports.

“We’re used to the characteristics of social media: participation, connection, instant gratification,” she tells Mashable, “and when school doesn’t offer the same, it’s easy to tune out.”

To help more educators learn about the benefits of using social media in the classroom, Adora recently taught nearly 3,000 teachers, principals and administrators how to implement Twitter and Facebook into their lives.…Read More

Watch: Twitter boosts college grades and class engagement

Twitter has been credited with — and blamed for — a lot of things. Supporters claim it fueled the Green Revolution in Iran and helped the Arab Spring, critics argue it’s hurting our ability to write and think, Mashable reports. There’s no consensus on the former, but a new study now argues that the second claim is wrong. Twitter may actually give students an educational boost. Christina Greenhow, an assistant professor of education at Michigan State University, discovered that students using the microblogging service as part of their education are more engaged and have higher grades. In fact, she considers it “a new literary practice,” as she explains in her study “Twitteracy: Tweeting as a New form of Literary Practice.” Greenhow taught a class that required each student to have a Twitter account that was used in different ways throughout the semester. She noticed students were more engaged than in the twitter-less past…

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A&T professor is taking debate online

Tonight, students can react to the presidential debate in real time.

People who pay attention to presidential debates are used to watching them on TV in the den with family members or maybe alongside friends at a corner tavern or civic club.

The next day, at work, they might gather round the water cooler with co-workers to replay the most telling moments and see who shares their perceptions.

But tonight, a professor at N.C. A&T is using social media to create a group setting online, where participants can react as the debate unfolds.…Read More

High school students increasingly use social media for college search

As high school students consider their college choices, social media is playing an integral part in the process, U.S. News reports. According to a recent survey of more than 7,000 high school students by Zinch, an online college and scholarship matching service run by Chegg, and Inigral, an education and technology company, 68 percent of respondents noted that they used social media to research schools. Many students are also taking their social media experiences with a college into consideration, with 38 percent of respondents stating that they have used social media as a resource when deciding where to enroll. Admissions offices are not surprised by the trust high school students are placing on social media platforms when researching schools, says Cara Rousseau, social media manager at Duke University

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Gates Foundation supports college readiness apps

More than half of community college students require a remedial class.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is awarding upwards of $100,000 to developers who propose apps and online tools that help high school students prepare for college, fund their schooling, and complete the sometimes circuitous application process.

The College Knowledge Challenge started Sept. 27 at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., where 100 developers gathered for a “hack-a-thon”–an effort to create useful technologies aimed at better preparing incoming college students as the need for remedial classes continues to rise across the U.S.

Anyone can submit a proposal to the Gates Foundation through the organization’s website. Winners of the $2.5 million grant competition will be announced in January, according to the foundation.…Read More

Facebook and Google help launch online safety platform for teens

Teenagers live online — nearly 58% of teens own smartphones and make up the market’s largest growing sector. However, mobile-crazed teenagers aren’t as unconcerned about online safety as some people think, Mashable reports. Non-profit organization Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) partnered with nine tech companies including Facebook, Microsoft and Google to build A Platform for Good. The newly launched online resource provides teens, parents and teachers the tools to raise awareness about efficient online safety practices.

“At Facebook, nothing is more important than the safety of the people who use our service,” The Facebook Safety team wrote. “We believe that helping families teach teens digital citizenship skills is a critical and essential part of providing a safe and secure experience online.”

A recent Pew study shows most American teens are already pro-active about what they share on social networks. Nearly 50% of survey participants decided against posting content online because of safety concerns. Teens regularly use privacy settings, selective friending and message controls……Read More

Facebook, Teachbook reach settlement in lawsuit

Teachbook will become TeachQuest under terms of a legal settlement.

Facebook and Teachbook, a social networking site for teachers, have settled a lawsuit that began two years ago when Facebook alleged trademark infringement against the ed-tech company.

Under terms of the agreement, Teachbook has changed its name to TeachQuest and will continue to operate as an online platform dedicated to being a one-stop planning and learning tool for educators, administrators, and students.

A joint statement from the companies read: “We are pleased to announce that Facebook and Teachbook have arrived at an agreement that resolves Facebook’s trademark infringement lawsuit and allows for Teachbook’s continued operation under a new name. Under this agreement, Teachbook has changed its name to ‘TeachQuest.’  Facebook and Teachbook are pleased to put this dispute behind them.”…Read More

Educators on social media react to school-voucher study by Brookings

The Brookings Institution released a long-term study earlier this month that examined the effects of school vouchers on eventual college enrollment, the National Journal reports. The academics had their say, but what do educators—the ones who are interacting with students on a daily basis—and other education-policy advocates have to say about it? Here we share some reactions from Twitter: “Vouchers deserve a spot among the array of interventions available to education policy makers. There remains no magic bullet. #BIVouchers” — Bart Pogue (@BartPogue) August 23, 2012

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Online ‘burn books’ sparking controversy

Online burn books are Twitter accounts where an anonymous person posts multiple insulting Tweets.

You have a big nose. Your butt is huge. You’re ugly. You smell.

These insults—and much worse—are popping up on the internet in “burn book” accounts that are specific to area schools and to particular students there. The burn books are creating a stir in local communities across the country.

Inspired by the 2004 Lindsay Lohan movie “Mean Girls,” burn books are Twitter accounts where an anonymous person posts multiple Tweets that insult, taunt, and call out classmates by name on the social media messaging network.…Read More