Thanks to a brilliant online campaign by LG called Give It a Ponder, videos featuring James Lipton's famous beard are making kids think twice about sexting and other inappropriate phone communication. The campaign's message is that "it's always good to ponder before you text." Different PSA-style commercials address sexting, ….read more

Parenting blog Babble posted a list of "The Top 10 Parenting Trends of 2010" and the top three trends addressed both smartphones and cyberbullying. The first three Babble trends - and how they relate to social networking - are listed below: "Smart phones as pacifiers for parents and kids" - We mentioned….read more

Are your kids friends with any of their teachers on Facebook? After new policies in many Boston-area schools, and talk of similar bans in surrounding school districts, this isn't even an option. A recent Boston Globe article discusses new policies that don't allow students or teachers to be friends on social networking sites, including Facebook. One parent and school….read more

Here's a website that we hope our kids don't start using during their school break this week: LittleGossip. The site was created in Belize but is most popular, and gaining much notoriety, in Great Britain. Similar to JuicyCampus which was shut down in February 2009, LittleGossip lets users pick their location and school name, and post….read more

Worried about Santa stealing your identity this year? A recent article by the Better Business Bureau of Central Ohio warns against websites directed at kids that urge them to send their lists and notes to Santa over the Internet. While no identity theft cases have been reported yet, some of these ….read more

If you're stuck trying to find the perfect card for friends and families this month, online greeting site SomeEcards may have your answer. This witty holiday card acknowledges the popularity of social networking while poking fun at oversharing and the lack of privacy on social networking sites. ….read more

It's always great to hear about other people who identify the importance of protecting kids online as much as we do! Blogger and computer expert Juan Riaño recently acknowledged SocialShield in his blog. Juan described SocialShield as an easy-to-use tool that helps parents stay in the loop about different social media sites their kids are using, and what….read more

Officer Steve DeWarns, one of SocialShield's Advisors and founder of Internet Child Safety, recently spoke at St. Joachim School in Hayward. In his talks, Steve often focuses on predators and cyberbullying as the biggest online threats out there. In this latest talk, Steve raised some….read more

Facebook can do a lot, including keeping people connected through its messaging service, helping with social search, and acting as a positive resource for kids. Now, according to a TED talk in July given by David McCandless, Facebook also knows when you're….read more

The holidays are a frenzied time for all parents, as they juggle family and festivities. With so much on your mind, it's getting increasingly difficult to ensure your kids' online safety. It's especially hard if they receive gifts such as computers, smartphones or iPads (one of the most coveted gifts that teens are asking for….read more